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.