College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Online
May 8, 2017
Top Stories
ISU Saturated Buffers Highlighted During Soil and Water Conservation Week
A farm near Madrid in Boone County, owned by the Committee for Agricultural Development, is one place to learn best management practices for water quality improvement. Tom Isenhart, natural resource ecology and management, and Dan Jaynes, soil scientist with the USDA, serve as leads on a saturated buffer project located on the farm. Saturated buffers are an edge-of-field practice designed to divert tile line water into buffer area soil. This allows natural processes to denitrify the water before it enters the stream. According to Isenhart and Jaynes, there are 14,000 miles of eligible land in Iowa suited to saturated buffer installation. Saturated buffers have recently been approved as a standard practice for nutrient removal and as of December 2016 are cost-share eligible. Saturated buffers are one of several tools designed to meet nutrient reduction goals set by the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy. At a May 4 event with 50 people, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad signed an official conservation week proclamation and joined Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey, Dean Wintersteen and Acting Vice President of Extension John Lawrence in viewing the saturated buffer installation.
Teaching and Students
CALS Students Win Overall Prize at Judging Conference
For the third year in a row, CALS student teams won the overall sweepstakes award among four-year institutions at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Judging Conference, held April 6-8. The sweepstakes award was presented for the teams’ good showing in five agricultural contests. The ISU Ag Knowledge Bowl team won first place for the seventh year in a row. Teams ranked first in livestock management, meat judging, precision agriculture, crops and horticulture. More
CALS Students Depart for Summer Global Experiences
Eight travel courses from various CALS department will provide an opportunity for 92 students to travel abroad to Asia, Africa and Europe this summer. The May/June 2017 newsletter from the CALS Global Programs office provides a highlight of the courses, as well as a recap of the spring break courses. Also, readers will find highlights from the annual scholarship recognition dinner, which provides scholars the opportunity to share their study abroad experiences with the donors.
Extension and Outreach
Hartzler Urges Farmers to Commit to Weed Control
Farmers may consider cutting corners with their weed management strategy this growing season to save money in the face of tight profit margins. But Robert Hartzler, agronomy, said doing so will encourage the development of herbicide resistance and cost farmers more in the long run. More
Plant and Insect Diagnostic Clinic Simplifies Process for Diagnosis Requests
The ISU Plant and Insect Diagnostic Clinic has updated and simplified submission forms for receiving requests for diagnosis for plant problems and insect, plant or mushroom identification. The “Plant Nematode Sample Submission Form” and “Sample Submission Form” are now available through the ISU Extension Store and through the Clinic website. More
Around the College
Edwards Named Interim Director of Two College Centers
William Edwards, emeritus professor of economics, has been named interim director of two extension-focused centers in CALS – the Beginning Farmer Center and the Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation. Edwards will take on responsibilities previously held by John Lawrence, who in April was named ISU’s acting vice president for extension and reach. More
Calendar
May 10: Retirement Reception for Wade Miller
A retirement reception for Wade Miller, agricultural education and studies, will be held May 10, 3 to 5 p.m. (with a program at 3:30) in 224 Curtiss Hall. Miller has been at ISU for 37 years, and served as interim chair of the department for seven years.
June 22: Herbicide Research Field Day
The agronomy department’s weed science project will host a Herbicide Research Program Field Day on June 22 at the Curtiss Farm in Ames. Attendees will have the opportunity to review new herbicides, application techniques and other weed management strategies in corn and soybeans. More
June 29: Iowa Swine Day
The sixth annual Iowa Swine Day, scheduled for June 29 in the Scheman Building, will address current issues and opportunities facing pork producers. The event is planned and hosted by CALS, the Iowa Pork Industry Center and the Iowa Pork Producers Association. More
Funding Opportunities
FFAR to Release Farm Animal Welfare Grant Opportunity in June
The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research is planning to release a Request for Applications in June for the Protein Challenge Area, one of FFAR’s seven challenge areas. The RFA will solicit projects on farm animal welfare. Interested researchers can join the Protein Challenge email list or contact Tim Kurt (tkurt@foundationfar.org). 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.
May 24 (brief proposals): Robert Wood Johnson Foundation - Health Data for Action; $150,000 and $750,000.
June 1: National Academy of Science and Rita Allen Foundation - Building Capacity for Science Communication Partnership Awards; $37,500, collaborative science communication researcher-practitioner partnerships.
June 5, Oct. 5: NIH Modeling of Infectious Disease Agent Study Research Projects (R01); develop and apply computational tools and methods for modeling. More
June 8: Department of State Supporting Tunisia’s Agribusiness Sector; $600,000. More
June 30: Copernicus Masters: Big Data Big Business Challenge by CGI. More
June 30: Department of State, U.S. Mission to India - Youth Entrepreneurship Network: Innovate, Ideate; $54,000. More
Aug. 23: NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates. More
Oct. 1 (letter of intent): Whitehall Foundation Research Grants and Grants-in-Aid; basic research in neurobiology; contact ISU Foundation (cfr@foundation.isu.edu) to express interest. More
Continuous: NIH Center for Inherited Disease Research High Throughput Sequencing and Genotyping Resource Access (X01). More
Communications Kiosk
When to Use “On”
Do not use “on” before a date or day of the week when its absence would not lead to confusion, except at the beginning of a sentence: The meeting will be held Monday. He will be inaugurated Jan. 20. On Sept. 3, the committee will meet to discuss the issue. Use “on” to avoid an awkward juxtaposition of a date and a proper name: John met Mary on Monday. He told Reagan on Thursday that the bill was doomed. Use “on” also to avoid any suggestion that a date is the object of a transitive verb: The House killed on Tuesday a bid to raise taxes. The Senate postponed on Wednesday its consideration of a bill to reduce import duties. (Associated Press Stylebook, 2016 edition, pg. 205)
Infograzing
Garden Produce Collection Begins June 24
Plant a Row for the Hungry in Story County is collecting locally grown fruits and vegetables for Ames-area food programs, including ACCESS, Bethesda Community Food Pantry, MICA Food Pantry, Primary Health Care, Salvation Army Food Pantry and Food at First. Gardeners may take their produce donations to the maintenance shed at Reiman Gardens on Mondays from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Volunteers will accept produce June 24 through Oct. 23, except Sept. 4. Plant a Row for the Hungry is an international effort that helps gardeners make a difference in their communities by sharing excess produce with those in need. More
Marginalia
Iowa’s Best Burger at Smokin’ Hereford BBQ in Storm Lake
The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association and the Iowa Beef Industry Council announced the winner of the 2017 Iowa’s Best Burger contest on May 1 – Smokin’ Hereford BBQ in Storm Lake. This is the eighth year the two organizations have teamed up to sponsor the contest, with Iowan’s submitting more than 9,200 nominations representing nearly 500 restaurants. 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.