Farmer-Led Research

Some corn hybrids are like racehorses, impressive but temperamental. Richard and Sharon Thompson (Boone) are finding that a hybrid that excels at one spot in the crop rotation may not do so well elsewhere in the cycle. Corn …

We often wish there were more alternatives to corn and soybeans. But often when we describe what we need, it sounds much like… corn and soybeans. A grain that can be sold at the local elevator, high yielding, …

The 2003 growing season left no doubt that the soybean aphid is capable of causing major yield reductions. Many producers across the Midwest resorted to aerial applications of insecticide; others suffered rather than resort to pesticides. Are those …

PFI farmers in 2003 continued working with corn breeders to develop varieties with high nutrient contents and seed that can be saved and planted again. The 2003 growing season was the last one of a three-state SARE grant …

Richard and Sharon Thompson, Boone, repeated a trial they have done before, seeding twin rows of rye cover crop on the ridge before corn. Dick has demonstrated in the past that this rye can be conveniently removed by …

In 2003, the Dordt College Ag Stewardship Center completed a trial begun the year before, when oats was seeded with and without red clover. In 2003, corn was planted on these plots, either with additional nitrogen fertilizer or …

Jeff Klinge and Deb Tidwell farm about 300 hilly acres near Farmersburg, in northeast Iowa. They have been PFI members since 1995 and research cooperators since 1996. For several years, Jeff has generated production budgets for his organic …

Richard and Sharon Thompson, near Boone, also use a five-year rotation, but unlike Jeff Klinge and Deb Tidwell, they do not sell organic crops. They rely on above-average yields and the integration of the cropping and livestock enterprises …

This cross between Durum wheat and rye has slowly been improving in yield and quality since it was first grown in the 1960s. Test weight is now typically 56 pounds per bushel, the same as corn, and there …

For vegetable producers, there are few insects more frustrating than the cucumber beetle. Not only do the striped and the spotted the cucumber beetles gnaw on tender squash and cucumber plants, the spotted cucumber beetle transmits the disease …

PFI producers have been researching alternative methods of parasite management for at least five years, much of that time with the aid of a grant from the Organic Farming Research Foundation. The interest in alternative parasite management has …

Oats has long been an important ration ingredient for small pigs, where the fiber helps prevent diarrhea. However, the high fiber in oats reduces the energy density to about 80 percent that of corn. But oat prices are …