News

Are you interested in beginning or improving your own agritourism business? Learn directly from leading agritourism operators and experts during upcoming Agritourism Entrepreneurship Business Education Tours.

The Farm, Food and Enterprise Development team with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach will hold a virtual Specialty Crop Marketing Boot Camp on two occasions in February. Designed to help those who grow and market specialty crops, the boot camp will feature expert insight from Darcy Maulsby, an Iowa author and experienced ag marketer known as “Iowa’s Storyteller.”

A family farmer and motivational speaker from eastern Iowa will headline the annual Iowa Specialty Producers Conference, set for Feb. 22-23 in Ankeny.

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach’s Farm, Food and Enterprise Development program will host a farm financial management bootcamp for specialty crop producers in December. The short, intensive program is designed to provide producers with the opportunity to optimize their business model, examine their financial infrastructure, develop a financial plan and prepare to raise money for further business development.

Beginning in October, food entrepreneurs can learn about best practices related to food safety, food labeling, and cleaning and sanitation of food contact surfaces during a free webinar series.

The horticulture team with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach will hold the 2022 Fruit and Vegetable Field Day Aug. 15 at Iowa State University’s Horticulture Research Station northeast of Ames. The annual event will feature various research and demonstration projects on fruit and vegetable production for commercial growers, extension personnel, nonprofit organizations and master gardeners.

The Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State University will host the 2022 Wine Grape Field Day on Wednesday, July 27. This field day is offered to grape growers and winemakers, extension personnel and nonprofit organizations. The field day will run from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will feature two separate sessions.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig today encouraged producers of pesticide sensitive crops to renew their field and beehive entries on the Iowa Sensitive Crops Registry.  “The Iowa Sensitive Crop Registry is an effective tool to support communication between producers of specialty crops, beekeepers and pesticide applicators – all important aspects of Iowa agriculture,” said Secretary Naig. “Now is a good time for farmers, beekeepers and pesticide applicators to reference and update their information using this user-friendly online platform.”

On May 19th, 2021, Governor Reynolds signed SF 356 into law establishing the “Iowa Agricultural Tourism Promotion Act.” See Iowa Code § 673A et seq. Agricultural tourism is a growing industry in Iowa. In 2017, Iowa had 350 agri-tourism operations, an increase from 275 in 2012. Because many of the inherent risks of farming cannot be removed, the Act promotes agricultural tourism by limiting the potential liability of agricultural tourism farms in certain circumstances.

Every farm operation will face transitions at some point, whether it’s a new beginning, an expansion, retirement or farm exit. In order to help farmers prepare for these kinds of transitions, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and the Beginning Farmer Center at Iowa State are providing a two-day educational event Feb. 10-11 in Ames.

A podcast designed and produced by the Farm, Food and Enterprise Development program with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach has been recognized for its outreach. The Small Farm Sustainability Podcast, which airs each week, was ranked No. 1 in a listing of the “Best 20 Sustainable Agriculture Podcasts” by Feedspot Blog, an online content creator and social media curator.

A pandemic and severe drought challenged fruit and vegetable growers across the state in 2021, but volunteers with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach rose to the occasion. As part of the Growing Together Mini-Grant project, 33 Iowa counties grew 91,772 pounds of fruits and vegetables that were donated to 119 food pantries and distribution sites – equal to more than 275,000 servings