Farmer-Led Research

Abstract Hairy vetch yielded significantly more above-ground biomass when planted at last cultivation of corn as compared to turnip and red clover. It is important for farmers to increase protein available to cattle grazing cornstalks and also provide …

The demand for local food in central Iowa outstrips supply in many types of markets, even during peak harvest season. Unmet demand is particularly evident outside the regular growing season. The same time period that direct-market produce farms …

Abstract Producers like the Cornish Cross poultry variety because they have been bred for fast production and high feed efficiency. However, they don’t perform well on pasture, so producers are looking for an efficient breed alternative to the …

The new PFI Bioenergy and Diversity project hosted three field days in late summer 2008. The focus of this article is a biodiesel field day that was hosted on August 30 by Plainfield farmers Gary Laydon and Pat …

Fruit and vegetable farmers are often lured by the prospect of increasing their revenue by adding a high tunnel. These structures provide the opportunity to make money outside of the regular growing season, making it more feasible to …

Summary Flame cultivation can be effective in killing weeds, including those growing in the crop row. Any positive effect on crop yields is through reduction of weed competition only. The cost per acre of flame cultivation is two-to-three …

In a way, weed management trials and cover crop trials belong together. A cover crop growing in a row crop field travels a fine line between failure and becoming a weed itself. On the other end of the …

PFI has completed three years of research on flax as an alternative crop. The research has been led by ISU’s Mary Wiedenhoeft and Margaret Smith along with graduate student Sarah Carlson. Over the course of the project, farmer …

Crown rust of oats is a plague that has been around as long as oats have been raised in the Midwest. It’s often invisible, but crown rust sometimes devastates the crop, as in 1996 in northeast Iowa. PFI …

Doug Alert and Margaret Smith (Hampton) grow soybeans once in their five-year rotation. They wondered whether under those conditions there is a significant benefit to inoculating soybean seed with a fresh dose of the Rhizobia bacteria that fix …

By Richard and Sharon Thompson “We started farming together in 1958 with the high inputs of purchased fertilizer, herbicides and insecticides that were required with the continuous corn program. In 1968 we changed back to a rotation of …

Sweetcorn is one of the most popular treats from the garden and an easy crop to grow for farmers accustomed to raising field corn. Unfortunately, sweetcorn isn’t easy to grow well because of the worms that often infest …