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Enhancing Iowa agriculture and natural resources Iowa State University Extension provides research-based information and education to agricultural producers, landowners and agribusiness people to enhance the value of Iowa’s agricultural industry, increase rural vitality and protect the state’s natural resources. • Approximately 2,000 active Master Gardeners throughout Iowa contributed more than 67,000 hours of volunteer educational service to their communities. • Approximately 50 million tons of livestock manure are produced annually in Iowa. The Iowa Manure Management Action Group (IMMAG) provides training to Iowa’s 1,738 licensed confinement site manure applicators and 894 commercial applicators. Extension is a partner in providing education about law changes, best practices and other information about managing manure on farmland. • As a result of manure applicator certification training, 91 percent of commercial manure applicators and 93 percent of confinement applicators have implemented or plan to implement new separation distances between manure application sites and buildings, public use areas, wells, wetlands and water resources as required by Iowa law. • ISU Extension has educated approximately 1,800 John Deere employees on trends in North American agriculture; 95 percent responded that the training gave them a better understanding of the farm customer for their company’s products. • Approximately 260 adult learners have taken online courses in grain marketing through Extension’s Agricultural Management e-School (AMES); 87 percent have completed a written marketing plan. • On ISU Extension’s recommendation, 17,000 acres of field corn were scouted in northwest Iowa for western bean cutworm; 1,000 infested acres were treated, resulting in an increased yield of approximately 7.5 bushels per acre. • Extension conducts more than 300 meetings each year for private pesticide applicators, involving more than 20,000 participants; 54 percent report having a spare set of clean personal protective equipment in their pesticide storage area as a result of training in safe pesticide handling. • Dairy farmers with milk quality problems increased income per cow per year by approximately $190 when they adopted milk quality recommendations from Extension. • In response to the 2002 Farm Bill passed by Congress, ISU Extension farm management specialists provided individual consultations, meetings and Web-based information; nearly 96 percent of the 59,775 farms that were eligible for USDA program benefits completed the necessary sign-up process. • More than 1,100 producers had individual consultations with farm management specialists and realized an average benefit of $5,322 per farm per year after analyzing their options with the Commodity Programs Payment Analyzer. • A sport turfgrass manager’s assessment guide developed at ISU and used to monitor activity and schedule events has improved playing surface conditions on 410 athletic fields in the past year. • The Agricultural Marketing Resource Center (AgMRC), established with a grant from USDA, has developed an electronic center for value-added agriculture information and has recorded more than 2 million Web page hits in the first two years of operation. • With assistance from AgMRC, 24 producers diversified their cropping systems by planting dry edible beans. Adzuki bean is realizing profits of $50 more per acre compared with traditional soybean. |
Annual Report Edition homepage The Extension Connection is a quarterly publication of Iowa State University Extension. Send a message: Nondiscrimination statement and information disclosures Last update: January 2004
Primary ISU college partners See ISU Extension to Agriculture and Natural Resources Also see |
