Performing randomized replicated trials in row crop field environments has the potential to increase crop production in environmentally sustainable ways.  Successful implementation requires an understanding of implement capabilities and sources of potential systematic error, including operator error.  Equipment capabilities can be thought of as a series of several critical “links in a chain,” each with implications that propagate downstream.   We will share cautions learned from six years of managing randomized replicated experiments in production fields.  Our goal is to help increase confidence within the research community that production scale equipment can be used to successfully implement randomized replicated trials in row crop systems. The proliferation of on-farm trials promises new forms of grower-agronomist interaction that should improve farming operations and economics, encourage sustainability, and help address world needs for increased crop production in the future.