We introduce a novel form of experimental knowledge that is the result of institutionally structured communication practices between farmers and university- and local community-based agronomists (agricultural extension specialists). This form of knowledge is exemplified in these communities’ uses of the concept of grower standard. Grower standard is a widely used but seldom discussed benchmark concept underpinning protocols used within agricultural experiments. It is not a one-size-fits-all standard but the product of local and active interactions between farmers and agricultural extension specialists. Grower standard is in some ways similar to more familiar epistemic objects discussed in philosophy of experiment, such as controls or background conditions. However, we argue that grower standard is epistemically novel, due to how knowledge arising from it is coproduced by farmers and agricultural extension specialists. Further, in the United States, this knowledge coproduction is institutionally structured by federal legislature dating back to the 19th century. We use our analysis of grower standard to focus a discussion of the positionality of the coproducers as well as the epistemic products of this form of knowledge coproduction, and we explore the role extension work plays in shaping agricultural science more broadly.

我们介绍了一种新形式的实验知识，它是农民与大学和当地社区农学家（农业推广专家）之间的制度结构交流实践的结果。这种形式的知识体现在这些社区对种植者标准概念的使用中. 种植者标准是一种广泛使用但很少讨论的基准概念，支持农业实验中使用的协议。它不是一个万能的标准，而是农民和农业推广专家在当地积极互动的产物。种植者标准在某些方面类似于实验哲学中讨论的更熟悉的认知对象，例如控制或背景条件。然而，我们认为种植者标准在认知上是新颖的，因为由此产生的知识是如何由农民和农业推广专家共同生产的。此外，在美国，这种知识的共同生产是由可追溯到 19 世纪的联邦立法机构在制度上构建的。