OFRF Farmer-Led Trials Program (FLT)

OFRF’s Farmer-Led Trials Program provides farmers with technical assistance and support to investigate and learn about solutions to their most pressing production challenges.

The Farmer-Led Trials (FLT) program puts farmers in the driver’s seat and recognizes their wisdom, experimentation, and problem-solving skills. Built in the spirit of curiosity and collaboration, this program supports farmers and ranchers in conducting impactful research that can address their unique challenges.

OFRF’s FLT program will provide support for on-farm learning trials aimed at testing new practices, inputs, varieties, or animal breeds that can improve profitability and environmental sustainability, leading to more resilient organic farms and ranches. Selected program participants receive comprehensive support from OFRF to assist in designing and implementing their on-farm trials and collecting and analyzing data.

• Eligible participants include any farmer or rancher in the U.S. or its territories who are relatively new to conducting on-farm research and are seeking to build confidence in their research skills.

• Eligible farms produce food or fiber for sale. The program is not designed for farms that are a part of research institutions.

• Farms must be certified organic or in transition to organic.

• Participants must have management abilities, lease, or ownership of the farm where trials are to occur.

OFRF only supports research on certified organic land and land in transition to organic certification. Research must be conducted in the U.S. or its territories.

OFRF does not publish a dollar award range for this program.

Support from OFRF: technical assistance to help farmer-researchers refine their research questions, design their experiments, identify data collection protocols, analyze data, and present their findings. Additionally, farmer-researchers will receive support for supplies, small equipment, data collection tools, testing, or labor.

OFRF support can be used for materials, supplies, and labor to support the on-farm research trial, including:

• Materials needed for the research activities including, but not limited to compost, seeds, inputs, etc.

• Research supplies such as sample bags, markers, labels, stakes, etc.

• Labor and other expenses for recording, analyzing, documenting, and disseminating results.

• Purchase of equipment needed to execute the research trial, such as fencing, tractor attachments, etc.

• Rental of large equipment necessary to the project.

• Stipends for farmer/rancher cooperators.

Each OFRF supported on-farm trial project will have up to one year to be completed.

Program participants are expected to work closely with OFRF staff for the entire duration of the project, develop and follow a project timeline, regularly collect data and record findings, take photos throughout the project, agree to share their trial results openly, and help complete a final findings report.

Priority topics for trial proposals include, but are not limited to: weed suppression; maintaining or improving yields; soil health; cover crops; insect pest suppression; disease suppression; organic crop variety and seed trials; and organic livestock breeds and management.

Applications for the 2026 cohort are now closed. Sign up to be notified when the application window opens again — the “Sign Up for Farmer-Led Trials Notifications” form is at the bottom of the program page: https://ofrf.org/research/farmer-led-research-trials/

Applicants should familiarize themselves with The Farmers Guide to Conducting On-Farm Research before applying. An advisory committee, made up of OFRF staff and organic farmers and researchers who serve on the OFRF Board of Directors, reviews applications against a published rubric. Farmer agreements will be signed prior to the start of the trial and the disbursement of support. Those who are not selected are encouraged to flesh out their ideas based on the committee’s feedback and apply again.

Questions about eligibility or applications: OFRF’s Research & Education Program Manager, Mary Hathaway, mary@ofrf.org.