Part 3 about why Farming Smarter restructured into units for 2020.
Lewis Baarda, On-Farm Research, leads the Field-tested unit doing field-scale research with farmers and farm managers. The unit works with farmers who may have a question about new technology, product or idea that needs evaluating in a real-world environment and the Farming Smarter crew design trials, take care of all the details and research to get answers for the farmers. The unit also creates a network of producers that helps get more data to get better results. This service helps take a load of the producers' back since they don't have to worry about trial details or timing with the trial in good hands. They can know the trial will be well managed and can trust the results and data collected.
A good example of what the Field-tested unit does would the In-season soil conductivity mapping project. This project's goal is to evaluate the use of the Em38 soil conductivity sensor as a real-time soil moisture mapping tool. This is a new way of using technology that could help farmers get near real-time efficiency of crop production inputs such as water and nitrogen fertilizer. This would help farmers get more accurate information to make important crop input decisions.
If you want more information or want to participate in the Field-tested program, visit the Field-tested Program page or contact Lewis.
Other business units
The custom research unit, led by research associate Trevor Deering, does research for private companies on crop protection and management products and techniques.
The research unit run by soil scientist, Gurbir Dhillon Ph.D., and research coordinator, Mike Gretzinger, leads grant-funded research projects either led by Farming Smarter or in collaboration with researchers from other institutions.
This unit's goal is to share learning that comes from Farming Smarter and other researchers. The unit produces all external communication and extension.