Farmer-Led Research
Research reports are written by Practical Farmers staff to ensure consistency and quality, and are available to view or download for free.
The Latest Research from PFI
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PFI cooperators have completed trials in a Leopold Center-supported project to examine composting of swine hoophouse manure. This “manure” is almost as much bedding as it is manure. Feeder pigs eat about three pounds of feed for every …
Let’s dive right into a topic that has kept PFI cooperators and ISU scientists occupied the last two years – manure, or, more generally, “biosolids.” The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture funded a study of swine hoophouse manure …
The soybeans started out very well; but foxtail came in later. I thought they looked very poor at our field day in late summer. But the experts thought they would make 30 bushels per acre and they were …
In the last several years, you may have heard something about PFI’s work with fertility paradigms. If so, you probably heard the explanation that a paradigm is a way of looking at the world, a way of making …
In the last five years, swine hoophouses have sprung up all over the state. Those deep-bedded systems use a tremendous amount of crop residue. When the hoophouse is cleaned out, the mixture of bedding and manure contains a …
Weather affected field research in many ways in 2000′; the two nitrogen management trials. Northeast Iowa farmers John and Joan Lubke, Ridgeway, are part of PFI’s collaboration with the Iowa Farm Bureau. They expected a yield response to …
What’s in a starter fertilizer? Preferences about starters can be almost as strong as preferences about tractor color. Arlyn and Annette Valvick, Swea City, are part of PFI’s collaboration with the Iowa Farm Bureau. That program pairs producers …
In 1999, Paul and Karen Mugge, Sutherland, worked with ISU agronomist Richard Cruse to compare two strip intercropping systems, dubbed “walking” and “jumping” strips. The goal was to jump the corn strips around the field ahead of the …
What is the value of the Bt gene when it is used in the corn plant to resist corn borer? That is one of the questions in the minds of Dordt College Agricultural Stewardship Center staff who have …
Iowa row crop farmers discovered flame cultivation several years ago. However, it’s something new to the state’s vegetable farmers. Gary and Nancy Guthrie, Nevada, decided to see what it could do for carrots. The Guthrie operation is just …
This has been our second season using Washburn’s economic analysis tool with our data. This tool was shared in a 1998 Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference Workshop. The workshop was presented by two farms – Spring Hill Farm …
Angela Tedesco’s Turtle Farm, near Granger, feeds CSA members in the Des Moines area. She produces abundant vegetable crops – and usually a good crop of cucumber beetles. Angela writes: “This cucumber beetle trial was an attempt to …
