Farmer-Led Research

This test was conducted to determine the production and economic differences between a corn/soy ration and a corn/barley/soy ration. We wanted to see if barley is a viable alternative to corn in a swine grower-finish ration. We were …

Practical Farmers of Iowa research cooperators have worked with Iowa State University scientists over the past decade as they have developed several new nitrogen monitoring tools for corn. The latest nitrogen bulletins from ISU can be found on …

This project was begun when Iowa was in the early stages of introduction of the late spring soil nitrate test for corn. Practical Farmers of Iowa cooperators assisted in bringing the test to the public. They evaluated the …

As in past years, several PFI cooperators evaluated starters and other banded fertilizers in 1994. By now it should be no surprise that results were mixed. Even where these fertilizers increased crop yields, there was sometimes no clear …

A number of PFI farmers experimented with unconventional products in 1994. Dave and Lisa Lubben, Monticello, continued a line of investigation they began several years ago, testing ACA (zinc acetate), ACA is said to increase nitrogen uptake of …

In 1994, corn population trials came from both cooperators Ron and Maria Rosmann, Harlan, and the Riceville, Iowa Future Farmers of America, which participated through a Sustainable Projects grant. In all three trials there was a consistent yield …

Several on-farm trials don’t fall into easy categories, but that doesn’t make them any less Ron and Maria Rosmann, for example, who compared corn populations in their transition system, also looked at soybean planting rates. They compared 171 …

Narrow strip intercropping is a complex system requiring careful management. Maybe we should think of it as a finely tuned sports car. It’s a roadster that can really perform on a good road. But it isn’t built for …

A few years back, nitrogen rate trials were the most common on-farm experiment. That’s no longer true, maybe because we now have the late spring soil nitrate test for corn. At the Neely-Kinyon Research Farm, near Greenfield, Bernie …

Three cooperators and a Sustainable Projects recipient compared no-till to some other tillage system in 1994. Ted and Donna Bauer, Audubon, achieved 19-inch soybean rows by offsetting the 38-inch row planter and making two passes across the field. …

Three other trials were devoted specifically to weed management. Ted and Donna Bauer, Audubon, compared banding to broadcasting herbicide in soybeans. They did not take weed counts, but yields were the same in both treatments (Table 6). They …

Steve Hopkins and Sarah Andreasen milked a small herd of Jerseys near Decorah the last several years. In October, they moved their cows to a farm near Newton, but not before wrapping up a project documenting their pasture-based …