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CASE STUDY:
Automating On-Farm Plot Trial Testing for Iowa State University with FarmTest
Customer: Mike Castellano, Iowa State University
Industry: Iowa Nitrogen Initiative
Buyer Persona: Higher Education
Publish Date: August 21st, 2024
Introduction
Dr. Mike Castellano of Iowa State University, leading the Iowa Nitrogen Initiative, conducts hundreds of on-farm trials each year, including more than 375 in 2024, to refine nitrogen application recommendations in Iowa. Traditional guidelines are broad and lack specificity, accounting only for crop rotation and location in the state. By partnering with FarmTest, Dr. Castellano enhanced the scientific rigor of these trials while reducing operational challenges and chances to introduce human error, enabling more accurate and actionable data collection at increased scale.
The Story of Iowa State University
The Iowa Nitrogen Initiative is a public-private partnership that works with companies like FarmTest and others to work with farmers to deploy hundreds of nitrogen fertilizer rate trials on their farms every year that are scientifically and statistically robust. We collect the data and we're using those data to help leverage the latest advances in data science, including crop systems modeling, and other things like artificial intelligence and machine learning, to help understand what's really been a tough problem for farmers.
One example is us helping farmers understand how much nitrogen to apply and when, where, how to apply it. The optimum nitrogen rate in a given year, in a given management system across just the state of Iowa, varies from less than 50 pounds of nitrogen per acre to well over 350 pounds of nitrogen per acre. And so to reduce that uncertainty, we need more than just academic experiments because we need to know more than just what the perfect rate is for a few locations.
New Opportunity with FarmTest
Historically, universities, ag input companies and other agribusinesses would conduct randomized controlled small plot trials to produce performance data on how their products work. However these small plot trials are expensive, which limits where they can take place and how many replications they can do. This makes it difficult to localize the trial results to apply to the wide variety of corn fields, management practices, and growing operations in Iowa.
Why ISU Chose FarmTest
ISU utilizes FarmTest to work with farmers to help deploy hundreds of nitrogen fertilizer rate trials on their farms. So we get these experiments out on farmer fields where a button is pushed and the experiment gets put out there to help understand how much nitrogen to apply and when, where, how to apply it. With FarmTest every field will have one or even more multiple trials in them. Everyone makes decisions based on the experiments they did last year. FarmTest scripted plot trials ensure that the growers are making cell-informed confident decisions and purchases for the next growing season.
“FarmTest made this easy by embedding product trials in variable rate prescriptions that account for all of the nuances of each growing operations fields, equipment, management practices, and all the randomization, replication, and blocking needed for a statistically sound trial that produces a useful, small, least significant difference.”
Therefore, the farmer doesn't need to worry about all that and can focus on their business.
How ISU Uses FarmTest
Dr. Mike Castellano's work at Iowa State University (ISU) is dedicated to improving the productivity, profitability, and environmental sustainability of crop production. By collaborating with FarmTest, ISU utilizes advanced on-farm trials to accurately compare five different nitrogen rates across various fields, geographies, and management practices. This partnership enables the collection of high-quality, labeled data, which Dr. Castellano’s team analyzes over multiple years to identify management systems that optimize nitrogen usage.
FarmTest enhances these trials by significantly reducing the uncertainty in measuring yield variability. Typically, in an 80-acre cornfield, traditional methods might leave a margin of error of 20%, making it difficult to confidently detect yield differences smaller than 40 bushels per acre. However, with FarmTest’s precision trial design—using two half-mile strips broken into 16 small plots—the margin of error can be reduced to just 4%. This heightened precision allows farmers to detect even an 8-bushel-per-acre difference with confidence.
By applying different fertilizer rates and fine-tuning the nitrogen application by increments of 60 pounds per acre, ISU, with the support of FarmTest, empowers farmers to make data-driven decisions. These decisions not only improve crop yields but also reduce environmental impact by optimizing nitrogen use efficiency across varying conditions. This partnership is a critical step forward in developing sustainable farming practices that are both profitable and environmentally sound.
HOW TO GET STARTED
LET FARMTEST
HELP YOU
FarmTest envisions a future where all farms optimize their management practices based on statistically rigorous in-field performance data. Our product automatically builds a trial for you and executes it when you get to the field with a variable rate prescription. FarmTest helps researchers and growers design and analyze statistically robust field trials using commercial farm equipment to figure out which of the management practices pays off the best.
Unlock your field’s full potential with FarmTest! Start designing your free trial here or book a call with one of our experts to discuss how FarmTest will take your field to the next level.
Explore Our Video Guide for Step-by-Step Instructions on Getting Started
Thank you to Mike Castellano, the Iowa Nitrogen Initiative, Tim Hammerich, and the Future of Agriculture podcast for taking the time to share their knowledge and experience with FarmTest. Listen to the complete podcast here.
