John Deere and Iowa State University have partnered to establish a new demonstration farm with four different fields and processes to help test sustainable farming solutions.
The 80-acre demonstration farm will allow Deere and ISU to test sustainable solutions for large grain production systems in real-world scenarios with trial and error, according to John Deere in a news release.
According to the release, the production style will be on a five-year schedule, with four different crop production systems in the works. They will collect data on the measure of crop productivity, the economic cost of production, soil health, water quality, carbon intensity, and biodiversity.
“ISU has a longstanding relationship with John Deere, which has allowed us to translate agronomic sciences to practice through field demonstrations to unlock opportunities for farmers,” said Matt Darr, Professor of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at ISU. “This new research allows us to test new sustainability solutions, so that farmers can adopt practices they have confidence in.”