As Mark waited for the district conservationist to complete the paperwork, he considered some of the uses for the stands of trees that were mentioned and about whether these uses would benefit his own farm situation.

The first thing that came to Mark's mind was that his hog barns were naturally ventilated. In the summer, when the curtains were down, the wind through the open sides of the barns provided much of the ventilation and temperature control. There were a lot of naturally ventilated barns in the local area, but Mark had never seen a stand of trees around any of them. He had doubts as to whether a stand of trees should be planted near naturally ventilated barns because of the importance of air flow. He recalled that when the barns were built the recommendation was to place them a minimum of 100 feet apart to ensure adequate air flow through all the barns. If the line of trees increased the temperature in the barns by reducing air flow, the heat could cause a higher death loss of hogs and thus a financial loss for the hog business. Mark didn't want the renter to default on his monthly rent payments because of financial difficulties. "Whatever I decide to do, its gotta work for the renter," he thought.

A stand of trees could possibly help control the snow around Mark's hog barns. During two of the last four winters the snow build-up on the north side of the barns had been so bad that he had hired a bulldozer to push the snow back and create a snow fence to prevent damage to the buildings.

A stand of trees would improve the appearance of the farm. Mark considered how a line of trees on the road side (south side) of the two sites could block some of the view of the barns for people driving by. He liked the idea of "out of sight, out of mind"-- people might be less critical of the smell and appearance of his hog buildings if the barns were bordered by a nice hedge or tree line. "Adding some landscaping would be a neighborly thing to do," he thought.

Mark figured that if he were to choose between putting in trees on the north or south sides of the barns, he would opt for the north sides, since managing the snow better could save him valuable time and money.

Mark was sympathetic to people's complaints about livestock odor, and he cringed when he heard comments in town, like "Boy, those barns are stinking today!" He had always done whatever he could to control the odor from his barns. But while many people agreed that a stand of trees helped control snow, Mark hadn't heard much support for the idea that trees were effective in managing odor. He hadn't any personal experience or heard of research that demonstrated the effectiveness of trees in managing odor. Nor had any of his friends or neighbors found that a stand of trees were helpful in controlling odor.

Installing the stands of trees would be consistent with Mark's environmentally friendly approach to farming. He used minimum tillage practices on his land so that there was less topsoil blown in the ditches in the spring. To reduce odor, he injected his manure instead of laying it on top of the soil (like some of the farmers in the area continued to do). Using trees or shrubs instead of plowing machines seemed like an environmentally friendly way to manage snow.

Stands of trees could also attract more wildlife, which was important to Mark's family. Mark's teenage son, Steve, was a wildlife enthusiast. Steve had encouraged his father to replace all the fence lines with rows of evergreen trees to make the farm more inviting to wildlife. Mark knew that his son would be excited to see trees planted around the barns.

Newly planted trees would require maintenance. Mark would need to do some occasional weeding. It was also likely that a couple of the young trees would die during the first winter and he would have to make arrangements with the CRP to have them replaced.

Another factor to consider was whether planting stands of trees near the barns would take crop land out of production. If Mark installed a stand of trees on the north sides of his barns he would have to give up a few acres of crops.

Since no one had used a stand of trees around naturally ventilated barns that he knew of, Mark was hesitant to install it around his barns. He didn't like the idea of being the guinea pig for an unproven farm practice. Furthermore, it would take 4 or 5 years after the trees had been planted before he would know if they had a positive or negative effect, or no effect at all. He thought: "If it turns out to be a mistake, I'm stuck with the mistake for 15 years!"

The CRP annual rental payments and cost-share assistance made the prospect of installing stands of trees around the hog barns very attractive. The financial incentives would not be as good as what Mark was getting for the county road project ($250 per acre for 15 years) because the DOT wasn't contributing, but it still would be a good bargain and easily affordable.

Mark also liked the fact that the NRCS staff was experienced with environmental projects. Since Mark wasn't an expert in landscaping, he would want to rely on professionals to help him with decisions about tree and shrub species, planting location, spacing, and maintenance.