ISU Crop Adviser Institute Wins American Society of Agronomy Awards

AMES, Iowa - The Iowa State University Crop Adviser Institute (CAI) won the top two awards for its software applications at the American Society of Agronomy (ASA) annual meeting. The American Society of Agronomy Educational Materials Awards for 2003 were given to authors of materials developed specifically for the CAI program. CAI offers interactive continuing education courses for crop advisers certified through the ASA. "The CAI is developing a reputation for excellence in providing quality, interactive learning modules to certified crop advisers. These awards underscore our commitment to quality," said Ken Moore, Iowa State agronomy professor and president of the Crop Science Society of America. Awards in the software division included: First place for the "Soybean Rust - Biology and Risks," project developed by X.B. Yang, associate professor in plant pathology and Brent Brueland, program coordinator for CAI. The second place award went to "Riparian Management Systems - An Introduction to RiMS," developed by Tom Schultz, agronomy department program assistant and Richard Schultz, professor of natural resource ecology and management. This is the second year that CAI has won the awards. Crop advisers are required to earn 40 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) every two years to maintain certification. The CAI program helps crop advisers with certification by providing computer-based continuing education courses in crop management, nutrient management, integrated pest management and soil and water management. There are currently more than 15,000 crop advisers who have been certified through the ASA program. The program is provided through the CAI Web site. The site also provides up-to-date information on crops and weather during the growing season and links to other on-line resources and industry news.