Collaborating Progress

OSU takes crop research to farms across Oklahoma

When the Hatch and SmithLever acts were approved, Congress’ influence shaped agriculture nationwide, including within Oklahoma.

Through the Hatch Act in 1891, Oklahoma received funding and established the first experiment station. The Smith-Lever Act established cooperative extension in 1914, and as the land-grant university, Oklahoma A&M College housed state agricultural experts, placing extension educators at the county levels.

These acts were crafted to provide education, techniques and practices to move agriculture into the future, said Brian Arnall, plant and soil sciences professor, and one of the techniques embraced has been demonstration plots, or on-farm research.

“On-farm research is where you get to put your projects and research efforts in the environments where farmers are,” said Jason Warren, OSU soil and water conservation/management extension specialist.

OSU researchers use university-owned research stations in Chickasha, Lahoma, and Stillwater, Oklahoma, as more controlled environments, Warren said, but they also use farmer-owned land.

During on-farm research, researchers put experiments in different or more challenging environments, Warren said.

“On-farm research is meant to be a multi-step process, where we do small plot research, which is typically done on research stations, maybe in a lab or in a greenhouse or actually on growers’ fields,” said Josh Lofton, cropping system extension specialist. “Field demonstrations, which typically are conducted on producers’ land, are meant to be the next step in implementation by taking a practice that shows promise and seeing if growers can feasibly do it on their fields.”

The research conducted either at research stations or on producers’ farms always starts from a question, Arnall said. These questions come from what the university wants answered or from problems farmers want solved in production, he added.

“The thing we hear is, ‘We’ve seen your research from the research stations. We want to know how it works in our field,’” Arnall said. “The farmers want to see the results. They want to see how they can take that data, apply it to their own system, and make themselves more sustainable.”

Getting research on farmers’ land starts different ways, Lofton said.

The farmers’ involvement can come from researchers asking, farmers volunteering, or county educators suggesting, he added.

“The educators are typically the ‘boots on the ground,’ the folks who are at ground zero whenever you’re talking about these kinds of things,” Lofton said. “So, sometimes the subject matter or what we are looking at from the on-farm research potentially came from them because they communicate with their growers a lot more than we are able to here in Stillwater.”

On-farm research has played a significant part of what Randy Taylor, assistant director and state program leader of the agriculture, natural resources, and community economic development programs for the Oklahoma cooperative extension service, has done throughout his career, he said. The interaction with local producers and working with them is integral on all levels, he added.

“One thing I see as extremely valuable is the deep connection to our client when we are doing on-farm research,” Taylor said. “We are not doing research on our own. We’re answering their questions.

“A lot of times they will have the hypothesis, though they may not call it that,” Taylor added, “but they’ve got questions they want answered.”

Extension is relationship-based at OSU, Taylor said.

The key to this relationship is county educators, who serve as direct contacts as they share information of the land-grant university from state and area specialists, he added.

“Farmers and the general public looking in see the division as a unit, though, as the same family,” Taylor said. “It has always been this way at OSU, and it will never change.”

Michaela Smith, master’s student in plant and soil sciences, saves her grain sorghum research trial data collected with the GreenSeeker Sensor.

Photo by Matt Staples.

OSU Agriculture researchers have worked with many farmers for a long time, Arnall said. These farmers, referred to as cooperators, continue to let experts use their land and the researchers just have to ask, he added.

“We have been farming in the Miami area for about 120 years,” said Brent Rendel, cooperating farmer and owner of Rendel Farms in Miami, Oklahoma. “My grandfather did some work with Oklahoma State on wheat research, and it has just continued. They’ve got to have a place to put their plots, so we cooperate with them.

“I use their expertise, but I develop my own ways of doing research on my farm, too,” Rendel said. “With that, I’m able to do and answer questions I want to get answered.”

On-farm research and the resulting relationships are beneficial to all, Taylor said.

The benefits of on-farm research can overcome any challenges if all involved are committed, Warren said.

“The challenge is you’ve got to really collaborate with the grower and make sure they are not going to spray something on top of the research that will mess it up or deviate the data,” Warren said.

Multiple variables, hardships, successes and failures occur when it comes to on-farm research, Lofton said. The farmers must buy in and be committed to the process, he added.

“I am an active participant in the research,” Rendel said. “If I’m not doing something, the research is not going to happen. It all depends on how you want to define it, whether you are a cooperator or whether you’re an actual member of the research team. You have to be willing to adjust what you would normally do because almost always the research is not what you normally do.

“Communication is the first, the middle and the last ingredient needed to make the process a success because without that it is very unlikely the results will be successful or meaningful,” Rendel said.

“There’s no downside of getting research done on your farm,” Rendel said. “Obviously, the university’s goal is to get answers that apply to very broad areas.”

Going into the process, farmers are aware of the possible hardships and how those will affect them, Arnall said.

“They give up a lot,” Arnall said. “We ask them to slow down when it’s time to go. Most producers want to go fast and not stop. Most of the time they give up production. We might be taking an acre out of production for them. That’s a challenge.”

Each of the research studies is different, Lofton said. During some trials, farmers are asked to treat the plots as they normally would and researchers come and collect samples, he added. On other trials, the cooperating farmers are asked to not do anything to the plots, Lofton said.

“We may say to them, ‘Please just look at it,’” Lofton said. “‘Bring your neighbors to it.’ Maybe they’re a strong believer in this practice, but maybe their fellow farmers at the coffee shop aren’t using it.”

The goal of on-farm research is to establish diversified datasets and a better understanding, Arnall said. OSU cannot replicate the different variables such as environment, soils and terrain around Oklahoma within its research stations, he added.

“On-farm research improves the broad application, significance and reliability of our science,” Arnall said. “It also allows us to take our science directly to the producers so they experience it firsthand.”

Working with farmers and doing on-farm research across Oklahoma provides better opportunities to do more diverse research, Arnall said.

“It is one thing to show producers something on a research farm which is intensively managed for research,” Arnall added. “It is a whole new level to show them something on their own farm or their neighbors’ farms.”

TIA ROZELL

Story by Tia Rozell of Osage County Oklahoma