Ag retailers will be seeing some new faces in the coming months. INREC is contracting with three individuals to serve as a resource for the Progress Measurement pilot project. The liaisons will be making contacts with CEOs, GMs, and others to help facilitate data acquisition needed to provide an accurate view of the efforts of Iowa farmers and retailers to implement conservation practices and tell the story of agricultural stewardship.

"Having the liaisons on board greatly improves the reach and resources available as we launch phase 2 of the pilot program," said Environmental Technology Director Shawn Richmond. "We are excited to have such capable and knowledgeable individuals serving in this capacity."

The three liaisons are:

Chad Ingels

Randalia, IA 

Northeast Region 

Ingels lives in Randalia and will serve the northeast portion of the state. He most recently worked as a water quality specialist for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and is a nutrient management consultant.

Vince Davis

Spirit Lake, IA

Northwest Region

Davis lives in Spirit Lake and will serve the Northwest portion of Iowa. He is a retired Farm Bureau regional manager and has more than 30 years of experience working with farmers.

Roger Webster

Treynor, IA

Southern Region

Webster lives in Treynor and will serve the southern counties in Iowa. Roger is an instructor at Iowa Western Community College, is the General Manager at Treynor Ag Supply, and is a past Chair of AAI Services.

President Donald Trump's pick to be the U.S. ambassador to China emphasized friendship between the countries as he prepared to meet with China's ambassador during a trip this week to Washington.

Cordial ties are "going to be an important thing" between the two nations, Iowa Governor and Trump Nominee Terry Branstad said Thursday in an interview after speaking at a U.S. Department of Agriculture conference in Arlington, Virginia. "If you think of the history there have been a lot of rocky times. It gets worse, and then it gets better. But I hope I can play a constructive role in helping to improve the relations." [...] READ MORE. 

John Lawrence admits to wondering what might have been if not for soaring interest rates in the late 1970s.  Lawrence grew up on a farm near Tabor in Mills County, and farmed for about three years prior to selling out in 1980.  "I went to community college in Arkansas for a year after graduating from Fremont-Mills in 1976 and had an opportunity to come back and farm," he says. "But we were pretty highly leveraged and interest rates tripled, so we couldn't stay in and had to sell out in 1980."

Nearly four decades later, Lawrence serves as associate dean for Extension at the College of Agriculture at Iowa State University. He also serves as Extension director, and is director of the Iowa Nutrient Research Center and the Beginning Farmer Center at ISU. [...] READ MORE. 

by: Agribusiness Report 

Each year, 15 community colleges that have ag programs are invited to a  career day at the Agribusiness Association of Iowa Showcase and Conference. They're there to listen to industry speakers, network, and some get scholarships.

At the showcase, Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds spoke to the students about STEM, "We say ag is STEM, so if you've got a good foundation in that, you're set to decide or to be whatever you want to be and the community colleges have been instrumental in helping with that STEM initiative. [...] READ MORE. 

GMOs are now planted in 28 countries and on 444 million acres around the world. But why?

Of course, there is a lot of misinformation on the Internet with many different topics in life. Thanks to many  lobbyist groups, the topic of GMOs has become riddled with misinformation that stems vastly from people who've never farmed a day in their life. So why listen to the people who don't have firsthand [...] READ MORE.