Within the organic system, multiple strategies for transitioning to organic have been tested.  An immediate substitution of all conventional inputs with organic practices resulted in a 12% decline in yields.  Slower transitions resulted in less dramatic yield declines.  A system that substituted organic fertilizers for two years prior to total transition to organic resulted in only a 3.3% yield decline.  Results for other slow transition strategies were mixed.

In conjunction with organic long-term plots, short-term experiments are being conducted on a newly developed Organic Research Unit to address the needs of farmers who have already transitioned to organic.  A panel of these farmers have prioritized their research needs for the center.  Many of the identified research questions are basic agronomic questions that must be reexamined in the organic context.  In a series of experiments examining weed control in organic soybeans, the effect of seeding rate was as large as many cultivation strategies.  Soybean seeding rates 2.2 times the recommended seeding rate were able to reduce weed counts by 68%.  The use of blind cultivation tools, such as the rotary hoe, were found to be highly effective at weed control, but can reduce yields by 22% when used as frequently as in current common practice.  Results from the short-term experiments are being used to improve the long-term experiments over time and to inform on-farm trials conducted by county based faculty.