Farmer-Led Research

Beauveria bassiana (say “bo-vária”) is a widely distributed fungus that kills insects including the European corn borer. Three PFI cooperators have worked for two years with our team to research the use of this fungus for biological control …

Two PFI cooperators in western Iowa posed research questions that apply to the crop nutrient needs on their organic farms, specifically. Jim and Lynn Boes (Atlantic) and Ken Rosmann (Harlan) have nearby sources of poultry manure. They wanted …

One of the common questions organic growers ask is whether cattle manure is equivalent to poultry manure in both corn yield produced and the cost of hauling and application. To try to answer this question Ken Rosmann, organic …

Row spacing has been controversial ever since equipment and crops no longer had to accommodate the width of a draft animal. Dave and Lisa Lubben, Monticello, normally drill soybeans and row-plant corn. In 1997 they compared drilled soybeans …

There are always some trials that are not easily categorized. In 1997, that included an oats trial by Jeff and Gayle Olson, Mt. Pleasant, that compared corn and soybeans as preceding crops for oats. In this case the …

With ISU entomologist John Obrycki and graduate student Laura Weiser, I have been investigating ways to manage the alfalfa weevil and the potato leafhopper by optimizing biotic mortality. What is biotic mortality, and why is it important? Even …

The Neely-Kinyon tofu soybean trials reflect the growing interest in specialty markets and identitypreserved production. Two of the fastest growing specialty markets, with two of the highest premiums in specialty production, are the organic and the pesticide-free approaches. …

In the early 1990s a dozen PFI cooperators tried their hand at strip intercropping, the practice of planting narrow strips of different crops side by side. Some impressive corn yields were recorded, but various problems made it difficult …

The connection between weeds and tillage is both obvious and subtle. Yes, tillage removes weeds. But tillage also stimulates weed seed germination. Ron and Maria Rosmann, Harlan, repeated a trial they carried out in the late 1980s, comparing …

We started grazing our milking herd in 1994. Our farm fits the traditional northeast Iowa dairy model – 380 acres (mostly tillable), an 80-cow tie stall barn, two large silos, and other buildings for dry cows and heifers. …

I received a SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) grant to look at the differences between our confinement building and our hoop buildings. This is a compilation of what I have noted during this past year. Construction: The …

Why Holstein heifers? This actually relates to an advanced grazing topic. One of the challenges as you raise more grass is figuring how to “market” it. We are looking for ways to expand our operation, but we don’t …