Farmer-Led Research

In 2007 Paul and Karen Mugge (Sutherland) carried on a line of questioning researched earlier by Kathleen Delate, ISU Organics Specialist. Paul wanted to know where to put flax in the crop rotation and how to prepare the …

Project Summary Six certified organic farmers and one conventional farmer tested three weed management strategies for flax at nine sites in 2005 and 2006. Drilled flax with no underseeding was compared to flax grown with alfalfa and with …

If there is anything we know for sure it is that tillage destroys weeds. Yes, but phrase it differently, and the truth shifts. Tillage can stimulate weeds. Repeated, light spring tillage is used to “wake up” – and …

The PFI research summary for 2001 reported on the composting project that PFI cooperators were carrying out with ISU scientists Tom Richard and Matt Liebman and graduate student Terry Loecke. The research had to do with the bedding-manure …

Sustainable farmers are often more concerned about corn’s nutritional quality for their livestock or their consumers than in, say, the crop’s characteristics as a feedstock for ethanol fermentation or how many transgenic traits are stacked into its DNA. …

Since 2006, Iowa State University has supported on-farm research through the ISU On-Farm Research and Demonstration Program, and PFI has helped promote this program. Projects submitted for funding must represent collaborations of farmers and ISU faculty, staff, or …

The swine industry is in change. Consumers are showing interest in pork that “tells a story” of sustainable farming in concert with the environment and quality of life ideals. A growing number of farmers who raise pigs on …

Iowa is a leader in a new kind of soybean thanks to ISU plant breeder Walt Fehr and to several farmer organizations that are promoting soybeans low in linolenic acid. The oil from these “low-lin” soybeans does not …

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 …