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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This research was funded by the Walton Family Foundation. In a Nutshell: Dick Sloan has been raising his own cereal rye cover crop seed on the farm for a few years. He was curious to learn if applying …
This research was funded by USDA-NIFA, Walton Family Foundation, Albert Lea Seed House, Welter Seed and Honey Co., Meridian Seeds, SDSU Seed Foundation and Zabel Seeds. In a Nutshell: 17 oat varieties were screened at four Iowa State …
This research was funded by the Walton Family Foundation. In a Nutshell: Jack Boyer was interested to know if the soil health benefits of long-term cover cropping on his farm would permit him to reduce his nitrogen program …
In a Nutshell: Rob Faux and Mark Quee wondered: Does the immediate proximity of annual flowers that support pollinators improve the productivity of nearby cucurbit crops? Quee tested the effect of both variety and flowering/non-flowering adjacent plants on …
This research was funded by USDA-NIFA. In a Nutshell: Jack Boyer, Eric Fynaardt, Kevin Holl and Rob Stout conducted strip trials for a second year to test the effect of cereal rye cover crop termination date on corn …
This research was funded by the Iowa Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). In a Nutshell: The practice of cover crop grazing provides economic returns, and farmers wonder if benefits to soil health follow suit. Economic returns are realized …
This research was funded by Ceres Trust. In a Nutshell: Cooperators who tested cabbage varieties in a 2020 variety trial found the red varieties yielded less and were of poorer quality compared to the green cabbage varieties. They …
This research was funded by the Walton Family Foundation. In a Nutshell: Since 2015, a cohort of PFI farmers has been conducting on-farm research to determine how late they can delay the termination date of cover crops relative …
This research was funded by Ceres Trust. In a Nutshell: Carmen & Maja Black and Helaina Thompson, Mark Quee and Jon Yagla wanted to test new basil varieties bred for downy mildew resistance to see if they provided …
This research was funded by the Walton Family Foundation. In a Nutshell: July harvest of small-grains crops presents the opportunity to grow both nitrogen-fixing legume cover crops and forage cover crops for cattle grazing. In this project, Arlyn …
This research was funded by the McKnight Foundation. In a Nutshell: Whey is a common byproduct of making dairy products from goats raised on the farm by Carmen & Maja Black, Helaina Thompson and Carlos Williams. They wondered …
This research was funded by the Walton Family Foundation. In a Nutshell: In recent years, several farmers have wondered about using clover as a companion cover crop or “living mulch” with corn. Such a strategy would increase the …
