Since its beginning in 1989, the Nebraska On-Farm Research Network has helped producers, in partnership with Nebraska Extension, analyze experiments suited to the specific conditions of their fields. This collaboration has boosted agronomic understanding, as well as producer profits. On-Farm Experimentation, or OFE, is a growing phenomenon worldwide, and a new journal article co-authored by a Nebraska Extension specialist explains that global dimension and the opportunities to better coordinate conventional agronomic research with producer-generated findings and analysis.

Laura Thompson, an extension educator with wide-ranging experience with the Nebraska On-Farm Research Network, joined contributors from Canada, Argentina, the United Kingdom, France, Morocco, Malaysia and China in writing “On-Farm Experimentation to transform global agriculture.” The article appears in the journal Nature Food.

OFE now comprises “a distinct and growing community of practice” worldwide, with more than 30,000 farms participating in more than 30 countries, the article estimates. Unlike Nebraska’s On-Farm Research Network, OFE initiatives are usually relatively recent. An international network involved in 11 OFE initiatives across the world formed to expand understanding of the approach and its momentum.

To read more about Thompson’s work through the On-Farm Research and OFE initiatives, read this article.

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