A digital gathering space for growers, researchers Carol McFarland, PNW Farmers' Network

Carol McFarland hopes the PNW Farmers’ Network can play a complementary role in the digital space that the coffee shop plays in the real world, a place to gather and share information. And while it’s not required, a keen interest in talking about drills and spray nozzles is always welcome.

The PNW Farmers’ Network was born as the Washington State University (WSU) Farmers Network by Dr. Haiying Tao as part of her Extension work on soil health and fertility in the mid-2010s. McFarland, who had recently graduated from WSU with a master’s in soil science, joined the team in 2017. Under Tao, the WSU Farmers Network shared research information through soil health events and on-the-ground work with farmers. In 2021, Tao left WSU, and McFarland continued the soil health community focus of the program through funding and collaborations with other regional research entities, such as the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Northwest Sustainable Agroecosystems Research (NSAR) Unit. With those collaborations came a new name, the PNW Farmers’ Network, and a broader, regional focus for engagement with the ag community.

Coming to graduate school at WSU directly from two years of Peace Corps service had a big impression on the work McFarland has done since arriving in Pullman. 

“One of the things that I really took away from that is just the power of community, especially at the grassroots level, and so that’s something that’s really been infused (into the PNW Farmers’ Network),” McFarland, now a research associate, said. “It’s kind of grassroots community building and trying to bring in high engagement and participatory flavors into the work, both in person and leveraging the digital space.”

The goal for the PNW Farmers’ Network is to provide spaces to share ideas on cropping systems innovation and soil health in the inland Pacific Northwest dryland grain region. One of the main ways McFarland does this is through the On-Farm Trials Podcast where she speaks with growers, researchers, and other partners about their farming system innovation efforts. Part of the podcast idea came from a comment during a Pacific Northwest Direct Seed Association conference, when growers commented that they wished they had more time to hear from each other about what they are doing on their own farms. McFarland was hearing the same thing from others in the ag community. In collaboration with Dave Huggins at the Northwest Sustainable Agroecosystems Research Unit in Pullman, the On-Farm Trials Podcast took off.

“The core of it is people really like to hear from producers,” McFarland said. “To me, a lot of what the On-Farm Trials is about isn’t ‘I tried this thing, and it worked like gangbusters. Everyone should try it.’ That is absolutely not what we’re doing. It’s really about the power of a good conversation, with great people, and celebrating that. And it’s not just the celebrity innovators, but it’s also every farmer who tries something a little different on their farm. It doesn’t have to be major radical changes. What innovation looks like on each farm is going be a very different thing. There’s not just one solution, or one case fits all solutions in agriculture. We’re exploring what does the process look like of asking and answering questions on a working farm?”

McFarland does all of her interviews out in the field, although her audio engineer drew the line at doing interviews on running farm equipment. She said that one of the first questions her team had to confront was what actually are on-farm trials? They realized there was no single answer.

“Farmers design the experiment. They decide how and what they’re going to compare it to, where it’s going to go, what they’re going to monitor, what data matters to them in the end,” she explained. “But then there’s a whole spectrum where you can get other people in the ag community, including researchers, involved. Several of our episodes have shown amazing partnerships between producers and researchers. That information is enriched, I think, on both sides, because of that collaboration, because everybody is bringing their different perspectives. And it really deepens the quality of information that we can get out of the work we’re doing together.”  

Season 2 of On-Farm Trials will explore more of those innovation partnerships and will include not only researchers, but a range of different collaborations in the ag community.

When looking for topics to focus on or people to interview, McFarland said it’s hard to narrow that down. 

“My problem is that I’m an agroecologist, and we tend to be systems thinkers. And the problem with systems thinkers is that it’s all part of the system,” she explained. “So I’ve really landed in the space of soil health and cropping systems innovation, and, to me, cropping systems innovation can be really inclusive. I really want there to be something for everyone in this space. That bleeds in some alternative marketing spaces, and many other topics, including building soil health, diversifying rotations, and optimizing inputs with tools like the Weed-It and precision nutrient management. It’s really about what each guest is excited about.”

One recurring theme in the podcast is drills. McFarland generally asks her guests about their drills, and what they like about them. For anybody considering no-till, there’s a whole range of different experiences about adopting no-till and no-till equipment on the podcast.

For McFarland, a good podcast episode is getting an engaging conversation going with a guest who is comfortable sharing what they are doing and why. Besides the On-Farm Trials Podcast, PNW Farmers’ Network also produces bonus episodes called “Stories From The Field,” that is more for a general audience that “doesn’t need to hear about someone’s drill or spray nozzles, because us, in the ag community, love that, but we want folks outside of ag to have a chance to hear farmers’ perspectives from them directly about the great stewardship work that’s happening in our region.” The network also holds a monthly Zoom call, “Soil Health Coffee Hour,” which features short presentations from scientists talking about the latest soil health research taking place in the Pacific Northwest. 

“What really makes it great is the conversations that follow the main talk, when people get really excited talking about soil health together,” McFarland added.

Recordings of the Zoom call are posted to the network’s YouTube channel, along with other informative videos.

While the podcast may be the most visible part of the PNW Farmers’ Network, McFarland points out the network is more than just the podcast.

“It’s all underpinned by this desire to leverage different tools and spaces to bring our community knowledge together to support soil health and cropping systems innovation,” she said. “None of this is possible without the support of the community, people contributing and just showing up, showing that it’s valuable to them.”

McFarland insists she doesn’t have a favorite podcast episode, “because each one is an amazing and unique story and contribution,” but two of the most popular ones are an interview with Eric Odberg, a long-time Shepherd’s Grain grower, and Doug Shuster and his daughter, Erin Ruehl, who is taking over their St. John farm.

“One of the super fun things has been being able to go back to some of the original founders of the Direct Seed Association and some of the earliest adopters of no-till in our region and actually record some of their stories, like this career retrospective on innovation,” she added. “It’s been amazing to hear farmers like Tracy Eriksen talking about cobbling together his first direct seed drill in the late 1970s!”

More information about the Soil Health Coffee Hour, workshops, and links to the podcast are on the PNW Farmers’ Network website at https://www.pnwfarmersnetwork.org.