Transforming the Corn Belt: A recipe for collaborative, farmer-driven research and diffusion of innovation

Abstract

Practical Farmers of Iowa is a unique and longstanding farmer-to-farmer network with a history of driving the use of sustainable practices like cover cropping and low-chemical-input farming in the heart of the US Corn Belt. PFI was at the center of the launch of participatory, on-farm agricultural research in the 1980s, and has grown to a network of over 6,000 farmers, researchers, advocates, and professionals using farmer-driven research and knowledge sharing to change deeply embedded norms of industrial farming in the region. Through in-depth interviews with 26 current and former member farmers, we explore the role of PFI in the adoption of conservation practices, identify its “recipe” of success—the combination of the most important elements of the network according to its member farmers, and discuss issues of how the network should navigate current and future challenges. Farmers told us that PFI generates and shares information, provides a supportive community, acts as a long-distance coffee shop for alternative-minded farmers, and serves as a catalyst for change in the region. The most important aspects of PFI that farmers said supported them in adopting conservation practices were its diverse membership, autonomous functioning, culture of openness, and non-ideological nature. Moving forward, the network faces questions regarding 1) whether to place its focus on corn and soybean farmers or spread its efforts across a diversity of types of farmers and 2) how to build trust and communication between farmers as they become more geographically distant due to increasing farm consolidation. An understanding of how the network functions can enable a deeper understanding of the role of peer-to-peer networks in driving transformative change in agricultural practices and how they can be shaped to create the most impact for farmers.