Today, provincial trials for assessing potential new perennial
forage cultivars involve two years of data collection (only) in
almost all cases. For a recent paper, we assessed the incidence of
1, 2, 3 or more year trials, conducted at 1, 2, or more locations -
in two common journals - Agronomy Journal and Can. J. Plant Sci.
Almost all published papers involved 1-2 years of data collection from
1 location. This is the basis for the observation that very few long
term trials - in space or in time - are being conducted today. The
exception would be some nice, elegant rotation studies or tillage
studies, which are intended to monitor time-dependent biological
responses.
As for advising policy makers on the need for sustainable agriculture
research, one can only agree. But SA often involves a shift
away from exogenous controlling agents and toward harnessing or
channeling endogenous, biologically mediated processes. Research
into changes which may involve reductions, rather than increases, in
dependence upon proprietary products have been scarce, for some
reason. In fact, the opposite is underway in Canada, where the big
push at all levels of government is for joint research projects, with
a portion of the funding coming from industry. Ann
ACLARK@crop.uoguelph.ca
Dr. E. Ann Clark
Associate Professor
Crop Science
University of Guelph
Guelph, ON N1G 2W1
Phone: 519-824-4120 Ext. 2508
FAX: 519 763-8933