Prairies evolved with periodic disturbance from drought, fire and grazing. Without these pulsed “setbacks,” woody encroachment or grass threatens to diminish the robust diversity that’s the hallmark of the tallgrass prairie. Over the last few years, Stennie Nelson has been working with Doug Chafa, land manager and biologist with the Iowa DNR, as part Doug’s…
8:30 AM Registration and refreshments 9:00 Opening Remarks and Welcome – Greg Guenther, President of the North Central Iowa Research Association 9:15 Current Farm Updates and Projects – Matthew Schnabel and Ben Petersen 9:30 Load For Plot Tours and Demonstrations: • Mid-season oat production practices with Dr. Margaret Smith, Forage Agronomist with Albert Lea Seed…
Bob and Sara Pearson grow organic corn, soybeans and oats on their farm in Kossuth County, Iowa. Sara started off with an organic vegetable farm in 2008 but gradually switched her focus to row crops as family rental acres became available. By 2015, Bob and Sara decided to fully focus their energy on transitioning their…
Mark and Melissa Schleisman and their family raise popcorn, field corn, soybeans, rye, wheat, oats, cattle and hogs at M&M Farms in Calhoun County, Iowa. Soil and water conservation are a priority for the family. They use cover crops on all their fields, grazing the covers whenever possible. Over the past five years, they have…
Field Day
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,…
Karl Palmberg’s Larchwood, Iowa, farm has been in his family since 1938. But when he left for college, the operation was mothballed and put into hibernation. After retiring from the military, Karl returned to the farm and is building it back from scratch. He has been reevaluating the fundamentals and pivoting what he does to…
Will Jones farms just under 3,000 acres of row crops outside of Sioux Rapids, Iowa. Data is central to how he makes management decisions for those acres. Will is in his third year of planting corn after corn on 90% of his acres based on the carbon scores in his soil. To sample soil, he pulls cores…