University Research Farms
The land where the university's trials are laid out — horticulture, agronomy and livestock.
Where a recommendation has to survive a real season.
The university's research farms serve three purposes at once. They are where trials are run under controlled, recorded conditions; they are the teaching ground where students do the work with their own hands rather than reading about it; and they are the demonstration site farmers are brought to on field days.
The land is divided by discipline so that a crop trial and an orchard planting are not competing for the same block. Each farm has its own cropping plan for the season, agreed with the Directorate of Research before sowing.
Research
Replicated trials on allocated plots, recorded to a standard protocol.
Teaching
Practical work, internships and the students' own crop plots.
Demonstration
Field days where farmers see the comparison standing in the ground.