Articles

The film “Out to the Lakes” recently received awards of achievement in the documentary and educational production categories and an award of excellence in music from the Iowa Motion Picture Association. The Iowa Learning Farms film encourages viewers to think about water quality and their personal relationship with their local lake or water body.

Iowa Learning Farms will host a field day at the Dana Norby farm near Osage, Iowa, on Thursday, June 21, beginning at 11 a.m. The field day will focus on no-till and strip-till conservation farming for optimum results.

Iowa Learning Farms will host a field day at the Barry Kusel farm near Manning, Iowa, on Wednesday, June 20, beginning at 6 p.m. The field day will focus on no-till conservation farming and cover crop management for optimum results.

Mulches are commonly used to enhance the beauty of landscapes, suppress weeds, conserve soil moisture and buffer plants from the damaging effects of traffic and lawn equipment. ISU horticulture specialists answer specific questions about using mulch.

Managing swine farrowing facilities to maintain a thermally comfortable environment for both sows and piglets is challenging. A new publication from Iowa State University Extension and Outreach explains how using localized heating to create a microclimate for piglets can reduce mortality rates and overall energy consumption.

Iowa Learning Farms and the Hewitt Creek Watershed Improvement Association are hosting a field day June 8 at the Al Wente denitrifying bioreactor site located at 26723 New Vienna Road, Farley, Iowa. The field day will focus on best-management practices to reduce nitrate fertilizer losses from farm fields. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.
 

Iowa Learning Farms and the Sac Soil and Water Conservation District are hosting a field day on Tuesday, June 5 on the Dean Tiefenthaler farm, rural Breda. The field day will focus on strip-tillage as a conservation farming practice.

Horticulture specialists with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach answer homeowner questions about summer lawn care in this week's column. They also provide answers on a new website of frequently asked yard and garden questions.

As Lee Schulz made his way from home in central Wisconsin to college and to career, one thing was clear: there’s no place he’d rather be than working for a land grant university in the Midwest. He began his job as ISU Extension and Outreach livestock economist in early May.