Farmer-Led Research

Jeff Klinge and Deb Tidwell, Farmersburg, have documented the economics of cropping as they transitioned to organic production. Jeff’s reports have appeared in these PFI annual publications, but in the past the “conventional” comparison came from his own …

The PFI on-farm research program has seen a resurgence of nitrogen trials with the addition of cooperators associated with the Iowa Farm Bureau. Not that we got nitrogen all figured out with the first 70 replicated trials! Yes, …

Dennis and Eve Abbas, Hampton, carried out a trial that may not look like a fertility experiment. They compared two planting populations of corn, looking for effects on nitrogen sufficiency. This was the second year of the trial. …

It has been nearly a decade since the rise in interest in strip intercropping, led in part by PFI. A reason many producers discontinued intercropping was the system’s failure to consistently deliver the yield benefits inherent in that …

The Dordt College Agricultural Stewardship Center continued in 1999 its comparison of three kinds of corn hybrid: a well-known commercial hybrid, its Bt-gene cousin, and an inexpensive hybrid from a local seed company (Table 7, click to view). …

1999 Findings We have compared data from, our farm, One Step at a Time Gardens (OSTG), with the same from Spring Hill Farm (SHF) and Common Harvest (CH). The data for the SHF and CH was provided at …

It always pays to repeat the trial! In 1998 it looked so clear. Angela and John Tedesco, Johnston, looked at the effect of mulching the onions that go to feed members of Angela’s Turtle Farm CSA. The experiment …

The grazing movement is at the end of its first stage of development. The “introduction” stage has brought fencing, watering systems, and grass-based animal systems. An infrastructure has been developed to supply farmers with fencing and watering supplies. …

In this comparison using Farmstead Health Supply’s Restore and Sustain as the herbal wormer and Ivomec pour-on as the chemical wormer, the chemical wormer showed a marked reduction in fecal egg count in four of the six does, …

ORGANIC AGRICULTURE SUPPORTERS HAVE QUESTIONED THE USE OF ACID, SALT BASE FERTILIZERS. FOOD GRADE FERTILIZERS HAVE LOWER SALT LEVEL AND LESS ACID CONTENT WHICH SHOULD BE LESS HARMFUL TO SOIL LIFE. THE CONCERN ABOUT FOOD GRADE MATERIALS IS …

USDA/ARS entomologists working at ISU have carried out on-farm research with PFI for three years, testing a biological control for the European corn borer. This potential control is a fungus, Beauveria bassiana, that is already present in Iowa …

Gary and Nancy Guthrie, Nevada, joined the ranks of PFI cooperators in 1998, carrying out a trial that relates to sweetcorn production. The corn earworm typically plagues growers, especially those who do not use insecticides. It crawls into …