The availability of yield monitors and precision application equipment on producers’ farms have made it much easier for researchers to take the results from experiment station trials and apply them to producers’ fields.  Treatments/methods are applied in strips, by prescription, embedded plots or in combination.  Fields are divided into zones for analyzing the harvest yield data.  These can include soil type, soil Ec, or other criteria.  Treatments are analyzed spatially across zones and as whole strips.  This process shows how treatments/methods perform in different parts of producers’ fields.  The process of applying treatments and collecting the resulting data is a technical process which requires planning and attention to detail to achieve a viable experiment/demonstration.  The end product is a large field size experiment which lets researchers continue evaluating products/methods while educating producers in the use of precision ag equipment for the betterment of their farms.

Since 2006, LSU AgCenter Researchers and Geospatial Extension Agents have been conducting on-farm research trials/demonstrations working with various treatments.  These treatments have included variety performance, nematicide treatments, and nitrogen fertility rates.  The majority of their work has been with cotton and corn in Northeast Louisiana.  The results from these trials have assisted producers with decisions about how these treatments will perform on their farms.  Producers have benefited from participating in these trials/demonstrations not only from the information they receive but from learning how to gain the most from the precision ag equipment they have.