There is no better place to conduct practical agronomic research than in the real world, under the same conditions and using the same equipment and management techniques.
This is the premise underlying the Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Producer On-Farm Network, a farmer-led research program that was officially launched 10 years ago in 2014.
“We thought we needed to validate some of the things we learned from small plot studies and actually apply them to field scale. How it actually works, in the field,” MPSG Production Specialist Laura Schmidt explains in this latest episode of Edible Bean School.
As part of the On Farm Network, 34 trials were conducted in collaboration with dry bean producers in Manitoba. 19 focused on fungicide application, 6 focused on nitrogen rates, 5 on inoculants, 3 on strip-till, and 1 on biological treatment (research Check out the report here).
For example, a Manitoba farm trial showed that a single application of a foliar fungicide to early kidney beans (R2) increased yield by 11 per cent, with an average yield increase of 170 lb/ac. I am.
Regarding N rates, testing has shown that environmental conditions and field history are the main factors in the response of nitrogen-fixing beans, with half of the field trials seeing yields between 8 and 8 when applying 70 lbs of N/ac. increased by 17 percent.
“We’re finding that many dry bean crops actually form rhizobial nodules in the soil. So what else can we do to encourage that? The nitrogen ratio is Are we going to go back? Are we trying these vaccination products around nitrogen nutrition? We have a history with dry beans, so we’d love to take advantage of that and fine-tune our nitrogen management decisions. ,” Schmidt said.
She recommends that farmers interested in conducting their own research check the following: step-by-step guide How to set up farm trials in a way that maximizes confidence in the results.
Watch this episode filmed at Dry Bean Day 2024 in Altona, Mansany, where Laura talks about the value of on-farm research in managing edible beans.
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