Developing Organic On-Farm Research Groups: Benefits and Challenges to Farmers and Researchers.

There is growing consensus that research conducted on farms has a distinct advantage because of larger plot sizes, involvement of the farmer, and immediate adoption of successful methods by the cooperator and neighbors. Results generated from a working farm, with all its resource and equipment constraints, compared to results from small plots on the experiment station have more credibility to farmers. Funded by USDA as an OREI project, the objective was to establish three on-farm research groups across Nebraska.  Extension educators and researchers identified that the organic farming community was spread throughout the state and organic farmers lacked a way to communicate and share ideas with another.  A partnership between research and extension and the practicing organic farmer needed to be established that recognized the skills, special talents, and perspectives of each in order to have long-term success in organic farming.  Researchers and Extension personnel had to be flexible about research protocols and the hypotheses generated by organic farmers and organic farmers had to be open to the necessities of the scientific method. Over a three year period, seven planning meetings resulted in 15 on-farm experiments.