In the spring 2021 magazine we featured a story about farm-to-school partnerships at Clear Creek-Amana school district.

State funding for farm-to-school efforts can build vital markets for locally grown food while benefiting farmers, schools and children.

Pictured above is Clear Creek-Amana district food director Debbie Klein (left) and Amana Elementary School’s kitchen manager, Rebecca Berstler (right), with locally grown apples.

Iowans faced many challenges in 2021, including unprecedented strain on our food systems. Farmers can and must take an active role in advocating for policies and programs that benefit us.

Check out our blog post from PFI member Denise O'Brien about the importance of farmers taking an active role in policy advocacy.

In 2020, Practical Farmers of Iowa worked to create a good dose of vision paired with action in our most recent strategic plan, which runs from 2021 through 2023. As a member-based organization, it is crucial that we listen to our members as we create our strategy.

For organic field crops producers like Daniel Sheetz and Eric Madsen, managing weeds and erosion in organic soybeans poses an admirable challenge. Without herbicides, organic producers rely heavily on tillage and cover crops for weed control.

In this trial, Daniel and Eric wanted to test the practice of spring-seeding cereal rye as a companion crop to soybean to provide in-season weed control.

To increase the number of corn and soybean acreage planted to cover crops, growers will require strategies for maximizing cover crop benefits while keeping costs low and minimizing yield drag in corn.

Unlike soybean seedlings, corn seedlings are particularly sensitive to competition with cover crops for sunlight, water and nutrients, and they run the risk of becoming infected with diseases transmitted from cereal rye if certain management precautions are not taken.

Are you preparing to plant your summer field crop into a spring cover crop and have termination questions? Maybe you're a beginning orchardist and are unsure of the best time to prune your fruit trees.

Or perhaps you have some old, reliable two-wheel tractors you would like to sell. Become a PFI member and join our email discussion lists.

These members-only discussion groups let you stay connected to other PFI members wherever you are. Ask specific production practice questions, learn about upcoming events or simply keep your finger on the pulse of what other PFI members are talking about.  

Carol Fassbinder-Orth of Glenwood, Iowa, was featured in Reuters: Surging U.S. crop prices reverse fortunes in rural Iowa

Ryan and Tarin Tiefenthaler of Breda, Iowa, and Sarah Carlson of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, were featured on WHO's the Big Show: Clean Water Starts in Carroll County!

Suzan Erem of West Branch, Iowa, co-wrote an editorial that was published in the Des Moines Register: Opinion: Eliminating Iowa’s farmland preservation tax incentive would hurt conservation, young farmers

Kate Edwards of Solon, Iowa, Rory and Lynette Van Wyk of Winterset, Iowa, and Dale Nimrod of Decorah, Iowa, were featured in Successful Farming: How they found a farm: Beginning farmers overcome obstacles when sellers offer flexibility

Practical Farmers of Iowa was mentioned in Iowa Ag Connection: Central Iowa Blitz Projects to Add 51 Water Quality Practices

Have you been featured in the media? Tell us when and where to find a link to the article, and we'll feature you in a future issue of Practical News.

Contact: tamsyn@practicalfarmers.org