College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Online
July 5, 2016 – No. 907
Top Stories
Northeast Research and Demonstration Farm to Celebrate 40th Anniversary
The ISU Northeast Research and Demonstration Farm at Nashua held its annual field day on June 28. Topics discussed were grain markets, crop conditions and water quality. On Aug. 26, the Northeast Farm will celebrate its 40 year anniversary.
Field Days Held at Northern and Southeast Research Farms
Field days were held at the Northern Research and Demonstration Farm near Kanawha and the Southeast Research and Demonstration Farm near Crawfordsville on June 23. Photos and an overview of topics presented are available on the Integrated Crop Management blog. More
Research
The Paradox of American Farmers and Climate Change
An article in the June 29 issue of Fortune talks about the paradox of American farmers and climate change. At work, farmers acknowledge changes in the growing season and adopt practices that help deal with climate change’s effects on agriculture. But according to J. Gordon Arbuckle, sociology, many do not want to talk about climate change. The article referenced a survey conducted by Arbuckle of 5,000 Cornbelt farmers. The survey was part of the Cropping Systems Coordinated Agricultural Project. Lois Wright Morton, sociology, is director of the $20 million USDA NIFA-funded research project, involving 10 Midwestern land-grant universities and a USDA agricultural research station. More
New Research Summaries Available from Leopold Center
Summaries of three recently completed research projects are now available from the Leopold Center. The projects looked at the economic impacts of soil erosion in Iowa, whether a community supported agriculture food box program would be beneficial in the Cedar Valley region of Iowa, and policy opportunities to help farms advance water quality and soil health. More
Teaching and Students
Hansen Center Hosting Student Storage Event
The Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center is hosting a storage unit event this summer. From July 22 through Aug. 5, space will be available for ISU students to store their furniture while they switch housing. Availability is first come first serve. Applications are due July 11.
Extension and Outreach
New Online Forecasting Tool to Assess Cropping Systems
A web tool developed by ISU personnel helps farmers make in-season and pre-season crop management decisions based on real-time information and predicted outcomes. The Forecast and Assessment of Cropping sysTemS (FACTS), recently launched online, provides detailed information on weather, soil water and nitrogen, crop staging, temperature stress and yields. More
Book Series on Corn and Soybean Diseases Now Available
ISU Extension and Outreach specialists contributed to two new publication recently published by the American Phytopathological Society, A Farmer’s Guide to Corn Diseases and A Farmer’s Guide to Soybean Diseases. The publications provide easy-to-read disease listings and overviews, basic instructions for using diagnostic and scouting tools, and non-technical management recommendations.
Iowa Learning Farms Releases Field Day Toolkit
Iowa Learning Farms has released a Field Day Toolkit, a guide on how to hold an effective field day from planning to evaluation. ILF has found that there is a relationship between farmers attending field days, adopting conservation practices and influencing other farmers to use conservation.
Modules Provide Education on Grain Handling, Storage Safety
ISU Extension and Outreach has produced a series of online learning modules on grain handling and storage safety. Developed through the Iowa Grain Quality Initiative in CALS, the no-cost learning modules contain video, audio and text with information on 25 crop-related topics. More
Around the College
BioCentury Research Farm Has New Advisory Council
The BioCentury Research Farm has announced the selection of 10 members to its newly formed advisory council. The council is made up of representatives from industry and ISU and will provide guidance on the direction of the farm.
Maxwell Appointed Superintendent of Southwest Iowa Research Farms
Dallas Maxwell has been appointed superintendent of the ISU Armstrong and Neely-Kinyon Research Farms located at Lewis and Greenfield in southwest Iowa. He has been serving as interim superintendent since last October when Bernie Havlovic retired. Maxwell and the research farm staff serve 75 research projects including on-farm trials and host more than 2,000 visitors annually.
Cooper Participates in National Roundtable on Agriculture Diversity and Inclusion
More than 35,000 students will graduate with a degree related to agriculture over the next five years. But those graduates won’t be enough to fill the anticipated 39 percent gap in the agriculture industry. In early June, a roundtable event took place in Washington D.C. to discuss the possible solutions to fill this gap. Theressa Cooper, CALS assistant dean for diversity, attended the roundtable to discuss the importance of various aspects of diversity in the agriculture industry as well as implementing agriculture into everyday life. “I believe this is one step in a multi-faceted approach that has the potential to increase the chances of students pursuing an occupation within the agriculture enterprises,” Cooper said.
Tildgren Talks with IPTV about GMO Labeling
A first in the nation Vermont law requiring the labeling of food products with GMO ingredients went into effect Friday, causing more than just a ripple throughout the food industry. Legal experts view the Vermont law as a collective rather than individual threat to the food industry. On the July 1 issue of Iowa Public Television’s Market to Market, Kristine Tildgren, Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation in CALS, said there needs to be a consistent standard rather than a patchwork of regulation. If manufacturers need to follow 50 different laws, that will drive them out of business, she said. More
Funding Opportunities
ERA-CAPS Call for Proposals: Molecular Plant Sciences
The ERA-NET Coordinating Action in Plant Sciences has issued its third transnational call for proposals to strengthen transnational research in molecular plant sciences. Projects aiming to investigate the plant microbiome or phytobiome that address the general aims of the call can also be submitted. The sub-call theme is to address data challenges in plant sciences. The National Science Foundation is among the organizations funding this call. Pre-proposals must be submitted by Sept. 28.
Grants.gov Scheduled Maintenance Outage, July 15-18
A maintenance outage for the Grants.gov Production System is scheduled from Friday, July 15, at 11:01 p.m. until Monday, July 18, at 5 a.m. (Central Daylight Time). This outage is part of routine maintenance scheduled for the third weekend of every month.
Save the Date: NSF Grants Conference, Nov. 14-15
The National Science Foundation has scheduled its fall grants conference for Nov. 14-15 in Pittsburgh. The conference will be hosted by Carnegie Mellon University. It is intended for individuals who want to gain key insight into current issues at NSF including the state of current funding, new and current policies and procedures, and administrative issues. Details about CALS travel support to attend the conference will be distributed in late summer/early fall. More
Funding Information, Opportunities and Deadline Reminders
Dates listed are application deadlines. Contact: Roxanne Clemens, rclemens@iastate.edu. Additional information is posted at CALS Pre-Award Resources.
July 29: USDA Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program; $200,000 per project. More
July 29, Dec. 16: Cyberlearning and Future Learning Technologies (Cyberlearning); Capacity-Building Projects; other dates apply for other proposal categories. More
July 31: USAID Strengthening Multi-sectoral Nutrition Programming through Implementation Science - Bangladesh; one award, $21.8 million. More
Aug. 1: Department of State - Ocean Conservation Projects in Developing States: Advancing Marine Protected Areas and Reducing Nutrient Pollution. More
Aug. 2: DOD-DARPA Prometheus; molecular host prognostic assay to measure infectious disease contagiousness. More
Aug. 2: USDA NIFA AgrAbility - Assistive Technology Program for Farmers with Disabilities.
Aug. 15 (pre-proposal): National Forest Foundation - Barrett Foundation Business Concept Challenge.
Aug. 29: USFWS Migratory Bird Monitoring, Assessment and Conservation; Atlantic Coast; $65,000 total funding, $10,000 to $500,000 may be available for subsequent work. More
Aug. 29: BLM New Mexico Statewide Implementation of the Native Seed Strategy, Pollinator Strategy and Rare Plant Strategy; estimated $115,000 per award. More
Oct. 3, April 3: IBM Center for The Business of Government – Research Report Stipends; $20,000. More
Communications Kiosk
When to Use Commas in a Series
Use commas to separate elements in a series, but do not put a comma before the conjunction in a simple series: The flag is red, white and blue. Put a comma before the concluding conjunction in a series, however, if an integral element of the series requires a conjunction: I had orange juice, toast, and ham and eggs for breakfast. Use a comma also before the concluding conjunction in a complex series of phrases: The main points to consider are whether the athletes are skillful enough to compete, whether they have the stamina to endure the training, and whether they have the proper mental attitude. (Associated Press Stylebook, 2015 edition, pg. 299)
Infograzing
ISU Recognized on STEM Council Fifth Anniversary
Iowa STEM’s North Central Hub, housed at ISU, was recognized as the Iowa Governor’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Advisory Council celebrates its five-year anniversary. The hub is overseen by ISU Senior Vice President and Provost Jonathan Wickert, a STEM Council member, along with ISU Vice President for Extension and Outreach Cathann Kress.
Biofortification Pioneers Win 2016 World Food Prize
Maria Andrade, Robert Mwanga, Jan Low and Howarth Bouis were announced as the 2016 World Food Prize Laureates during a ceremony at the U.S. State Department on June 28. The prize rewards their work in countering world hunger and malnutrition through biofortification, the process of breeding critical vitamins and micronutrients into staple crops. They will receive the World Food Prize at a ceremony in Des Moines on Oct. 13. More
Marginalia
Ephemera in Archives
In a recent post on the ISU Special Collections and University Archives blog, Chris Anderson, descriptive records project archivist, discusses a phone call he received from a farmer in another state. The man and his son were restoring a piece of farm equipment made in the 1890s. The man’s dilemma was not knowing what color to paint the machine. His research led him to the ISU Special Collections website, where he found an inventory for a collection of agriculture literature, including advertisements and brochures put out by the manufacturer of the machine being restored. Anderson was able to find a few cards featuring color illustrations. With this example, Anderson raises the larger question of ephemera in archives. For his purposes, he cites the following definition: “any transitory or printed matter not meant to be retained or preserved.” While the item’s intended use or purpose is ephemeral, the item itself could be saved indefinitely. How do archivists decide what to collect and preserve? More
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Online
Julie Stewart, Editor
jstewart@iastate.edu, (515) 294-5616
https://www.cals.iastate.edu/news/agonline
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Online, the newsletter for faculty and staff in Iowa State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is published by email every Monday. The deadline for submitting content is 12 p.m. on Friday.