Field Research Day: No-Till Trials and Native Plants at Trent Farm - PermaGuide — Your Personal Guide to Sustainable Living

See Regenerative Research in Action at Trent University’s Farm

What happens when farmer-researchers put permaculture-aligned techniques to the scientific test? On 12 August 2026, you can find out firsthand — walking the rows, asking the questions, and sitting down to a shared meal on the grass afterward.

What to Expect

This field day, hosted at the Trent University Research Farm in Peterborough, Ontario, puts you right inside active research trials. Led by Dillon Muldoon — farmer-researcher and former EFAO staff member — the morning tour runs from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM and covers a genuinely varied set of investigations: no-till landrace Maxima squash, no-till potatoes, the efficacy of wool as mulch, and EFAO’s PAN network trials. These aren’t abstract lab experiments — they’re practical, field-scale questions that directly inform how we grow food with less tillage, fewer synthetic inputs, and greater ecological integrity.

Beyond the EFAO trials, you’ll also explore TFRC work on spring cover crops for fall brassicas and alternative fertilizer formulations for field corn, plus the CANOVI trials. The tour includes a visit to the Trent Market Garden and the Society for Ecological Restoration’s native plant nursery. Perhaps most meaningfully, you’ll hear about the tepary beans project — part of Growing Indigenous Food for All of our Futures — a living example of food sovereignty and cultural resilience woven into the research landscape.

Practical Details

Date: Wednesday, 12 August 2026
Time: Farm tour 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM | Optional potluck lunch 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Location: Trent University Research Farm, 2805B Pioneer Rd., Peterborough, Ontario, K9J 6Y1, Canada (in-person only)
Host: Dillon Muldoon, in collaboration with EFAO and TFRC
Bring: A dish to share, your own plate and cutlery for the picnic lunch

Why It Matters

Permaculture has always insisted that observation and experimentation belong in the hands of growers, not just institutions. Events like this one — where research trials sit alongside Indigenous food projects and community-led restoration — show what a genuinely regenerative food system looks like when it’s being built, not just theorised. The wool mulch trial, the landrace squash, the cover crop sequencing: each represents a small but replicable design decision that our community can carry back to our own land.

How to Get Involved

Register now via the official EFAO event page (link below) — spaces may be limited.
Bring a question specific to one of the trials; Dillon and the research team will be on hand for real conversation.
Share this with a grower in your network — especially anyone exploring no-till or cover cropping in a cool-temperate climate.

Resources

📋 Register and learn more: EFAO Event Page
🌍 Find more events like this: permanews.com

frank_permaguide

I manage a permaculture project on the island of La Palma, Canary Islands, and founded PermaGuide.com, an e-learning platform designed to foster sustainable and self-sufficient living. Our vision is to empower individuals and communities through three key pillars: Interact, Educate, and Activity. Users can connect globally, engage in structured learning, and apply their knowledge in real-world projects, helping to establish resilient communities that live in harmony with nature.