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Written by Brian Geier

Snacks, refreshments, and a circle of chairs were ready as a group of organic dairy farmers gathered together in southeast Minnesota for a listening session hosted by organic dairy researcher Dr. Brad Heins. Based in the west-central part of the state, Heins wanted to know more about what organic dairy farmers were facing in the southeast. For most of the event, he listened and allowed the producers to speak amongst themselves about the challenges they were facing. Meg Stuedemann of Derrydale Farm recalls Dr. Heins treated it like an informal focus group. “He’d ask a question and sit back and listen to who had been exploring what, who was interested in what, and how many people were dealing with the same issue.” 

Meg recently joined an OFRF panel of farmers and researchers to discuss successful farmer-researcher collaborations for organic agriculture. The panel took place in January of 2025, and is one of OFRF’s Seeds of Success Networking Sessions, a project funded by a cooperative agreement with USDA-NIFA. Other panelists included Dr. Mary Hendrickson, Professor in Rural Sociology at the University of Missouri, Dr. Kerry Clark, Research Professor and Soybean breeder at the University of Missouri and farmer Liz Graznak of Happy Hollow Farm in Jamestown, Missouri. A link to the full recording of the panel is available at the end of this post. 

Meg Stuedemann, Derrydale Farm, Belle Plaine, MN

Dr. Mary Hendrickson, Professor in Rural Sociology, University of Missouri

Liz Graznak, Happy Hollow Farm, Jamestown, Missouri

Dr. Kerry Clark, Research Professor, University of Missouri

Building Trust with Farmers

Spending time with farmers helps build trust reciprocal relationships that are key to successful farmer-researcher collaboration. “We (farmers) are most interested to participate in projects when it is a question that we are interested in,” said Meg, recalling the positive experience she had collaborating with Dr. Heins following the listening session. 

Dr. Mary Hendrickson agreed that being in community with farmers is key to successful research. From her perspective, a lot of the early research work in the 1990’s around grazing dairy and grazing herds in Missouri can be traced back to two researchers who attended “grazing clusters”, monthly peer-to-peer meetups of farmers who met at each other’s farms. Attending the farmers’ conversations allowed the researchers to find researchable questions and resulted in what Dr. Hendrickson called “extremely successful collaborating between grazing, forage researchers (and) beef producers.”

“Every good research idea I’ve ever had has come from being in community and working with farmers…so it [good research] is not my idea really. It really behooves researchers to be out with farmers.” -Dr. Mary Hendrickson

Even if researchers do not have a lot of opportunities to listen directly to farmers, Meg pointed out that they can get a sense of what research farmers are interested in by searching the SARE database, OFRF’s grant database, or state-level programs for on-farm research in their area. “I would be thrilled if someone called me and said, ‘I read about your paper and want to collaborate,’” Meg explained. 

Farmer Involvement in Organic Research

While networking can ensure farmers can help generate ideas for new research, involving farmers in research projects can be a whole other challenge. 

Even after a good research idea has been identified, researchers may have to wait months for funders’ Request for Applications (RFA’s) to be released before they know the specifics for proposals and timelines. These can have very regimented procedures that researchers have to stick to throughout the project period (several years). And it can take months to write a proposal and then several more months before researchers find out if they got the funding. 

To ensure farmer involvement in a given project, knowing several farmers within the industry can help. “Sometimes you end up doing on-farm research with a different farmer than the one that helped generate the idea,” Dr. Clark explained.

For collaboration to work, it is important for researchers to understand that farmers have different priorities. “The farm will always come first,” explained Mary, and Liz agreed. Clear agreements can lead to better outcomes. Meg suggested that more in-person involvement on the farm throughout the project period may help. “Researchers cannot expect farmers to be technicians,” she said. More in-person involvement from the research team, especially at data collection, can help uphold the integrity of the research. 

Even with the best of planning, “Sometimes it just doesn’t work out,” Dr. Clark cautions. She recounted one grazing experiment where the cows kept getting out despite the farmer’s best efforts, and that the research on that farm was ruined for that year. “Don’t feel bad,” Clark advises, “keep trying.”

Compensation for Farmers

While everyone on the panel agreed that farmers’ time is valuable and should be compensated for, amounts are not standardized and can vary greatly from project to project depending on the level of involvement and on what was originally written into a grant. Farmer involvement can even be a requirement in some RFA’s but specifics on those amounts are rarely, if ever, provided. 

Even if a research project is only utilizing land on a working farm, and not requiring a farmer to do any work or data collection, a stipend is expected. But panelists reported offering very different amounts ranging from a few hundred dollars to $2,000. While the researchers on the panel compared the different amounts they’d offered to farmers for their projects, one attendee of the session chimed in the chat to remind everyone that if farmers had been involved at the beginning of those projects, they could have helped set those payment amounts. 

For any use of a farmer’s time, it was recommended that they be treated as professional consultants or specialized contractors, and given a comparable rate.

Farmers Value Long-Term Relationships

One key to the success of farmer-researcher collaboration came up amongst the farmers on the panel, and it echoes what OFRF heard at a panel discussion in early 2024 with Project Directors and collaborating farmers working on USDA-funded organic research projects: long-term relationships build trust. 

That process can start well before a project, with researchers spending time with farmers, or with farmers reaching out to researchers. There are a lot more farmers than there are researchers, so it may be easier for farmers to reach out to researchers than the other way around. “Don’t be afraid to call the University in your state,” said Clark.

The  Follow-Up: An Overlooked Key to Ongoing Success

Once earned, the trust of farmers must be kept. And that, according to farmers on the panel, requires connecting after the conclusion of on-farm research. Farmers report that seeing the end result of research that they contributed to was one of, if not the most important thing to feeling like it was worthwhile. 

“One of the biggest frustrations is not finding out the bigger picture that my farm or my participation has contributed to. I don’t think I’ve ever worked with a researcher who has sent me the final paper or sent me an extension publication or the final paper and said, “This is what you were involved in.” That would mean more to me than the stipend.” -Meg Stuedemann, Derrydale Farm

“I agree that acknowledging that farmers are professionals and that compensation is appreciated,” Meg said. “But it’s not why I say yes. It is not a revenue stream for my farm. But knowing what happened would be really wonderful.” According to the farmers on the panel, that could look like simply getting a call or better yet getting sent complementary copies of published papers or extension resources.

Watch the full Seeds of Success networking session:

About the Seeds of Success Series

OFRF has partnered with the Organic Farmers Association (OFA) and National Organic Coalition (NOC) to lead a series of virtual farmer-to-farmer networking sessions. These facilitated events will be engaging opportunities for farmers to share their challenges and successes, and will be accompanied with relevant resources you can use.

To learn more about these and other events from OFRF visit: https://ofrf.org/events/

Funding for this series is provided by a cooperative agreement between OFRF and USDA- NIFA to highlight research investments made through both OREI and ORG grant programs.

Learn more about the Organic Agriculture program at USDA-NIFA at:  https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/programs/organic-agriculture-program

Written by Brian Geier, OFRF Communications Manger. This article was originally published in Pennsylvania Certified Organic’s (PCO) Organic Matters publication. See the article in PCO’s Winter/Spring 2025 edition.

Before diving into the importance and impact of organic research in Pennsylvania, let’s start with some national context. Nationwide, certified organic produce now makes up more than 15% of total produce sales in the United States. Organic dairy and eggs now constitute more than 11% of the total market. And overall, organic sales have doubled over the last 10 years and in 2024 made up about 6% of the total US food market. By most measurements, organic food is trending upward. Most notably, the growth of organic sales is consistently outpacing the growth of the overall food market. To say it another way, we might be heading into a future that is more and more organic! 

But will we get there? 

Despite the growth of the organic sector, organic agriculture research funding makes up less than 2% of the total research at the USDA, and less than 1% at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Additionally, much of the research focused on conventional agriculture relates to chemical applications or genetic traits—technologies that organic producers do not, and if certified, can not, use. To put it another way, organic research benefits all farmers, including conventional ones, but not the other way around.

In order to sustain the growth in organic acreage, producers, and products, it is crucial that more USDA funding be organic and applicable to all farmers. National policy priorities identified by the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) include:

• Increasing USDA’s research funding for organic research through both competitive grant programs at the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and intramural research at ARS to reflect its market share and growth trajectory.
• Fully funding the Organic Data Initiative to provide the necessary market analysis of a rapidly sophisticating sector. 
• Expanding the accessibility and applicability of technical and financial assistance programs for organic farmers. 

To learn more about this policy work that supports organic nationwide and in Pennsylvania, visit OFRF’s advocacy page.

Organic Research in the Keystone State

Pennsylvania is a powerhouse of organic agriculture. It ranked 4th in the nation with over 100,000 certified acres and 1,200+ farms generating $1 billion in sales in 2021, according to the latest organic survey by the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

The USDA’s NIFA has awarded over $28 million in grants to the state’s research institutions for organic research. Penn State University has played a crucial role, investing $12 million. The ARS has historically funded 17 projects in the state researching organic topics, but currently has no active projects. 

Organic farmers in the state and region have identified three key research concerns (according to the 2022 National Organic Research Agenda): 

• Climate adaptation and resilience. 
• Pest management.
• Soil health.

Active Research Projects in Pennsylvania

Recent NIFA investments, through programs like the Organic Research and Extension Initiative (OREI) and the Organic Transitions Program (ORG), have provided nearly $12 million over the past four years to ongoing projects with an organic focus in Pennsylvania. Key projects at Penn State focus on intensifying production and improving resilience of organic grains, developing a nitrogen decision support tool, testing anaerobic soil disinfection (ASD) in fields and in high tunnels, tracking foraging patterns of organic bees, evaluating perennial crop rotations, and developing parasite resistance in dairy cattle. Another project looking at immersive experiential education of urban educators is underway at Drexel University.

OFRF’s State-By-State leave-behinds provide data on the organic industry and organic research in states, and can be used to help farmers, researchers, and advocates when articulating needs for proposals or advocating for policy.

OREI-funded research on organic grain production (led by Dr. John Wallace) builds on previous research on reduced and no-til strategies, including planting into high-residue cover crops. Credit: Penn State Weed Science.

Besides providing new knowledge to organic growers, each of these research projects have other direct and indirect benefits worth noting. The Economic Research Service estimates that every $1 spent on agricultural research generates an additional $20 in benefits to the economy. In Pennsylvania, that means the $28 million for organic research translates to $560 million in economic activity. This effect can be seen given the growth of the value in Pennsylvania’s organic production between 2019 and 2021. In 2019, Pennsylvania had 1,039 organic farms with over $740 million in farmgate sales. In 2021, those numbers grew to 1,123 organic farms generating over $1 billion. Research provides real economic opportunities to farms looking to maximize both their economic return and their ecological impact.

Additionally, organic research provides professional training opportunities for undergraduates, graduates, and postdoctoral fellows on organic systems, and promotes symbiosis between up-and-coming researchers and the organic community. As Dr. Ajay Nair, newly appointed as the Department of Horticulture Chair at Iowa State University explained in a recent interview with OFRF, OREI “is the foundation for several of the organic projects that happen across the country. It serves as a good platform for us to reach out to organic growers and for organic growers to reach out to us and say, ‘Hey, can we address this particular issue that is coming up?’” These OREI grants, he explains, are “actually helping to build our network…to help us build teams across the country.” 

How Pennsylvania Research Benefits Growers Across the Eastern US

Just as organic research can be applicable to all farmers, multi-state projects led in Pennsylvania are bringing new findings to organic farmers facing similar challenges across regions. For example, the OREI-funded project assessing ASD in field, led by Dr. Gioia at Penn State, includes similar research plots led by Dr. Xin Zhao at University of Florida. Results from Pennsylvania may provide insights for growers in the Northeast who face challenges managing soil borne diseases, while the plots in Florida reflect conditions faced by organic growers in the Southeast, but results from each region might inform growers who face similar challenges to similar cropping systems. Growers interested in managing soil health with ASD in the Upper Midwest or the Southeast might find the eOrganic webinar from Dr. Zhao valuable. The webinar focuses on selecting the right carbon source for the organic practice of ASD, which includes insights from the trials on Pennsylvania farms. All growers who want to use ASD to support their transition period to organic farming may be interested in the additional grant awarded to Dr. Gioia and his team to assess the economic viability of using ASD during the transition to organic to control pests and weeds. Additionally, any grower using or considering using ASD can share their story and contribute to the project. “The survey,” Dr. Gioia explains “is part of the bottom-up approach our team have been using to improve the ASD application method and make sure that our research is relevant to growers and meets their needs.”

Research at Penn State evaluates the impacts of cover crop residues combined or not with wheat bran and molasses as a carbon source for ASD applications on lettuce. The project supports similar research being conducted at the University of Florida. Credit: Francesco Di Gioia/Penn State.

Completed Projects Provide New Resources for Organic Growers

Aside from the active projects above, several NIFA-funded organic research projects have been completed in Pennsylvania. While they may be concluded, the benefits of these organic projects continue. The results of these studies are not limited to publication in academic scientific journals or relevant only to scientists. Researchers, farmers, and extension specialists often collaborate to share the results of studies in ways that are meaningful and applicable to farmers. 

Take soil microbial management, for example. An OREI-funded study led by Dr. Jason Kaye at Penn State involved adding different sources of microbes (composts, forest soils, and other sources) to soils and measuring microbial populations. The project partnered with Pasa Sustainable Agriculture to collaborate with working farmers to conduct studies on working farms. While measurements of soil microbes may not be enough to provide specific recommendations to growers, the knowledge of how microbe populations change under management conditions and how they interact with plant crops can help farmers make better decisions.

Assuming soil microbes are fascinating to everyone with an interest in organic matters, let’s digress here for a moment. There are a myriad of ways that microbes can help or hinder organic systems: Microbes called biostimulants can release hormones into the soil that can help increase plant growth, while others can degrade the stress chemicals that plants produce during drought, helping plants become more resilient. Some microbes called biofertilizers can unlock nutrients in soils that plants cannot access themselves, helping where there may be excess nutrients, while other biofertilizers exchange nutrients directly with the plants in exchange for carbon. And get this—some perform better than others. That is, some biofertilizers that exchange phosphorus for carbon, called arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), offer plants more phosphorus in exchange for the same amount of carbon when compared with other AMFs. 

When research-generated insights like these are made available and then accessed, farmers can make better-informed decisions for years to come. All of this fascinating information and more is available to farmers on eOrganic (see Management of Soil Microbes on Organic Farms and Soil Microbes in Organic Cropping Systems 101). Launched in 2009, eOrganic is a national, internet-based, interactive, user-driven, organic agriculture information system for farmers and agricultural professionals.

Want To keep Up With Organic Research in Your State or Nationally?

Aside from using eOrganic, growers and researchers can look forward to a new Organic Content Hub being developed by the OFRF, coming in early 2025. The Content Hub will be searchable by topic, crop, and region, and will provide users with the most current research relevant to organic farming. (Follow OFRF on social media and sign up for our newsletter to get updates on the Content Hub, organic research updates, new organic resources, and more.)

A figure developed by a graduate student (Laura Kaminsky) working on an OREI-funded project during 2019-23 at Penn State, illustrates examples of beneficial microbes. The left diagram shows nitrogen-fixing bacteria, housed either in nodules on legume roots or free-living in the soil. The right diagram illustrates arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) (pink) associated with plant roots. See Soil Microbes in Organic Cropping Systems 101.

Moving Forward With Organic Research 

Organic farming research is generating economic activity in Pennsylvania, providing professional development to researchers and students across the east, forming regional networks between researchers and growers, and producing publications being used by organic growers across the country. One might say that the current state of research in Pennsylvania is healthy and humming! 

Looking to the future, it is critical that federal funding keeps up with the growth of the organic movement nationally and in the state. OFRF and partners work daily to bolster and protect this funding, and we are always looking for farmer and researcher partners in this work. If you are an organic farmer or researcher and are willing to share your story, your experiences can be some of the best fodder for advocating for or directing future organic research in Pennsylvania.

Long before the United States existed, this land has been and continues to be inhabited by hundreds of distinct Indigenous nations. Methods of resource utilization, harvesting, agricultural and management practices differ by region and by culture. However, through the examination of oral traditions and archaeological evidence, we know that a deep emotional and spiritual connection between humans and the land threads together most, and potentially all, of the belief systems of native peoples on this continent. Highly diverse Indigenous spirituality systems and creation stories set the foundation of a dynamic, living universe, upon which all beings are interconnected. Storytelling, a critical facet of Indigenous transmission, has passed down generations of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), providing a framework for responsible, sustainable human interaction and understanding of the natural world.

Strides have been made in the U.S and elsewhere to improve sustainability and reduce the harmful effects of our dominant food production system, partly by incorporating practices that are considered standard within the organic farming methodology, such as cover cropping. However, the prevalence of, and forced dependence upon industrial agriculture continues to undermine Indigenous food sovereignty and utilization of TEK in farming and ranching, as well as disproportionately affect the physical and mental health of Native communities.

“Indigenous food sovereignty” is not a universally defined concept, but generally refers to a community’s ability to control, oversee and cater their food production and distribution to the determined nutritional and cultural needs of the people. Food sovereignty additionally seeks to establish food security, working to eradicate hunger and poverty by emphasizing community engagement, and making healthy, nutritious food widely available. A large component of the food sovereignty movement in the United States centers around the reincorporation of traditional food sources, as well as cultivation and preparation processes. Overall, supporting food sovereignty means supporting decolonization: restoring many Indigenous peoples to their historical role as highly successful custodians and managers of the earth.

At its roots, organic and regenerative agriculture both seek to foster a greater understanding of the needs of the land, fostering a harmonious relationship between the farmer, the farm, and the consumer. The organic system was defined in response to the advent of chemical pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers in the 1930s and 40s, a shunning of attempts to naturally manage agricultural land in ways that would build soil resilience. The holistic philosophy behind organic and regenerative agriculture methods are rooted in TEK, and in the goal of seeking to mend previous anthropogenic damage, a result of colonization, capitalism, and industrialization. Focusing on the rebuilding of soil health, conservation of water, reduction of runoff, and practices such as polyculture (growing multiple, mutually beneficial crops on the same plot) all tie in to create an approach that can work in tandem with the uplifting of native techniques of farming and environmental maintenance.

As we hurtle towards an uncertain future dictated by how we will be able to reverse and/or adapt to the devastating impacts of climate change, we must also grapple with the question of who will be affected most in the coming decades. Advocacy for the increased study and adoption of these alternative systems of farming is a way that OFRF supports the Indigenous food sovereignty movement, in addition to funding research that creates space for crucial dialogue and collaboration with BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) farmers.

If you want to keep up to date with our work expanding community research and representation of organic agriculture in policy, please consider joining our mailing list.

Written by Rebecca Champagne, OFRF Conservation Scientist

The Organic Farming Research Foundation recently led two webinars for the USDA National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) on Technical Note 12 as part of our Cooperative Agreement with the agency. These two webinars were the first of several that will be held over the next four years to help build institutional knowledge of NRCS staff and equip them to better support the unique needs of organic and transitioning-to-organic farmers across the US.

Mark Schonbeck, OFRF Research Associate, led the webinars with support from Rebecca Champagne, OFRF’s Conservation Scientist. The first webinar, held on January 16, covered the first half of Technical Note 12 including topics such as soil health, climate, and nutrients. The second webinar, held on February 5, covered the second half of the Technical Note including topics like organic integrated pest management (IPM), livestock, pastures, and buffers. The webinars concluded with Question & Answer sessions so participants could ask follow up questions and get clarification on the topics discussed. During these webinars we fielded questions relating to OMRI-approved materials, composting, shallow disturbance cultivation tools for weed management, and in-row drip irrigation challenges.

Interested in viewing these webinars? Recordings are available online through Conservation Webinars.

Technical Notes such as this one are meant to give detailed information for the conservation planning and implementation of a specific subject. Technical Note 12 provides this information as it relates to organic production and how conservation practices can meet national organic standards while addressing resource concerns related to soil, water, plants, animals, and air. NRCS staff can use this resource when working with organic and transitioning-to-organic farmers to propose appropriate conservation practices for an operation as they relate to organic requirements. Learn more about Technical Note 12 here!

OFRF will be hosting three webinars each year over the next four years, covering various topics related to organic farming. Webinar participants also have the chance to test what they learn and earn Certified Crop Advisor Continuing Education Units (CEU) credits by answering quiz questions at the end of each webinar. By identifying and summarizing the latest peer-reviewed research and highlighting real-world farm examples, we aim to help NRCS staff and Technical Service Providers better understand organic production requirements, challenges, and what successful conservation practice implementation can look like.

To learn more about our Cooperative Agreement with NRCS, contact Rebecca Champagne at rebecca@ofrf.org. 

To stay up-to-date with the latest organic farming news, research updates, and opportunities for advocacy, sign-up to receive the OFRF newsletter at https://ofrf.org/get-involved/receive-news/