Derek Young is a fourth-generation farmer who began farming in 1993 with his father and grandfather, running a soybean, corn and cattle operation. He strip-tills over half of his corn acres and no-tills most of his soybean acres while also maintaining conventional fields. He has covers flown on in the fall on over 1,000 acres,…
Catherine Schut owns and operates Hive and Petal, a boutique flower farm in Prairie City, Iowa, focused on specialty blooms and honeybees. Catherine grows unique seasonal flowers, from winter tulips and spring peonies to dried florals, using thoughtful, organically inspired practices that prioritize soil health and pollinators. At this field day, Catherine will lead…
Mark and Brenda Kingland farm on 1,700 acres in Winnebago County, Iowa. Eight years ago, they began strip-tilling to change efficiency in their fertilizer program and improve soil health. In 2022, Mark added a drone on his farm to apply cover crops and do precision spraying. His goal is to have a cover crop mix flown on…
Central Iowa farmers Caleb Akin and Noah Wendt began farming together through their partnership, A & W Farms, in 2006. They began transitioning acres to organic in 2015, drawn by the higher prices of organic crops. As they have continued to transition more of their acres, Caleb and Noah have come to appreciate opportunities to…
Hear from Iowa farmers about what it takes to clean up Iowa’s water – including a panel Q&A. Registration starts at 9 AM…program begins at 9:30 AM with lunch at 12:00 PM with 2 PM wrap up. The agenda includes: Matt Helmers of Iowa State University talking about the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy Live demos…
Will Cannon and his wife, Cassie, farm 1,000 acres of strip-till corn and no-till soybeans near Prairie City, Iowa. They use cover crops on a large scale and have reduced their applied commercial fertilizer rates. They also run a custom application and farming business, along with a trucking company. Recently, they started applying compost extract to their…
In 2018, Selden Spencer purchased farmland along White Fox Creek in Hamilton County, Iowa. The 100-acre property, previously owned by Ray Fry, is a mixture of cropland, woodland, ravines and riparian corridors. Ray still manages the property today. Before he sold the land, Ray worked diligently alongside The Nature Conservancy to restore an oxbow along…
This is the second of a series of workshops to help equip ag retail professionals and others to address Iowa’s nitrogen challenge by scaling edge-of-field practices through batch and build delivery models. In coordination with INREC, the workshop is being hosted by Heartland Co-op and the Agricultural Drainage Management Coalition. There is no registration cost…
Based on feedback from our membership, we have pushed back the dates by one day. Our conference will be Tuesday and Wednesday, August 25 & 26. Look for details and registration information this spring.
Ross McCaw began planting cover crops in 2019 to try to reduce his nitrogen inputs. He’s taking part in a nitrogen reduction trial through PFI’s on-farm research program to document the results. In 2023, Ross started planting a three-crop rotation to raise more rye for seed and get all of the benefits of cover crops.…