Iowa's Turkey Industry: An Economic Review

The Iowa turkey industry is an important agricultural value-added activity providing income and employment opportunities for rural areas in Iowa. The 8.54 million turkeys produced and more than 14 million birds processed in Iowa each year require nearly 2000 full-time equivalent employees. Annual wages and salaries total an estimated $55.6 million of wages and salaries for processing and production. When all direct and secondary effects are considered, the total impacts include$810.7 million of sales, $158.7 million of personal income,$253.3 million of contribution to the gross state product, and about 4,200 jobs.

Models of classroom assessment for course-based research experiences

Course-based research pedagogy involves positioning students as contributors to authentic research projects as part of an engaging educational experience that promotes their learning and persistence in science. To develop a model for assessing and grading students engaged in this type of learning experience, the assessment aims and practices of a community of experienced course-based research instructors were collected and analyzed. This approach defines four aims of course-based research assessment—(1) Assessing Laboratory Work and Scientific Thinking; (2) Evaluating Mastery of Concepts, Quantitative Thinking and Skills; (3) Appraising Forms of Scientific Communication; and (4) Metacognition of Learning—along with a set of practices for each aim. These aims and practices of assessment were then integrated with previously developed models of course-based research instruction to reveal an assessment program in which instructors provide extensive feedback to support productive student engagement in research while grading those aspects of research that are necessary for the student to succeed. Assessment conducted in this way delicately balances the need to facilitate students’ ongoing research with the requirement of a final grade without undercutting the important aims of a CRE education

Iowa’s Turkey Industry: An Economic Review

The Iowa turkey industry is an important agricultural value-added activity providing income and employment opportunities for rural areas in Iowa. The 8.54 million turkeys produced in Iowa each year require 207 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees. At current average wages in this sector, the aggregate annual wage for turkey production totals about $5.6 million. Approximately 1,750 employees work at the four processing facilities in Iowa. Wages and salaries paid at these facilities total about$50 million annually. The combined economic effect of these two components of the turkey industry totals 1,960 workers and $55.6 million of wages and salaries for processing and production.Iowa State University Extension and Outreach publications in Digital Repository @ Iowa State University are made available for historical purposes only. The information contained in these publications may be out of date. For current publications and information from Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, please visit https://store.extension.iastate.edu/</p