Nebraska On Farm Research – Farmers’ Value of Participation

University of Nebraska – Lincoln Author

08/31/2020 Added

9 Plays

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Dr. Ron Seymour takes a look at the ON farm research program and interviews two participants who share what this has meant to their operations.
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[00:00:11.090]Well, I'm Dr. Ron Seymour
[00:00:13.010]and I work with University of Nebraska
[00:00:15.710]in Nebraska extension I'm located in the
[00:00:19.170]extension office in Hastings,
[00:00:20.820]which is Adams County.
[00:00:21.870]And, I work in the Cropping Systems area.
[00:00:25.090]So today I want to talk about on-farm research
[00:00:28.480]and why that's really important for farmers.
[00:00:31.050]And,
[00:00:32.140]you know, there there's a lot of things that
[00:00:34.740]we do out in crop fields or in livestock that
[00:00:39.510]have the basis of research
[00:00:41.720]to let us know how to improve the kinds of things that we do
[00:00:46.530]so that we can simply get better over time.
[00:00:49.300]And if we hadn't been doing this,
[00:00:50.960]there'd be a,
[00:00:51.980]we would be way back in the thirties when we were
[00:00:55.360]still plowing everything,
[00:00:57.300]listing, doing things that caused a lot of dust,
[00:01:00.170]a lot of problems and lower yields.
[00:01:02.050]Well,
[00:01:02.883]by applying some simple principles,
[00:01:05.090]we can do these projects where
[00:01:08.220]we can learn what actually works in a farmer's own field.
[00:01:12.450]So a lot of the research projects that we do,
[00:01:14.720]they start with university,
[00:01:16.440]a scientist,
[00:01:17.300]or industry scientist doing the treatments,
[00:01:22.000]or trying to find out new information in small plots
[00:01:26.500]and they do those small plots
[00:01:29.010]'cause they can control what they're doing
[00:01:31.730]and get reliable results that then can be published.
[00:01:35.740]So it's a great place to start,
[00:01:37.500]but,
[00:01:38.550]we need to be able to transfer that information
[00:01:42.000]to a large production field.
[00:01:44.320]And there are some differences.
[00:01:46.430]And we're just hoping that what we found in a small plot
[00:01:50.220]will actually work in a large field the same way.
[00:01:53.280]Well,
[00:01:54.113]we have to test it.
[00:01:54.970]We have to see does it really work
[00:01:57.460]for, in a large field and for a particular farmer because
[00:02:01.970]every farm is different.
[00:02:03.670]The land's different,
[00:02:04.630]their management operations are different,
[00:02:06.180]the irrigation or whether you have rainfall,
[00:02:08.850]that all makes a difference.
[00:02:10.350]And so to test a product or a technique
[00:02:14.840]out in your own field is just crucial
[00:02:17.220]to seeing whether it works or not.
[00:02:18.990]Now, I remember long time ago,
[00:02:20.250]we used to do that with a single row out there,
[00:02:22.730]or you do half the field and
[00:02:25.550]that's okay to start out with,
[00:02:27.370]but it really doesn't tell you what you need to know
[00:02:30.700]because, there is a lot of variability in the world
[00:02:35.330]and particularly variability in the field.
[00:02:37.860]There's differences in soil,
[00:02:39.840]differences in how irrigation water is applied
[00:02:43.860]and difference in plants.
[00:02:45.490]And so we have to try to account for those.
[00:02:48.010]And the way you do that is you
[00:02:50.550]randomly assign treatments in a field.
[00:02:53.850]And then you replicate these treatments.
[00:02:56.860]And replication means doing one or two treatments
[00:03:00.560]multiple times through a field.
[00:03:02.940]And that way you can see what's really going on.
[00:03:06.310]And the randomization is so important because
[00:03:08.520]we want to be able to,
[00:03:11.300]not have to deal with any
[00:03:14.500]the variability that's out there,
[00:03:16.370]or if we have some areas that
[00:03:19.050]consistently change across field,
[00:03:21.030]we can deal with that.
[00:03:23.010]And so very easy to randomize.
[00:03:25.370]I mean, you can either use
[00:03:26.850]a random number table or simply flip a coin,
[00:03:30.630]and then you can decide,
[00:03:32.770]okay, treatment A here,
[00:03:34.410]treatment B here compared to the untreated control.
[00:03:37.630]And those are all important.
[00:03:38.990]And then when it comes to replication,
[00:03:41.700]at least one replicant.
[00:03:43.840]But much better to do four to six
[00:03:46.510]so that when we go to do some statistical analysis,
[00:03:51.820]which will help us to find and take care of that variation,
[00:03:55.630]we can tell the differences between the treatments
[00:03:58.540]that we have out there.
[00:03:59.950]And so put those out there,
[00:04:02.900]work with your local extension educator
[00:04:05.640]or extension specialist,
[00:04:06.770]and they can help design the experiment for you
[00:04:10.470]so that we can set this up in a way that's
[00:04:13.720]easy for you as the farmer to put it out,
[00:04:16.810]and then for the scientists to take data
[00:04:19.440]and to analyze that data, so that
[00:04:22.000]when we get all done,
[00:04:23.170]we have some meaningful results.
[00:04:25.930]Now I mentioned earlier about
[00:04:28.240]just doing a single row out there.
[00:04:29.740]No, we want full length field,
[00:04:33.790]full passes of a piece of equipment.
[00:04:36.410]Particularly if you're doing a planting study,
[00:04:38.110]say you have a 24-row planter,
[00:04:41.370]well, you can do 12 rows on one treatment
[00:04:43.430]and 12 rows on another treatment.
[00:04:45.500]And with modern equipment today,
[00:04:47.270]it's pretty easy to switch back and forth
[00:04:49.380]between those treatments,
[00:04:50.770]so that you can do your replication and randomization
[00:04:53.850]just fine, GPS works really well
[00:04:57.060]to help us to find where these different treatments are.
[00:05:00.470]And we use things like field flags,
[00:05:02.650]so that when you're on the ground,
[00:05:04.080]you can see those and know what they are.
[00:05:07.030]And,
[00:05:08.820]so as you get these set up,
[00:05:10.580]get them put out,
[00:05:11.930]usually in the spring time,
[00:05:13.150]we do a lot of different studies like planning studies,
[00:05:16.860]product treatment studies,
[00:05:20.460]just there's all anything that you have in mind
[00:05:23.210]that you would wanna test for your field,
[00:05:25.380]we can figure out a study on how to do that.
[00:05:28.060]And,
[00:05:29.100]so, you get it set up,
[00:05:31.000]your university educator or specialist
[00:05:33.820]will help you get it set up,
[00:05:34.950]help you put it out in the field,
[00:05:36.570]and then maybe take some interim data through the summer
[00:05:39.630]so that, or through the growing season,
[00:05:41.520]so that we can get some points of reference
[00:05:44.930]as to what might've happened and why
[00:05:47.320]at the end of the season.
[00:05:48.320]And then the last thing that's really important
[00:05:50.930]to take is the yield.
[00:05:52.580]We wanna look at did it make an economic difference for you
[00:05:56.360]through the yield.
[00:05:57.350]And,
[00:05:58.600]with a well calibrated yield monitor,
[00:06:01.880]it's really simple to do that.
[00:06:03.400]You just take a pass of the middle of the treatment
[00:06:05.830]and then record what the yield was.
[00:06:08.080]Now, if you don't have a yield monitor,
[00:06:09.910]we have a solution for that too.
[00:06:11.650]You can go out there,
[00:06:12.640]we can collect some samples
[00:06:14.580]and then with the combine,
[00:06:16.770]and then we can use a weigh wagon to see what the yield was.
[00:06:21.950]So you take all that data
[00:06:24.640]and then you take your economic input data,
[00:06:27.690]and then we'll analyze it in a laboratory on a computer,
[00:06:31.680]and come back with some results that will tell us,
[00:06:35.120]was there a significant difference
[00:06:36.890]between treatment A and treatment B or treatment C
[00:06:40.150]depending on how many that you have set up,
[00:06:42.460]and then we can report that to you as the farmer,
[00:06:45.950]and then you'll know whether that was a good thing or not.
[00:06:49.230]And then we'll also have an opportunity for a,
[00:06:54.030]we'll go out to have a meeting where
[00:06:57.330]you can meet with a lot of other farmers
[00:06:59.340]who have done the same types of on-farm research
[00:07:02.060]and discuss what the results are.
[00:07:04.420]And finally, we'll publish those results in a report booklet
[00:07:08.530]that then you can refer back to later
[00:07:10.560]and you can look at other people's research results
[00:07:13.910]so that you can try that on your field
[00:07:16.730]using these on-farm research techniques.
[00:07:19.510]And so to do it well,
[00:07:21.430]it's not hard,
[00:07:22.610]but it's important so that
[00:07:24.440]you can get good reliable results,
[00:07:26.830]so you can tell if it's worked on your farm,
[00:07:29.760]in your situation,
[00:07:31.020]so that'll make you more money.
[00:07:33.390]You know, I've been involved with,
[00:07:34.690]we've been involved with on-farm research now for
[00:07:36.700]a number of years all the way back when it was Quad County
[00:07:40.040]Research Group and have stayed with it ever since,
[00:07:42.710]and always fun to try different things
[00:07:44.500]and see what we can learn,
[00:07:45.850]see what products are out there,
[00:07:47.520]what different farming operations
[00:07:51.369]we can utilize our own operation.
[00:07:54.770]It's definitely one of those things
[00:07:55.670]we'll keep doing in the future
[00:07:56.660]because we see a lot of value in a lot of value of
[00:07:59.210]collaborating with other farmers
[00:08:00.590]and having the university involved to make sure that
[00:08:02.310]we've got good, solid data moving forward.
[00:08:04.840]Yes and that's probably one of the best educations
[00:08:07.810]I got from doing this lots of times,
[00:08:10.780]there's different suppliers and companies
[00:08:14.510]that will advertise certain results from products, and
[00:08:19.810]they're not always probably done in a manner that
[00:08:24.380]will replicate their,
[00:08:26.590]what they would call their testable plots,
[00:08:29.160]done in a manner that's probably reliable.
[00:08:31.990]You know, there've been some things that
[00:08:32.890]we've learned that,
[00:08:34.470]you know, you go all the way back to
[00:08:36.230]when we did some original planting speed studies that,
[00:08:39.690]that we found out that when you put
[00:08:40.950]other pieces of equipment on your planter,
[00:08:43.010]like seed farmers, that it helps
[00:08:46.020]mitigate some of the risk of
[00:08:47.240]if you're deciding to plant faster, you know,
[00:08:49.140]some of the products that
[00:08:50.600]were promised to work over the years,
[00:08:52.100]especially on soybeans that
[00:08:53.690]didn't pan out quite like they said
[00:08:55.100]and some other products that
[00:08:56.530]that we figured out did work on our own operations
[00:08:58.870]and any of those things that we can utilize
[00:09:02.690]cost-effectively on the farm have always been good.
[00:09:05.457]And it's fun to see what works in some areas of the state
[00:09:07.530]and then what doesn't work in some areas.
[00:09:11.580]If there's an issue that I wanted to test
[00:09:15.040]something I wanna know if a certain product pays to use,
[00:09:18.640]if it helps or not,
[00:09:20.180]then I can do that and get some valuable expertise and
[00:09:24.650]in being able to test it in a way that
[00:09:27.180]I can rely on the results that I find.
[00:09:31.800]So if you'd like more information about this,
[00:09:33.970]go to the on-farm research site and
[00:09:38.210]it's on this, the URL is on the screen and
[00:09:41.220]there's all kinds of results there
[00:09:42.990]that you could look for this year and from previous years.

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Nebraska On Farm Research – Farmers’ Value of Participation

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