FiBL - On-farm research – a FiBL success story

Interactive maps of research trial networks

Interactive maps show FiBL research trial networks on commercial farms in the areas of livestock production (pictured), arable farming and specialty crops.

The real test of new research findings, farm inputs and other innovations is whether or not they also work in the farmers’ fields or livestock enterprises. It is for this reason that FiBL Switzerland conducts some 200 trials on commercial farms each year.

Practical trials on commercial farms have a long tradition at FiBL Switzerland. For more than forty years, FiBL researchers have been working on solutions for organic agriculture together with farmers who are innovative and open to experimentation in their various
different enterprises.

Example: Potato varieties put to the test

FiBL’s potato variety trials give insights into this onfarm research. Classic cultivars such as Erika and Charlotte are susceptible to late blight (Phytophthora infestans). If no chemically-synthesised plant protection products are used, this fungal disease can cause significant damage in such cultivars, up to complete yield loss. This is why the organic sector needs disease- resistant cultivars. The potato variety project brings the most promising new European varieties to Switzerland for trials. If a cultivar performs well in small plot trials conducted by Agroscope, the Swiss centre of excellence for agricultural research, it is grown in practical trials on six organic farms for two seasons each. In 2020, for example, four trial varieties were compared in two three-metre-wide strips each along the entire length of the field on Christoph Hauert and Eva Ulm’s Gerbehof in Bibern, Solothurn. FiBL provided comprehensive assistance for the varieties’ cultivation, obtained the farmers’ feedback and recorded parameters such as disease susceptibility and yields. The Vitabella cultivar came out on top in earlier variety trials and has already made its way into the shops. The results obtained in the summer of 2020 have shown that Montana is also a robust and high-yielding cultivar. La Vie stood out with its beautiful tubers and excellent taste, but proved to be insufficiently robust. In the 2021 growing season, the farmers will trial further promising varieties on their land to find further winners.