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• Published: 23 December 2021

On-Farm Experimentation to transform global agriculture

• Myrtille Lacoste   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6557-1865 1 , 2 ,
• Simon Cook   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0902-1476 1 , 3 ,
• Matthew McNee 4 ,
• Danielle Gale   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3733-025X 1 ,
• Julie Ingram   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0712-4789 5 ,
• Véronique Bellon-Maurel 6 , 7 ,
• Tom MacMillan   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2893-6981 8 ,
• Roger Sylvester-Bradley 9 ,
• Daniel Kindred   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7910-7676 9 ,
• Rob Bramley   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0643-7409 10 ,
• Nicolas Tremblay   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1409-4442 11 ,
• Louis Longchamps   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4761-6094 12 ,
• Laura Thompson   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5751-7869 13 ,
• Julie Ruiz   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5672-2705 14 ,
• Fernando Oscar García   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6681-0135 15 , 16 ,
• Bruce Maxwell 17 ,
• Terry Griffin   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5664-484X 18 ,
• Thomas Oberthür   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6050-9832 19 , 20 ,
• Christian Huyghe 21 ,
• Weifeng Zhang 22 ,
• John McNamara 23 &
• Andrew Hall   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8580-6569 24  

Nature Food volume  3 ,  pages 11–18 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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Restructuring farmer–researcher relationships and addressing complexity and uncertainty through joint exploration are at the heart of On-Farm Experimentation (OFE). OFE describes new approaches to agricultural research and innovation that are embedded in real-world farm management, and reflects new demands for decentralized and inclusive research that bridges sources of knowledge and fosters open innovation. Here we propose that OFE research could help to transform agriculture globally. We highlight the role of digitalization, which motivates and enables OFE by dramatically increasing scales and complexity when investigating agricultural challenges.

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The authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information (sources of Figs. 1 – 3 ).

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Premier’s Agriculture and Food Fellowship Program of Western Australia. This Fellowship is a collaboration between Curtin and Murdoch Universities and the State Government. The Fellowship is the centrepiece of the Science and Agribusiness Connect initiative, made possible by the State Government’s Royalties for Regions program. Additional support was provided by the MAK’IT-FIAS Fellowship programme (Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions – French Institutes for Advanced Study) co-funded by the University of Montpellier and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (co-fund grant agreement no. 945408), the Digital Agriculture Convergence Lab #DigitAg (grant no. ANR-16-CONV-0004) supported by ANR/PIA, and the Elizabeth Creak Charitable Trust. Contributions toward enabling workshops were made by the USDA (USDA AFRI FACT Los Angeles 2017), the International Society for Precision Agriculture (ICPA Montreal 2018 OFE-C, On-Farm Experimentation Community), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0201303) and ADAS (Cambridge 2018), the European Conference for Precision Agriculture (ECPA Montpellier 2019) and the OECD Co-operative Research Program for ‘Biological resource management for sustainable agricultural systems – Transformational technologies and innovation’ towards ‘#OFE2021, the first Conference on farmer-centric On-Farm Experimentation – Digital Tools for a Scalable Transformative Pathway’. L. Tresh assisted with the design and preparation of Figs. 2 and 3. Members of the #OFE2021 Working Groups also contributed their experiences and insights.

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Centre for Digital Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Myrtille Lacoste, Simon Cook & Danielle Gale

Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions (MAK’IT), University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

Myrtille Lacoste

Centre for Digital Agriculture, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Department of Agriculture, Falkland Islands Government, Stanley, Falkland Islands

Matthew McNee

Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK

Julie Ingram

Technologies and methods for the agricultures of tomorrow (ITAP), University of Montpellier–National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE)–L’Institut Agro, Montpellier, France

Véronique Bellon-Maurel

Digital Agriculture Convergence Lab (#DigitAg), National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Montpellier, France

Centre for Effective Innovation in Agriculture, Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, UK

Tom MacMillan

ADAS, Cambridge, UK

Roger Sylvester-Bradley & Daniel Kindred

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Rob Bramley

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada

Nicolas Tremblay

School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

Louis Longchamps

Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Falls City, NE, USA

Laura Thompson

Watershed and Aquatic Ecosystem Interactions Research Centre (RIVE), Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada

Latin America Southern Cone Group, International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), Buenos Aires, Argentina

Fernando Oscar García

Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, National University of Mar del Plata, Balcarce, Argentina

Montana Institute on Ecosystems, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA

Bruce Maxwell

Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA

Terry Griffin

Southeast Asia Group, International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), Penang, Malaysia

Thomas Oberthür

Business and Partnership Development, African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI), Benguérir, Morocco

Scientific Direction of Agriculture, National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Paris, France

Christian Huyghe

College of Resources and Environmental Sciences and National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

Weifeng Zhang

National Animal Nutrition Program (NANP), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Pullman, WA, USA

John McNamara

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Contributions

M.L. and S.C. developed the study concept. M.M., D.G., J.I., V.B.-M., T.M., R.S.-B. and A.H. contributed additional concept development. M.L. and D.G. obtained the data and prepared the results. M.L., M.M., L.T., D.K., F.O.G., B.M., V.B.-M., J.R., C.H. and W.Z. contributed data. M.L. wrote the manuscript with input from all other authors.

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Correspondence to Myrtille Lacoste .

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Lacoste, M., Cook, S., McNee, M. et al. On-Farm Experimentation to transform global agriculture. Nat Food 3 , 11–18 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00424-4

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Received : 13 August 2020

Accepted : 05 November 2021

Published : 23 December 2021

Issue Date : January 2022

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00424-4

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In 1904, a Division of Experimental Agronomy was established in the College of Agriculture of the University of California, Berkeley. By 1906, it was clear that a Berkeley location for experimental work could not meet requirements and the division was shifted to the University Farm at Davis.

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AgriLife Today

Texas A&M AgriLife's digital magazine and newsroom

National and international agriculture leader Edward Runge dies

‘one of the most visible agronomists of the 20th century’.

April 13, 2023 - by Kay Ledbetter

While Edward Runge, Ph.D., was a researcher and professor, he is probably best known for his advocacy for agronomy and soil sciences and as a voice for agriculture at the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences .

Runge died on April 10. Services will be on April 22 at the Peace Lutheran Church, 2201 Rio Grande Blvd., College Station. The visitation will be from 9:30-11 a.m., with the service at 11 a.m. and a reception following. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that gifts in memory of Runge be sent to the Texas A&M Foundation .

Coming to Texas A&M in 1980, Runge spent 25 years before retiring, first serving as head of the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences for 19 years, and later as a professor and Billie B. Turner Chair in Production Agronomy Emeritus. After retiring in 2005, he served as the Monsanto’s Beachell-Borlaug International Scholar Program director and judging panel chair.

Prior to coming to Texas A&M, Runge served on the faculty at Iowa State University and the University of Illinois and was chairman of the Agronomy Department at the University of Missouri.

In addition to his university leadership roles, Runge served as president of the leading associations for his field of study — the Soil Science Society of America, the American Society of Agronomy and the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology.

“Dr. Runge has truly been a force for agriculture,” said David Baltensperger, Ph.D., head of the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences. “His thousands of presentations, committee and agricultural organization leadership and advisory roles have been a monumental benefit to agriculture.”

Research and international influence

Born in St. Peter, Illinois, Runge earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in agriculture education and a master’s degree in soils, both from the University of Illinois, and a doctorate in soils from Iowa State University.

“Our job as agronomists is to make plants grow better,” Runge once said.

Baltensperger said Runge was one of the most visible agronomists in the last half of the 20th century. He accomplished much during his professional career, from the research and extension work early in his career to the years of service as department head to his effort to make agronomic production monetarily rewarding with reduced government subsidies. 

Runge’s long-time research focused on corn yield and production forecasting work for the corn belt. Additionally, he strived to impart his international experiences to others by teaching Agriculture Study Abroad Courses in Vietnam, Brazil, Paraguay, New Zealand and Australia.

Runge lived or worked in more than 70 countries, with longer-term assignments in New Zealand and Indonesia.

Some of the unique positions he held outside of the university realm were: — Consultant to the Indonesian government on using soils for agricultural purposes. — Consultant in a large area crop inventory experiment at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. — Short-term advisor for curriculum reform in Butare, Rwanda. — Short-term advisor for USAID-ICARDS “Future Harvest Conference” in Afghanistan.

Runge was also especially passionate about his work since 1996 as the technical director of a Corn Improvement Project in Burma, now Myanmar, in conjunction with the 101 Veterans Committee Inc.

Ed Price, Ph.D., Howard G. Buffett Foundation Chair on Conflict and Development in the Department of Agricultural Economics , said he and Runge were called in to assess the situation of Kachin poppy growers in Northern Burma to replace the opium program. Runge pushed for improved corn, and it proved successful. The program, “Project Old Soldier,” was supported by the Burmese military and Kachin Baptist Church leaders.

Uniting the industry greats with future breeders

Baltensperger said it was only fitting that he hired Runge back after his retirement in 2005 to serve as the Monsanto’s Beachell-Borlaug International Scholar Program director.

Runge’s position as program director allowed him to make the connection between the brightest students headed into the wheat and rice breeding industry with two of the greats in agriculture: Dr. Norman Borlaug, the father of the Green Revolution noted for his work in wheat, and Henry Beachell, Ph.D., referenced as the co-father of the Green Revolution in rice.

During his time as department head, Runge was instrumental in getting Borlaug to come to Texas A&M in 1984 to teach a course each year. Runge once commented he was Borlaug’s boss for 19 years, but he prized his personal relationship more.

While Beachell was at Beaumont at the Texas A&M rice center working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it wasn’t until after his move to the International Rice Research Institute that Runge met Beachell in the Philippines.

Under Runge’s leadership, the Bayer’s/Monsanto’s Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program, administered by Texas A&M AgriLife Research , received $13 million over eight years. In his final report, Runge said the funding trained some 89 wheat and rice breeders from 30 different countries who will continue making a positive impact by increasing the world’s food production.

Leadership and service to many

One of Runge’s driving forces was a strong belief that the status quo is not good enough. He continually looked for ways to improve everything from working conditions for faculty as a department head to the practices of organizations and groups to which he belonged.

Major award recognitions:

— Named Fellow in the following associations: American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society of Agronomy, ASA, and Soil Science Society of America, SSSA. — Earned the Texas A&M Former Students Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award for Administration, the first department head to receive the award for administration. — ASA Agronomic Service Award. — Distinguished Service Award from the Texas Seed Trade Association. — Outstanding Public Servant Award from the Texas Association of Crop Consultants. — Alumni Award of Merit College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois. — Recipient of ASA Crops and Soils Award for Excellence in Agricultural Journalism. — Honorary Professor, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. — Received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Agriculture, Nitra, Slovakia at their 50th Anniversary Celebration, in recognition of programs to help Slovakia.

Major industry service positions:

— Served as president-elect, president and past president of both ASA and SSSA. — Board of directors, International Fertilizer and Development Center. — Director and chair, Texas State Seed and Plant Board. — Founder, president and chairman of the board of the Registry of Environmental and Agriculture Professionals, which ultimately led to the ASA’s Certified Crop Advisors Program. — World Food Prize Selection Committee.

Honoring Runge’s memory

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that gifts in memory of Runge be sent to the Texas A&M Foundation. Runge and his wife Patricia started a scholarship many years ago that supports students in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Questions may be directed to Megan Hutchison, director of development at [email protected] .

If donating online, go to txamfoundation.com/give . Under “Select a Unit or College,” select “Unlisted Account” and then under “Giving Account Name or Number,” write: #0433838.

If mailing a gift, write the check to Texas A&M Foundation and mail it to the Foundation at 401 George Bush Drive, College Station, TX 77840. In the memo line, include: #0433838: P&E Runge Scholarship.

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Job Posting for Agronomy at Gpac

We are currently searching for an Agronomy Supervisor for a leading multi-location Ag retailer. This is going to be a position with advancement opportunity.

Alongside having a strong operations background, some of the other main attributes that they are looking for is someone that can be a coach, mentor and supervisor of people, providing direction and strategic planning for their Agronomy location.

Basic Qualifications :

• 3 years of agriculture experience
• Bachelor's degree in Agronomy or Agriculture related program highly preferred
• Experience managing an Agronomy team highly preferred
• Knowledge in chemical and fertlizer
• Strong knowledge of chemical and fertilizer required.
• CDL and custom applicators license required or willing to obtain

Compensation :

Please submit a resume for consideration. Only those qualified applicants with a provided resume will be contacted. If you would like to learn more about Ag opportunities, contact Mandi Kuehl with gpac at mandi.

[email protected] or call 605-681-2031 .

All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, age, color, sex (including pregnancy), religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, military status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable laws or regulations.

GPAC (Growing People and Companies) is an award-winning search firm specializing in placing quality professionals within multiple industries across the United States since 1990.

We are extremely competitive, client-focused and realize that our value is in our ability to deliver the right solutions at the right time.

Last updated : 2024-04-27

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