On-Farm Trials Podcast with the PNW Farmers' Network

In this bonus episode ‘Stories from the Field’ we hear thoughts on the what, how, and why, around building soil health and cropping systems innovation in grain production systems of the inland Pacific Northwest. Listen to these highlights from interviews with Soil Health Producer of the year 2023 Clay Hutchens of Hutchens Family Farms in Dayton, WA, one of the original founders of the Pacific Northwest Direct Seed Association Mark Sheffles of the Sheffles Company outside of Wilbur, WA, and Aaron Esser of WSU Extension and Howard Nelson retired career agronomist and land owner in Lincoln county, about the challenges and rewards working hard to grow food, and steward land, in their communities.

In this episode we hear from WSU Extension Specialist Aaron Esser, and land-owner cooperator Howard Nelson of Creston, WA. In this interview on the WSU Wilke Research Farm in Davenport, WA our guests discuss liming trials along with soil pH as it relates to maintaining soil health. We also hear about a long history of collaboration from work on winter peas, to decision-making for the advisory committee for the Wilke Farm.

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!

Join this conversation about On-Farm Trials with recently-retired farmer, Mark Sheffles, outsideof Wilbur, Washington. Mark describes his trials with winter peas, the Weed-it spot sprayer, andhis history with direct seeding.

In this bonus episode, "Stories from the Field", we hear thoughts on the what, how, and why,around building soil health and cropping systems innovation in grain production systems of the inland Pacific Northwest. Listen to these highlights from interviews with Uhlorn Family Farms team, Tom Conklin, and Douglas Poole about the challenges and rewards working hard to grow food, and steward land in their communities.

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 inMansfield, Washington as he describes how his trials are intended to work with the ecologicalsystems on his farm. Douglas shares his experiences from collaring cows to harnessing soilmicrobes, planting alternative crops, hosting landlord parties to talk cover cropping and soilhealth, a decades-long legacy of biosolids, and creating/conserving sage grouse habitat on thefarm.

The interviews compiled for another special episode of Stories from the Field featuresRuss Zenner retired farmer from Genesee, Idaho, Clint Zenner farming outside of GenesseIdaho talking with University of Idaho researcher Kendall Kahl, and Tracy Erikson retiring farmeroutside of St. John, WA.

In this episode we hear from Tom Conklin of Wittman Family Farms outside of Cul de Sac, Idaho on how their farm team works together to design, track, and evaluate their ‘farm scientific trials’ from cows to water and towards lower inputs and diversification goals.

In this episode we hear a career retrospective from Tracy Erikson outside of St. John, WA, and how his lifetime pursuit of learning has evolved innovation and trials on the farm along with his impact on the landscape over decades. He describes starting the fabrication of his first no-till drill up to current interests and trials looking under the microscope for signs of soil health, spray water quality, and opportunities in drone technology on the farm.

This episode of the On-Farm Trials podcast features Clint Zenner of Zenner FamilyFarms in Genesse, ID and his collaboration as a PI on the PNW cover crops projectalongside Kendall Kahl of the University of Idaho. A conversation with them highlightsyears of working together that has resulted in a wealth of knowledge on cover crops,cows, and even earth worms! Listen to their conversation about how they are workingtogether to ask and answer important soil health and cropping systems innovation forthe farm and region with their on-farm trials.

This episode of the On-Farm Trials podcast features Clint Zenner of Zenner FamilyFarms in Genesse, ID and his collaboration as a PI on the PNW cover crops projectalongside Kendall Kahl of the University of Idaho. A conversation with them highlightsyears of working together that has resulted in a wealth of knowledge on cover crops,cows, and even earth worms! Listen to their conversation about how they are workingtogether to ask and answer important soil health and cropping systems innovation forthe farm and region with their on-farm trials.

The interviews compiled for another special episode Stories from the Field feature Erin Ruheland Doug Schuster of Westfield Properties in St. John, Washington, Frank Wolfe of LesterWolfe Farms talking with Subodh Adhikari of the University of Idaho in Uniontown, Washingtonand Derek Schafer of Schafer Farm and Ranch in Lind, Washington. If you want to hear morefrom any of these guests you can find their full length interviews in the On-Farm Trials podcastarchives.

Our guest for this episode is Russ Zenner, a retired farmer from Genesee, Idaho. Listen to theconversation to hear him describe the trials from the early days of Direct Seeding in the region,value-added and identity-preserved marketing, and share his thoughts on climate change andgoats, working with research and conservation partners, and the importance of life-longlearning.

In this episode we hear from Doug Schuester and his daughter Erin Ruehl outside of St. John,WA - as they talk about their on-farm trials in remediating eroded hilltops with compost andcover crops, growing cows and canola, and some farm succession planning.

This episode of on-farm trials features Frank Wolf of Lester Wolf farms outside of Uniontown,Washington, and his collaboration as a PI on the PNW cover crops project alongside SubodhAdhikari of the University of Idaho. A conversation with them highlights years of workingtogether that has resulted in these collaborative on-farm cover crop trials, how they are workingtogether to look at various mixes, get them seeded, and what and how data is being collected tomeasure impact on subsequent crops, soil, weeds, and insects to create a regionaldecision-making tool based on their findings.

This compilation of interviews features Garrett Moon of Moon Family Farms with Researcher Dr.Garett Heineck with the USDA-ARS in the Horse Heaven Hills, Andy Juris of Diamond J Farmsin Bickleton, WA, and Wade Troutman of Open Heart Farms in Bridgeport, WA. In the episodewe dig into stories from the field, as these growers share their stories of cropping systemsinnovation in the face of constantly changing conditions from markets to climate.

In this episode, we talk with Derek Schafer about farming between Lind and Ritzville, just around the corner from the Lind Research Station where their farm has a long history of working in partnership with researchers to advance the regional cropping system. He talks about his experience growing fall seeded peas and canola in rotation with wheat, their farm’s transition to no-till, and managing weeds like Russian Thistle with rotation and spot spray technology.

Join the conversation with Andy Juris on his Diamond J Farm, in Bickleton, WA as he discusses his trials with herbicide resistance, transitions in tillage systems, diversifying the cropping system in the face of changing conditions, why innovation is critical, and talking crop insurance and ag transportation issues with policy makers in DC and Olympia.