We’re committed to finding practical solutions for organic farmers through our research efforts. In talking with many of you, we understand you’re looking for ways to protect your seedlings while also staying true to your organic principles—all while supporting soil health. With this in mind, we’re partnering with Encore Ag Research to develop performance insights on seed treatment products that are currently or likely to become OMRI-certified for use in collaboration with Blue River organic seed. This research is aimed specifically at finding seed treatments that can be used to address challenges farmers face in organic production systems.

We have a lot of ground to cover and our team can’t walk every field from North Dakota to Texas and from Washington to Maine, so we’ve enlisted the help of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, equipped with high-definition cameras and connected to state-of-the-art software. These insight-gathering flights take place every three days and will continue over the growing season. This technology allows us to gather and analyze more fields, more products, more hybrids, in more regions, faster.

Seed treatments, drones, and cameras aren’t new, so what’s so special about our program? We’re focused on finding solutions for organic farmers. We’re specifically measuring agronomic aspects that are important to you—especially stand counts, emergence, and speed to canopy. We’ll compile this information, along with in-person evaluations, and harvest data to analyze the efficacy of the products with a high degree of confidence in what will actually benefit the people who have to depend on it—organic farmers.