Are you an organic or transitioning farmer or rancher who wants to test out a new agricultural practice on your farm?
OFRF’s new Farmer-Led Trials program provides farmers with funding and technical assistance to investigate and learn about solutions to their most pressing production challenges. Read more to find out how you can be part of this program!
Farmer Led Trials (FLT) Program Overview
OFRF believes in supporting organic farmers and ranchers in their constant search for innovation and farm profitability. The FLT program puts farmers in the driver’s seat, and recognizes their wisdom, experimentation and problem solving skills. Built in the spirit of curiosity and collaboration, this program will support farmers and ranchers in conducting impactful research that can address their unique challenges.
Organic farming and ranching takes dedication, financial investment, and a great deal of trial and error to adapt to a growing array of pest, disease, and soil health challenges. In order to address the challenges certified organic and transitioning-to-organic producers face, OFRF’s FLT program will provide support for on-farm learning trials aimed at testing new practices, inputs, varieties, or animal breeds that can improve profitability and environmental sustainability, leading to more resilient organic farms and ranches.
Why Farmer-Led Trials?
Research studies have shown that farmers greatly benefit when they lead on-farm research trials at their farms. Conducting your own research allows you to address your farm-specific questions, and has historically supported the adoption and innovation of sustainable agricultural practices across the world (Wettasinha, et al. 2014).
Program Goals
The goals of the FLT Program are to support farmers and ranchers in conducting practical, on-farm research that can address their farming challenges and to support farmer-led innovations in organic farming. While the FLT program includes direct technical and financial support, OFRF also aims to foster a broad community of farmer-researchers. Our newly released Farmers Guide to Conducting On-Farm Research (available now, free to download!) can be a reference for any farmer or rancher wanting to conduct their own on farm trials.
“On farm trials represent a powerful way for farmers to gain agency and support in solving our most pressing challenges.”
-April Thatcher, farmer at April Joy Farm, WA.
Priority topics for trial proposals include, but are not limited to the following areas:
- Weed suppression
- Maintaining or improving yields
- Soil health
- Cover crops
- Insect pest suppression
- Disease suppression
- Organic crop variety and seed trials
- Organic livestock breeds and management
Eligibility
- Eligible participants include any farmer or rancher in the U.S. or its territories.
- Farms must be certified organic or in transition to organic.
- Participants must have management abilities, lease, or ownership of the farm where trials are to occur.
- Priority will be given to Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), veteran and beginning farmers.
Support from OFRF
Throughout the on-farm trial process, OFRF will provide technical assistance to help farmer-researchers refine their research questions, design their experiments, identify data collection protocols, analyze data, and present their findings. See the FAQ section below for more information. As part of the technical assistance support, OFRF is excited to share our brand new Farmers Guide to Conducting On-Farm Research, which we encourage all applicants to read prior to submitting a proposal.
Additionally, farmer-researchers will receive a stipend total of $1,500, which can be used to pay for supplies, small equipment, data collection tools, testing or labor.
Farmer-Researchers Commitment
Program participants are expected to:
- Work closely with OFRF staff for the entire duration of the project, to refine research questions, design the trials, provide regular updates to OFRF, and share data and findings.
- Work with OFRF to develop and follow a project timeline that will contain all the important dates and activities throughout the trial.
- Regularly collect data and record findings for the project.
- Take photos that depict the differences and observations among the treatments/trials and other relevant photos throughout the project.
- Agree to share their trial results openly. This may include: blog posts, pictures, webinar/video presentations, or other shareable media.
- Help complete a final finding report and share project results via webinar and/or Farmer-Researcher Forum. OFRF will give dates and support for all project presentations.
Application Process
The application will emphasize the importance of a “good question”: something that is measurable, achievable, and will help the farmer answer a production challenge and learn more about conducting research on their farm. Farmers will be asked to describe their potential project through straightforward questions about their motivation, potential practices to test, measurements of interest, space available, potential challenges, other considerations, and how their trial fits the research priorities identified by OFRF.
An example of a completed application can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section. In full transparency, see the rubric form that reviewers will use to evaluate your proposal. For inspiration, other examples of on-farm research can be found on Appendix 4 of OFRF’s Farmers Guide to Conducting On-Farm Research.
When completing your application, you will be able to save your answers and return another time to finish your submission. Please remember to save the link so that you can return to your application when you are ready to submit. You can also use this blank application to draft your answers if it’s helpful, and then write or copy-and-paste your answers in the online application when you are ready to submit.
Applications will be accepted beginning November 1st, 2023 through December 3, 2023.
The advisory committee will review proposals and notify successful applicants in January 2024. Farmer agreements will be signed prior to the start of the trial and the disbursement of funds. Those that are not selected for trials are encouraged to flesh out ideas based on the feedback received from the committee so they can apply again next year.
For help in the application process, contact OFRF’s Research & Education Engagement Coordinator, Jose Perez. Email: jose@ofrf.org
References
- Wettasinha C, Waters-Bayer A, van Veldhuizen L, Quiroga G and Swaans K. 2014. Study on impacts of farmer-led research supported by civil society organizations. Penang, Malaysia: CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems. Working Paper: AAS-2014-40.