On-Farm Trials Podcast with the PNW Farmers' Network

The interviews compiled for another special episode Stories from the Field feature Erin Ruhel and Doug Schuster of Westfield Properties in St. John, Washington, Frank Wolfe of Lester Wolfe Farms talking with Subodh Adhikari of the University of Idaho in Uniontown, Washington and Derek Schafer of Schafer Farm and Ranch in Lind, Washington. If you want to hear more from any of these guests you can f...

Our guest for this episode is Russ Zenner, a retired farmer from Genesee, Idaho. Listen to the conversation 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 and goats, working with research and conservation partners, and the importance of life-long learning.

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 and cover 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 Subodh Adhikari of the University of Idaho. A conversation with them highlights years of working together that has resulted in these collaborative on-farm cover crop trials, how they are working together to look at various...

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 Farms in Bickleton, WA, and Wade Troutman of Open Heart Farms in Bridgeport, WA. In the episode we dig into stories from the field, as these growers share their stories of cropping systems innovation in the face of constan...

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 w...

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.

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!

Join the conversation between Garrett Moon of Moon Family Farms in the Horse Heaven Hills, WA and Dr. Garett Heineck, Cropping Systems Agronomist with the USDA-ARS CAF LTAR network research program. The interview dives into how they are working together on the farm to answer questions about the ‘down-side production potential’ of perennial wheatgrass Kernza, cover crops, and mapping cheatgrass in...

Join the conversation between Garrett Moon of Moon Family Farms in the Horse Heaven Hills, WA and Dr. Garett Heineck, Cropping Systems Agronomist with the USDA-ARS CAF LTAR network research program. The interview dives into how they are working together on the farm to answer questions about the ‘down-side production potential’ of perennial wheatgrass Kernza, cover crops, and mapping cheatgrass in...

In the second part of a two-part episode, host Carol McFarland visits with cropping systems innovator and award-winning conservationist Mr. Wade Troutman. Check out episode one of the two-part interview to hear about his adventures trying things on his farm in Bridgeport, WA - from being one of the first to grow canola in WA, to direct marketing of organic ‘Wade’s Wheat’, finding sunflower pans fo...

In the first of a two-part episode, host Carol McFarland visits with cropping systems innovator and award-winning conservationist Mr. Wade Troutman. Check out episode one of the two-part interview to hear about his adventures trying things on his farm in Bridgeport, WA - from being one of the first to grow canola in WA, to direct marketing of organic ‘Wade’s Wheat’, finding sunflower pans for the...

On this bonus episode, we revisit our talks with Jesse Brunner, Amy McKay, Eric Odberg and Chris Eckhart to hear them share their stories from the field.

In this week’s episode we interviewed Jesse Brunner whose farm near Almira, WA has been under No-Till management for over 20 years. Jesse grows canola, wheat, and several other rotational crops, including his experimentation with re-crop winter wheat in an otherwise crop-fallow system. In this episode you can hear about his favorite drill for direct-seeding canola, residue management in No-Till, h...

Host Carol McFarland visits with Amy McKay from McKay Farm and Ranch in LaCrosse, WA sharing her experience with full, two pass and no-till production across their operation, precision spray application strategies, trying intercropping, and running cows on her cover crop trial. Listeners can hear how she navigates the moisture limitations in her area. What happened when she mowed the cover crop to...

Join this conversation on Eckhart Farms outside of Deer Park, WA where we talk about cover crops, reducing synthetic fertilizers, building organic matter, mycorhizzal fungi, and farming with the next generation.

Host Carol McFarland returns to Holland-Boone Farms to speak with Moses Boone and student Oscar Rodriguez about the co-production of research around a field scale pH survey featuring the research and extension experiences for undergraduate students and the use of in-field pH meters and experimental design to capture pH variability across the field and within the soil profile and a discussion of lo...

On this bonus episode, we revisit our talks with Sheryl Hagen-Zakarison, Dusty Walsh, and Moses Boone to hear them share their stories from the field.

In this episode, host Carol McFarland talks with Moses Boone of Holland-Boone Farm outside of Palouse, Washington on experimenting to overcome no-till seeding spring crops into high residue and other barriers to full adoption of no-till practices, balancing soil health with production goals, why he isn’t currently growing cover crops, return on investment for experimentation, and what keeps farmer...

Join this conversation as Dusty shares his trials using a ‘new’ planter, and growing wheat, canola, and sunflowers, cover crops and cows, and flowers and kids outside of Colbert, WA.

On this episode, we visit Zakarison farms and chat with Sheryl Hagen-Zakarison about the farm that's been in her family for 4 generations! This episode includes her experience with their enterprise's recent and big transitions into thinking about their farm near Palouse, WA within an ecological framework, including No-Till adoption, reducing inputs, diversifying and intercropping crops, and their...

Join this conversation in Genesse, ID as Eric describes the features of his new AgPro drill, increasing his ROI by reducing his inputs, his experiences growing and marketing sunflower, millet, cover crops and more as part of his wheat-based system. We also hear abouthow Shepherd’s Grain has enabled producers to account for their cost of production withidentity-preserved regional marketing.