Nebraska Extension in Burt County

Curious about doing on-farm research but not sure where to start?

On-farm research is a great way for farmers to test their own questions—like nitrogen rates, seeding population, product comparisons, or management practices—right in their own fields, using their own equipment. The best part? It doesn’t require a huge investment of time or acres. Most of our research trials are around 10 acres or less.

As a Crop and Water Educator, part of my role is to help you set up a trial that gives meaningful, unbiased results. I can support you with:

✅ Writing a simple protocol
✅ Setting up the trial for good data (replications, layout, etc.)
✅ Helping with soil sampling or data collection
✅ Doing yield analysis and economics at the end
✅ Sharing the results with you in a useful, unbiased way

If you don’t know exactly what you’d like to test, no problem! We already have protocols ready to go for topics like:
🌽 Nitrogen rate management
💧 Fertigation timing and efficiency
🦠 Biological product testing
🌱 Interseeding cover crops

We can work together to figure out what’s most interesting and valuable for your farm.

💰 And depending on the project, we may be able to offer compensation for your time and resources—especially if the trial supports ongoing research efforts. Let’s talk about that too.

If you’re interested or even just curious, reach out! This is the perfect time to get things planned as planting season kicks off.

You only have until June 15th to get enrolled! 

 Your child can start as early as 5 years old with our Clover Kids program and age 8 years to 18 years with 4-H.  Check out our 4-H in Burt County tab at the top of this page for more information to get started.  

If you have more questions please email Burt-County@unl.edu.   

Register Here