Every year there’s always some experiment or inquiry bouncing around Anson’s mind, and sometimes he gets into the thick of it.
The USDA has division called Sustainable Agriculture, Research, & Education (SARE) with a grant program farmers can apply to for testing and publishing research projects. Anson has conducted three on the farm, which you can learn about below.
The present state of our agricultural system calls for novel approaches to farming, and the idea of the “farm as laboratory” is an integral aspect of our farm.
Testing a Novel Zipline/Curtain Netting Exclusion System for the Protection of Perennial Berries…
(FNE24-074)
Between 2024-2026, we designed and evaluated a novel trellis system, which demonstrated a low-cost system for excluding birds from out 2-acre honeyberry crop.
The Effect of Container Depth on Taprooted Seedling Root Morphology and Post-Transplant Establishment Success
(FNE20-947)
Between 2020-2022, we ran an experiment looking into the effect that container depth has on the initial establishment of our 6-acres of chestnuts orchard. We found that while 6”-9” deep containers produced tree seedlings with the most aerial growth, 15” deep containers produced a healthier root system with trees that exceeded other experimental groups in the field.
Building Soil Fertility with Spent Brewers’ Grains
(FNE17-864)
Utilizing a waste organic byproduct from Oxbow Brewery, we studied the effect spent brewers grains alongside bokashi composting has on soil fertility in 2017. We recorded an increase in crop yield, and interestingly the ability for late-season crops to withstand frost damage.
Ongoing, NON-SARE ExperimentS:
BEAM static compost production and application
Chlorella vulgaris cultivation/application
Farm-scale wine cap spawn production
August overseeding of an oat cover crop in the walking/vehicle paths of the farm’s strawberry crop
Utilizing the high tunnel’s framing and 3D printing for a Rotating Cross-Arm (RCA) blackberry trellis systeml
