{"id":4318,"date":"2025-09-08T16:33:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T20:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/outcropn\/?p=4318"},"modified":"2025-09-23T14:48:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T18:48:36","slug":"creating-vermonts-on-farm-research-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/outcropn\/2025\/09\/08\/creating-vermonts-on-farm-research-network\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating Vermont’s On-Farm Research Network"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by Elizabeth Seyler<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWhat corn variety grows best in my soil type?\u201d \u201cWhat cover crop would help me meet my conservation goals?\u201d \u201cDoes this new fertilizer improve yields?\u201d Vermont farmers are committed to land stewardship practices that protect soil and water quality, and they\u2019re constantly gauging how to invest time and money in crops, technology, equipment, and management practices to grow food and fiber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To answer their questions, many rely on research-based results and guidance from technical service providers such as Extension, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Natural Resources Conservation Districts (NRCD), and consultants. But research studies are rarely conducted in fields with the same conditions and pests as farmers’ own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s where Vermont\u2019s On-Farm Research Network<\/a> (OFRN) can help. It will be a free online tool to help farmers conduct experiments in their own fields to generate results they can use. OFRN will support a form of research called participatory action research (PAR), which emphasizes participation and action by members of communities affected by that research. It will streamline the PAR process to make it accessible and inviting to farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adaptation has always been part of farming, but increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather due to global warming is forcing farmers to adjust their management practices more quickly and frequently. OFRN will provide geographically relevant, management-specific data to help farmers improve crop yield, crop quality, farm resilience, land stewardship, and more. It will give farmers access to data they need to adapt to rapidly shifting conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OFRN will also benefit researchers. It will reduce outreach burnout by giving them access to a network of farmers seeking to engage in on-farm research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vermont’s On-Farm Research Network<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Members of UVM Extension\u2019s Northwest Crops and Soils Program<\/a> (NWCS) are leading creation of Vermont\u2019s OFRN. Many top agricultural universities have similar networks and resources, such as the Nebraska On-Farm Research Network<\/a> and its FarmStat<\/a> online tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vermont\u2019s OFRN will have three online components, called AgConnect\u2014the experiment portal for farmers, the experiment management portal for researchers, and the completed research database for everyone. This multifaceted tool is currently in development and scheduled for release in December 2025. User support will be available after release. Initially, OFRN will focus on Vermont and Vermont farmers, but it has the capacity to expand nationally and internationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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AgConnect Portal for Farmers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

UVM Extension\u2019s NWCS team is collaborating with farmer groups, researchers and software developers to create the AgConnect portal for farmers. It will invite them to suggest on-farm experiments that address their pressing questions and\/or join newly designed experiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AgConnect Portal for Researchers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Researchers will use the AgConnect experiment management portal to recruit for<\/a>, design, monitor, report on, and share results of on-farm experiments. The portal’s user-friendly design will help researchers create clear instructions for data collection, ensuring that results are useful and consistent across experiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AgConnect Research Database<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Farmers, researchers, industry stakeholders, and policymakers want easy access to research results to help them synthesize information and to inform decision making. These data are currently available in many forms\u2014such as reports, presentations, and fact sheets\u2014at numerous online and physical locations. Tracking down studies relevant to specific locales and farming practices can be daunting. OFRN changes that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AgConnect completed research database will be a free, searchable, open-source repository of past and current research conducted on working farms and research farms. It will provide a place to store and retrieve results, accessible to anyone. The OFRN team will keep adding research results, expanding the scope of the database over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

User Support<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

UVM Extension\u2019s NWCS team will be available to support farmers and researchers at every step, from joining AgConnect to conducting an on-farm experiment to collecting data and interpreting the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collaborating To Create OFRN and AgConnect<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In early January 2025, UVM Extension\u2019s NWCS team began collaborating with individual farmers, farmer groups, other UVM researchers, industry stakeholders, and policy makers to creat OFRN and design AgConnect. The NWCS team is particularly pleased to be partnering with two farmer organizations: the Franklin & Grand Isle Farmer\u2019s Watershed Alliance<\/a> (FWA) and the Connecticut River Watershed Farmers Alliance<\/a> (CRWFA). Both organizations\u2019 members are Vermont farmers whose products include vegetables, livestock, dairy, and specialty crops. In July, they and others participated in several focus groups and provided feedback to make AgConnect more user-friendly and useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the project\u2019s inception, the NWCS team has also been working closely with Data Scientist Chris Donovan of the Food Systems Research Institute<\/a> at UVM and with Vermont company GameTheory<\/a> on tool features and design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How To Get Involved<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Are you a Vermont farmer interested in addressing questions through on-farm research? Are you a researcher or technical assistance provider seeking farmers to participate in on-farm research? OFRN can help. To stay updated, visit the NWCS website<\/a>, subscribe to our monthly email newsletter<\/a>, and follow us on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seek farmers and researchers to test all facets of AgConnect. Interested in joining a focus group and giving feedback? Contact UVM Extension Outreach Specialist Shannon MacDonald at Shannon.Macdonald@uvm.edu<\/a>. Tell her who you are and how you\u2019d like to participate. She\u2019ll put you in touch with the right person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funding<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Creation of the On-farm Research Network and AgConnect is made possible with funding from the Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships<\/a> and the Food Systems Research Institute<\/a> at UVM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Elizabeth Seyler \u201cWhat corn variety grows best in my soil type?\u201d \u201cWhat cover crop would help me meet my conservation goals?\u201d \u201cDoes this new fertilizer improve yields?\u201d Vermont farmers are committed to land stewardship practices that protect soil and water quality, and they\u2019re constantly gauging how to invest time and money in crops, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Creating Vermont’s On-Farm Research Network”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":909,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"outcropn","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/outcropn\/author\/outcropn\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p67qLh-17E","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/outcropn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/outcropn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/outcropn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/outcropn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/909"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/outcropn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4318"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/outcropn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4324,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/outcropn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4318\/revisions\/4324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/outcropn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/outcropn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/outcropn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}