Contributed photo
                                A specialist explains a field trial.

Contributed photo

A specialist explains a field trial.

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble; it’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” – Attributed to Mark Twain, although “it ain’t so.”

Let’s say you would like to try a new soil amendment that you saw online. How do you decide if it is legitimate? With so much information available on the Internet, how do you choose where to start and which sites provide reliable information? Are all opinions equally valid?

Not all knowledge is created equal. The role of agricultural “specialists” (professional researchers who have earned Ph.D.’s) is to carefully test ideas to tease out what actually works and what does not. For example, to test a new soil amendment, the specialist may plant three plots of a crop with the new amendment and three with the standard amendment. Everything else but the amendment is kept the same, or “controlled,” on all the plots: seeds, soil type, slope, aspect, irrigation, etc. This way, if any differences occur between the “test” plots (with new amendment) and the “control” plots (with standard amendment), the difference can be attributed to the amendments and not to other factors.

The results are measured by methods decided ahead of time, such as the crop yield in square-meter segments of each plot. Furthermore, the treatments are “blind,” meaning that the researcher does not know which plot is receiving which treatment; someone not otherwise involved in the experiment applies the amendments and keeps track of which plots get which treatment. That way the researcher is less biased. The results are evaluated with statistics to determine the likelihood that any differences between treatments are due to the amendments rather than to chance. If the stats show that the new amendment is significantly better than the standard, the researcher shares that information in professional publications and information sheets, and Extension agents working at the county level. We Extension agents are committed to providing information that has been validated by such careful research.

County and state governments and the U.S. Department of Agriculture provide hundreds of millions of dollars annually to support such research and extension, because it pays off with increased agricultural production and a competitive edge compared to other countries. Growers have access to the latest knowledge to improve and sustain crop yields and to manage pests economically. In contrast, I had a professor from another country who said that his home country cannot have a successful extension program because the government is corrupt. The extension agents would be hired based solely on political favor and would not be qualified to do the job of advising farmers. Some countries cannot afford a research and extension program, so it is hard for them to get a foot in the door of global competition for ag products. We are blessed to have good research and extension programs here in the U.S. and especially in North Carolina, which has the second largest extension service in the country.

If you are interested in learning about research based information about your new soil amendment, you can google using key words plus “extension” or “edu”, which will bring up extension and university related information. If you get “hits” with information from all over the country – or even the world – begin by looking at information from institutions from North Carolina or those of other states closest geographically with similar climate and soils, such as Clemson. You can try non-governmental organizations that do sound research, such as SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education). Beyond that, large businesses, such as ag chemical companies, also do research on their products. Since their main mission is to earn money rather than to provide independent, unbiased advice, it pays to be a little more skeptical. Businesses would, however, likely give good guidance on using their own product, since you are more likely to buy it again if it works well.

You can always perform a test yourself, and if data is available, compare your outcomes are with those of the scientists. Start small, planting most of your crop with a standard method and some with the new method, trying to keep everything the same otherwise. Construct a square yard frame with wood or PVC pipe, lay it on the plots in 10 or so random places at harvest time, and measure the yield from plants inside the frame. Keep a record of the individual measurements and whether they are from the new or the standard plots. Average together all of the yields from the new treatment, and separately average the ones from the standard treatment, and then compare the averages. Since the weather changes from year to year, test the new method again in successive seasons. If you are willing to share your results, let us know about them! This is also a fun way to work with kids to demonstrate scientific methods.

At the NC Cooperative Extension Richmond County Center, we are pleased to assist growers and consumers with solid, research-based information. Call us at 910-997-8255 or check out our web site at https://richmond.ces.ncsu.edu/.

Nancy Power is the commercial horticulture agent for the Richmond County Cooperative Extension.