Growing Knowledge: Advancing Agriculture Through On-Farm Research

Farmers constantly experiment and solve challenges, serving as researchers in their own right. This workshop blends a tour of a recently certified organic farm with real-world examples of how Dorsey and Brittany Kordick use on-farm research to address pressing production challenges. Participants explore specific research projects—past, current, and planned—at Kordick Family Farm’s fruit orchard. Dorsey and Brittany discuss both externally funded and self-funded projects, covering record-keeping, reimbursement processes (when applicable), and the realities of conducting research on a commercial farm that produces saleable fruit. They present the research projects in which they participate, such as a SARE initiative evaluating bamboo as a renewable, silica-rich mulch for apple trees, an entomology project developing a non-chemical “fence” for codling moth control, and ongoing trials of various lures to improve insect trapping for reducing plum curculio, a persistent pest in orchards managed without conventional chemicals.