Protect Your Investment by Eliminating Tillage and Keeping Residue

This fall, field observations with significant amounts of intensive tillage and residue removal provide an opportunity to rethink such practices by considering research proven practices such as no-tillage (NT) and strip-tillage (ST), which have demonstrated their effectiveness in many parts of the state and across the Midwest. Many studies from the Midwest and elsewhere have documented the economic benefits of NT and ST for both corn and soybean, where the conventional tillage input cost was greater than that of NT and ST by $15-25/acre in a study covering 14 years of tillage and crop rotations in Iowa

Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources in the U.S. Midwest: A Review and Analysis of Challenges and Future Opportunities

This review addresses key changes in U.S. agricultural extension and future opportunities. Agricultural extension has been a part of the land-grant university (LGU) system for more than 100 years. The Morrill Act of 1862 established the LGU system by authorizing states access to federally controlled land and funding for public institutions offering educational opportunities focusing on agriculture and mechanical arts for farmers and the working class. Current surveys in Iowa reveal changing trends in extension: more than 90% of farmers identified private-sector crop advisers as their primary source for recommendations, whereas more than 80% of those advisors identified Iowa State University (ISU) extension as their primary source. These results highlight the shift in extension’s client base from end users—farmers and agronomists—to their advisers and consultants. This change reflects, in part, a conscious effort by extension to target agricultural advisers—in addition to farmers— and represents a changing trend in extension’s role. Extension has contributed to U.S. farmers’ potential for profit and export of goods to international markets. Today, due to continuous reductions in state and federal support, extension faces unprecedented challenges to continue its non-formal educational role. These challenges present opportunities for extension to evaluate programs and serve the common good by charting new directions

Iowa Climate Statement 2021: Strengthening Iowa’s Electric Infrastructure

Climate change is powerfully upon us.1 In the Midwest it has increased the frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation, floods, droughts, and extreme heat,2,3,4 all of which create environments that threaten grid reliability and resilience at a time when increasing electrification will make infrastructure performance ever more critical