Northern Research and Demonstration Farm

Location

Hancock County

Directions: Just south of Kanawha on County Road R-35.

Northern Research Farm
310 S. Main Street
Kanawha, IA 50447

(641) 762-3247

click here for a map view

Size

173 acres

Owner

North Central Iowa Research Association

The flat soils of north central Iowa are shown with research plots on tillage, crop rotations, and soil fertility.

History

The North Iowa Experimental Association, the oldest in Iowa, was formed in 1930 and purchased 93 acres. The Clarion- Webster Experimental Association was formed in 1952 and purchased 80 acres. In 1995, the associations merged.

Soils

Terrain is gently sloping, broken by a rectangular gridwork of roads and fields. Much of the land is drained by tile systems and open ditches because the land has poor natural drainage. Predominant soils are:

Clarion:
2-5 percent slope, very well drained, occurs on upland slopes

Nicollet:
1-3 percent slope, poorly drained, occurs between uplands and low areas

Webster:
0-3 percent slope, poorly drained, occurs on low-lying uplands

Research and Demonstration

Crops. The farm is a site for small grain variety tests, corn and specialty soybean breeding, studies of nitrogen fertilization rates and timing on corn and breeding soybeans with resistance to soybean cyst nematode. Researchers conduct extensive tests on corn and soybean weed management.

Soils. Researchers study soil fertility and management systems. Agronomists study nutrient requirements of area crops and apply nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and lime to observe crop yield response.