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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In a Nutshell: Jack Boyer, Eric Fynaardt, Kevin Holl and Rob Stout each conducted strip trials to test the effect of cereal rye cover crop termination date on corn disease pressure and corn yield. They each compared terminating …
This research was funded by the Walton Family Foundation. In a Nutshell: Jon Bakehouse and Sam Bennett are interested in maximizing the benefits of cover crops to their soil, livestock, weed management and bottom lines. The objective of …
This research was funded by Ceres Trust. In a Nutshell: Spinach is a popular cool-season vegetable, so Kate Edwards, Bonnie Riggan, Hannah Breckbill and Emily Fagan wanted to determine which spinach variety (Bloomsdale, Kolibri or Space) grew the …
This research was funded by Walton Family Foundation. In a Nutshell: Doug Alert and Margaret Smith typically co-seed oats with a red clover cover underseeding in their organic production system. Concerned about weed control, they were curious to …
This research was funded by Ceres Trust. In a Nutshell: Hannah Breckbill, Emily Fagan and Jon Yagla wanted to see which potting soil produced the best transplants in each of their farms’ production systems, in order to determine …
This project was funded by Ceres: Cluster In a Nutshell In the first year of the trial, Maja and Carmen Black were interested to see if there was a difference in the weight gain of the lambs between …
This project was funded by Ceres Trust. Structured observation of nectar resources (flowers) on one PFI farm reveals patterns of flower abundance and diversity that could influence farm management decisions to benefit pollinators. Background The objective of this …
This research was funded by Walton Family Foundation. In a Nutshell: The appeal of interseeding a cover crop in June is twofold: 1). The seeding operation occurs at a relatively less busy time of year and 2). Seeding …
This research was funded by Walton Family Foundation. In a Nutshell: Dick Sloan hoped to determine which of two clover green manure mixes interseeded to an established winter small grain crop would be more profitable and sustainable in …
This research was funded by Ceres Trust. In a Nutshell: Fruit and vegetable farmers commonly use mulch as both a weed suppressant and as a way to maintain soil moisture. In this experiment, Jill Beebout compared two types …
This research was funded by Ceres Trust. In a Nutshell: Ginger is not normally grown in Iowa, so Cait Caughey, Mark Quee, Molly Schintler and Jon Yagla wanted to learn more by determining if ginger yield or quality …
This research was funded by the Walton Family Foundation. In a Nutshell: Vic Madsen was curious to use a companion-planting approach to organic corn production by planting soybeans instead of corn in every third row. Madsen hypothesized that …
