About
We read the extension research so you do not have to
CropFarming.net gathers planting dates, fertilizer rates, spray timings, and harvest signs from university extension services and USDA publications. We organize them by crop, and every number names its source.
What is cropfarming.net
An independent reference for people who grow crops in the United States. The audience runs from a first raised bed to a few hundred acres.
Extension services publish excellent research. The problem is where it sits: hundreds of separate PDFs, split by state and by crop. Finding one number can take an afternoon.
Our job is to gather that work, sort it by crop, and put the figure next to the service that published it.
What this site is not
We are not a farm. Nobody here reports results from their own fields. You will not find a sentence on this site claiming otherwise.
We do not test products. Equipment guides come from manufacturer documentation and patterns in verified buyer feedback. Where a point comes from owner reports, we say so.
We are also not a replacement for your county extension office. They know your soil and your season. Start here, then call them.
How an article gets made
Every guide moves through the same seven steps. The order matters, because verification comes before publication, never after.
Start with a real question
We write for questions growers actually type. If a topic only exists to fill a grid, it does not get written.
Gather the published research
State extension bulletins first, then USDA data. Where states disagree, we collect all of them rather than picking one.
Draft the guide
A writer builds the structure and the prose, working from the publications gathered in the previous step.
Verify every figure
Each number is opened in its source publication and checked. If a claim cannot be traced, it comes out of the draft.
Edit for plain language
Short sentences, US units, no filler. A grower standing in a field should get the answer in the first line.
Publish with sources named
Attribution sits in the sentence, not in a footnote. You should see which service backs a number as you read it.
Revisit when research changes
Labels, rates, and recommendations get revised. When a source updates, the article gets updated and the change is noted.
The people behind the site
Six people research, write, verify, and edit what you read here. Each covers a defined area, so the sourcing stays consistent within it.
Matthew Koch
Editor
Reviews every grain and oilseed article before it publishes, and keeps the sourcing standard consistent across the site.
Facebook profileMd Abdur Razzak
Writer, root and bulb crops
Covers potatoes, onions, garlic, and carrots. Works through state extension bulletins to pull regional planting and storage figures.
Facebook profileRashed Ahmed
Writer, soil and fertility
Writes the soil test, pH, and nutrient guides that the crop pages link back to.
Facebook profileAtikur Rahman
Writer, water and irrigation
Covers crop water needs, irrigation scheduling, and the equipment side of water delivery.
Facebook profileArzya Tanchangya
Writer, vegetable and leafy crops
Covers lettuce, brassicas, and fruiting vegetables, with a focus on timing and heat tolerance.
Facebook profileAkihito Chakma
Research and fact checking
Checks every figure against the publication it cites before an article goes live, and logs the source for later revision.
Facebook profileWhen sources disagree
Extension services run their own trials, in their own soils, under their own weather. They do not always land on the same number.
A seeding rate from Iowa State can sit well outside what NDSU publishes for the same crop. Neither is wrong. They are answering for different ground.
Where that happens, we give the range and name both services. Averaging them would produce a figure nobody actually recommends.
When the research is thin
Some questions do not have a published answer. Newer varieties, unusual soils, and regional pest pressure often fall into that gap.
We say so. A guide that admits the limit is more useful than one that fills the space with a confident guess.
Where owner reports or manufacturer documentation are the only evidence, the article says which of the two it draws on.
What we commit to
These rules apply to every page on the site. They are the reason the writing reads the way it does.
- Every regional claim names its source. Planting dates, rates, and cutoffs carry the service that published them.
- No invented experience. No first-person farming stories, no claimed location, no fabricated grower quotes.
- No testing we did not do. Equipment coverage comes from documentation and owner reports, and says which.
- Regional differences stay visible. Where a figure changes by state, we give the range rather than an average.
- Gaps are stated. If the research does not answer a question, we say so instead of filling the space.
- Corrections get made and noted. A fix includes what changed and which source it came from.
Where our figures come from
Extension services run field trials in their own growing regions and publish what they find. That research is the backbone of this site.
Federal sources fill in production statistics, soil survey data, and pesticide registration. Manufacturer documentation covers equipment specifications.
Anything that varies by region, crop, or product carries the name of its source in the sentence where it appears.
Sources we rely on
- K-State Research and Extension
- Iowa State University Extension
- Penn State Extension
- UF/IFAS Extension
- NDSU Extension
- UGA Extension
- Texas A&M AgriLife
- UC ANR
- USDA NASS statistics
- USDA NRCS soil data
- USDA ARS research
- EPA pesticide labels
Found something wrong? Tell us
Does a figure here not match what your extension service publishes? We want to know. Corrections get checked and updated, and we name the source.
- Corrections and editorialeditor@cropfarming.net
- Everything elsecontact@cropfarming.net
We aim to answer within three business days. Corrections move faster.