Two Years of Farmer-Led Trials

By Mary Hathaway, OFRF Analysis & Schooling Program Supervisor

Natural farmers are curious. Working with nature to develop an abundance of meals supplies numerous alternatives to study and proceed to enhance farm manufacturing programs. OFRF has been listening to farmers since our inception, and the fixed hum of curiosity, experimentation, and innovation has by no means diminished. Actually, as now we have labored with increasingly farmer and researcher groups, we’ve heard farmers specific rising curiosity in exploring questions and testing out what is sensible for his or her operations.

The launch of our Farmer-Led Trial program

Urged on by farmers’ questions, and with encouragement from the great work of Sensible Farmers of Iowa (PFI) and Ecological Farmers Affiliation of Ontario (EFAO), OFRF took the leap to launch our Farmer-Led Trials (FLT) Program in 2024. This program helps natural farmers throughout the US who need to use the scientific technique to trial concepts—within the hopes of studying the analysis course of and what works for them and their farm system.

It has now been two years of working with farmers on their trials, and we’re about to open purposes for our third season. We began with our guidebook, “Farmers Information to Conducting On-Farm Analysis,” which supplies sensible data, together with examples from farmers and ranchers conducting on-farm analysis, hyperlinks to further assets, and worksheet templates for designing a sound analysis trial. It’s obtainable free of charge as a reference for any farmer or rancher desirous to conduct their very own on-farm trials. Our purpose is to assist farmers in conducting trials in a method that generates dependable knowledge and actionable outcomes. We take into account this free useful resource required studying for farmers who take part within the FLT Program, a 101, if you’ll. However like so a lot of my tactile pals, I study from doing. And there’s a lot of doing in farm trials!

Creating an on-farm trial

Trial plot map we developed with Ladies Trifecta Farm

Each on-farm trial begins with the farmer’s concepts—what have they been observing on their farm? What’s it that they hope to attain? We speak by means of their concepts, their manufacturing system, and their targets. From there, we stroll by means of the seven core steps of establishing an on-farm trial, as outlined within the Farmers Information. Collectively, we hone in on an acceptable analysis query, develop the trial plan, and provide you with a technique for accumulating the mandatory knowledge. OFRF continues to supply assist all through the season, assembly with contributors through cellphone two or 3 times after the plan is laid out, and serving to to guage outcomes and compile a remaining report on the finish of the trial. As most of the farmers uncover by the top of the trial, the yr is only the start of a journey of testing out concepts. As soon as they get a behind-the-scenes peek and grasp how researchers may trial an concept and what that appears like for a farm, they see limitless alternatives for continued investigation.

Managing contingencies with on-farm analysis

Life occurs, and as farmers know all too properly, climate actually occurs. In creating an on-farm trial, as with farming on the whole, there’s a plan, after which there may be what finally ends up occurring. Collectively, OFRF and the farmers create the plan, and we hope the timelines work and items all fall into place. However inevitably it is going to be a wetter or drier yr than anticipated, or livestock will get out and eat a part of the trial plot, or another surprising factor will happen. Farmers get used to this, and simply as with all different issues, they preserve shifting, pivoting, and adapting to new conditions. It may be difficult to stay with a trial. What appeared enjoyable and thrilling at first of the season can turn into far more tough to maintain up with halfway by means of the season, with dozens of different issues vying for a farmer’s consideration. Within the spring, we like to plan and plot and scheme. Mid-season, when daylight lengthens with our workload, it’s an additional piece within the day’s puzzle to verify the information is collected and recorded, the marked out plots keep marked regardless of weeds or wind. Dedication at this level is what makes a trial profitable. There may be no outcomes with out correct knowledge.

Analyzing knowledge and studying collectively

Soil solarization in a excessive tunnel at Salad Days Farm

After months of rising, tending, and accumulating data, finally the time comes within the season when all the information is in. The yields have been weighed, or soil moisture has been measured, or compaction has been calculated. Usually, that is when issues have slowed down for the season and farmers begin to have a bit extra respiration room to mirror on outcomes. I’m not a statistical professional, however I’m fortunate to be paired with one. My colleague, Heather, works with the numbers, serving to boil down the information into comprehensible outcomes. We meet once more with the taking part farmers to speak by means of what the numbers are saying, and what which means for the farm. Many occasions, the outcomes are stunning. For instance, a farmer examined soil solarization, and we noticed microbial biomass bounce again faster than anticipated, and the fungal-to-bacterial ratio turned up larger beneath solarization than in naked soil, which was not what we had hypothesized. Whether or not stunning or affirming of what we suspected, the trial outcomes are all the time informative. Repeatedly, what now we have seen is studying—farmers studying one thing new about their farm, seeing knowledge that confirms one thing they’d all the time suspected however weren’t positive was true, or understanding the way to apply the scientific technique to their operation in approachable methods.

Whereas all the farmers we’ve labored with have shared with us how a lot they discovered all through the on-farm trial course of, I do know that I’m studying from them as a lot as they’re from me. Every farmer teaches me a lot. There isn’t any restrict to the attention-grabbing questions and considerate concerns that come up about what is occurring on natural farms throughout the nation, from the neighborhood stage all the way down to the microscopic. I solely want that I used to be capable of go to every farm in individual to attach extra deeply with the farmer, their operation, and their analysis questions.

The observations every farmer involves as they full their trials can usually be one of many largest outcomes, even past the precise trial outcomes. There’s something to setting a body round an object, equivalent to setting apart a sure plot for a trial, or committing to strolling an space of a discipline extra usually to take knowledge factors. There may be a lot to be gained from letting our gaze fall with extra consideration. As Tim Colby, FLT participant and farmer at Colby Farms, put it, “We discovered quite a bit by doing this trial. This land remains to be fairly new to me. So, the trial put me out strolling the rows much more usually and changing into extra conversant in the soil and seeing the way it’s modified. So, that could be a tangible takeaway.”

Working with the farmers on these trials, I’m additionally reminded how human all of us are—how onerous it’s to slim the questions down to check only one factor. The temptation to take action a lot without delay appears common. Virtually each farmer we’ve labored with initially needs to create an bold, all-encompassing assertion. My work with OFRF is to assist floor us in science, and convey the scope of the trial all the way down to an achievable stage—a stage the place we are able to make a small, however correct assertion. However every assertion is sort of a brick, including one piece at a time to construct the muse of our understanding.

Trying forward

Tim Colby makes use of a penetrometer to measure soil compaction

As preparations start for the third yr of OFRF’s Farmer-Led Trials program, I discover myself humbled by the analysis questions and the outcomes. The beneficiant and genuine work every farmer is doing to care for his or her land and feed their areas, whereas not harming the atmosphere, is admirable. And the frequent curiosity amongst agriculturalists to higher perceive how issues work—on a macro and micro-system scale—is inspiring.

I’ve labored as a farmer, with farmers, and for farmers. It’s the thread that has tied my grownup profession collectively. I’m so grateful that on this position, I get to be a small a part of a journey for farmers across the nation taking part in OFRF’s FLT Program. Because the ripple of this program grows bigger with every year, we hope to see farmers we work with go on to construct resilient programs, tackle extra strong trials equivalent to with a SARE grant, or work with a researcher from their state or area to assist construct the physique of data we have to push natural farming programs into the forefront of manufacturing within the US. Like all of the farmers embarking on these trials with us, I do know that that is only the start, and there are such a lot of extra nice questions on the market to check.

Be taught extra

In the event you’d prefer to learn extra in regards to the farmers who’ve participated within the FLT program to this point, and what their trials have entailed, we’ve gathered a set of the tales and remaining reviews from previous FLT Program contributors right here.

In the event you’re focused on taking part in our subsequent FLT cohort, purposes are open Oct Fifteenth-Dec third, 2025, for the 2026 rising season. You may study extra about this system on our FLT web page, or be a part of our upcoming FLT Discussion board on Tuesday, October twenty first, 2025, to listen to from three former FLT farmer-researchers and achieve an summary of the on-farm trial course of.