Farmer-Led Research

This research was funded by the Walton Family Foundation. In a Nutshell: Dick Sloan knows more cover crop biomass often equates to more soil health benefits. The objective of this trial was to determine whether applying modest amounts …

This research was funded by the Walton Family Foundation. In a Nutshell: Dick Sloan has experimented with clovers and other legume green manure cover crops over the past few years. In this trial he trained his focus on …

This research was funded by the Walton Family Foundation. In a Nutshell: In recent years, Dick Sloan has been evaluating his use of insecticide (neonicotinoid) seed treatments for soybeans in on-farm trials and has found no improvement in …

This research was funded by Ceres Trust.  In a Nutshell: Hannah Breckbill and Emily Fagan of Humble Hands Harvest wondered if a soil primer (Rejuvenate) could improve the productivity of Napa cabbage. They also wondered if the soil …

This research was funded by USDA-NIFA, Walton Family Foundation, and Albert Lea Seed House. In A Nutshell: Eleven cereal rye varieties and one triticale variety were screened at four Iowa State University research farms. Key Findings: Across sites …

This research was funded by the Ceres Trust.  In a Nutshell: Iowa producers Emily Fagan and Hannah Breckbill of Humble Hands Farm, and Jon Yagla of The Millet Seed farm wished to sharpen their understanding of the optimum …

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 …