Here on the On-Farm Trials Podcast, host Carol McFarland dives into the different trials that come with farming systems innovation in the inland Pacific Northwest, speaking with professionals all across the region about how they get things done.
In this episode of the On-Farm Trials podcast we hear from Clay Hutchens of Hutchens Family Farms outside of Dayton, Washington. Join the conversation to hear from Clay as the Washington Soil Health Initiative’s Soil Health Producer of the Year for 2023, what soil health means to him and his perspective on the imperative of a safe and abundant food supply. He shares his thoughts on soil acidification and his experience collaborating with the Columbia County Conservation District to ameliorate soil acidification with lime, and his experience as an early adopter of precision nutrient management technology - don’t miss his description of adapting his early computers to the tractor cab!
This episode of On-Farm Trials comes to you from the Rosanoff Homestead outside of Ritzville, WA where we hear from Ron Jirava and the WSU research team Dr. Bill Schilinger, Dr. Tim Paulitz, Dr. Jeremy Hansen, Dr. Surendra Singh, and Bruce Sower about their work together on the longest running Dryland On-Farm Trial collaboration in Washington State. Their conversation covers an array of the work that has come from this trial around alternative cropping systems, the soil microbiome, pathogens, tillage equipment, and residue management and how they all of these management strategies interact with soil moisture in a dryland environment. We also hear about future directions for the research to come, building on past work and exploring new ideas, including even more focus on soil health!
Join the conversation on Uhlorn Family Farms outside of Cottonwood, ID with Darrel and Brentley Uhlorn and Dave Dahlsrud. In this interview they describe their trials with cropping system innovations, alternative crops, weed management, integrating cattle, and using compost teas, extracts, biostimulants, and foliar fertilizers at production scale.
This episode of the On-Farm Trials podcast features an interview with farmer Douglas Poole in Mansfield, Washington as he describes how his trials are intended to work with the ecological systems on his farm. Douglas shares his experiences from collaring cows to harnessing soil microbes, planting alternative crops, hosting landlord parties to talk cover cropping and soil health, a decades-long legacy of biosolids, and creating/conserving sage grouse habitat on the farm.
