b"The Plot2Farm program gives farmers answers to the agronomic questions they have about how best to improve field practices through a better representation of how a given research trial will translate, or not, at a local farm.PHOTO: ALBERTA WHEAT/BARLEY COMMISSIONSpounds is what we would normally put on a barley crop, but thehelpful information out of it.reason I did it was I was curious. Should we be pushing it morePlot2Farm continues on a recent policy shift in Alberta than 65 pounds with this variety? You know, maybe we can goagricultural research to promote applied aspects. At Results to 80 pounds, for example, and gain 10 bushels. Driven Agricultural Research (RDAR), the organization is glad The trial that Lenz set up with the help of Boychyn and hisPlot2Farm exists and believes its reflective of farmers needs for assistant agronomist Dan Orchard was created to work withinground truth and results at a size and scale that will be of a real his machinery which is a 45-foot seed drill and a 35-footvalue. Factoring into account the local conditions of a farms soil, combine header. The harvested replicate strips were about 35weather variation and other environmental factors are all logical feet by a half-mile long. Each strip Lenz harvested was 2.2 acresaspects of such an applied program.worth of barley. The trials are important to test what that practice change The entire project was a fair amount of work and Lenzlooks like at more of a field-scale level using producer was glad to have help at various times. Lenz explained he feltmachinery before going and adopting at a larger scale, says supported throughout the entire duration of the trial.Clinton Dobson, research director with RDAR. It de-risks that The team helped him with plant emergence counts, final plantinvestment of adopting new technology or addressing some of stand counts, driving the grain cart and recording all the weightsthose adjustments that producers may be looking at, and just and generally made sure his experiment would be a success. want to test before they do that.The program is set up to make it very easy for producers to haveDobson says the simplicity of Plot2Farms goal to answer support in designing the plot and collecting the data, he says. straightforward questions is what will likely continue to Lenz encourages any Alberta farmer that wants to learn moreincrease participation. about a field-scale trial on their land to investigate the program. Farmers also trust other farmers, he says. The Plot2Farm Its about trying new stuff, pushing different varieties withinitiative provides and a validated approach to guiding nitrogen testing, row spaces and seeding rates, he says. Thatdecisions in terms of plot design, statistics and to get grounded data can be shared and help others, as well. I'm not going toin economics of the scenarios. Its exciting.do one every year, but certainly if I have something that I wantApplications for the 2023 growing season are now open. For to trial on my farm, the program makes it very easy. If you putmore information, visit plot2farm.com. some time and effort into it, youre going to get more accurate, Trevor Bacque16seed.ab.ca"