College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Online
March 2, 2020
Top Stories
New ISU Poultry Farm to Be Dedicated March 5
On Thursday, March 5, the new Robert T. Hamilton Poultry Teaching and Research Farm will be dedicated on south State Ave. The $7 million facility, made possible solely through private gifts, will be a state-of-the-art site where tomorrow’s poultry experts can learn the most current production methods and technologies, and where Iowa’s poultry producers gain science-based answers on caring for poultry, protecting the environment and improving their competitiveness. President Wintersteen, Dean Robison and other leaders will welcome donors, supporters and stakeholders at a dedication ceremony. Also on Thursday, CALS will hold a medallion ceremony to honor Richard Gates, the new holder of the Iowa Egg Council Endowed Professorship. Gates became director of the Egg Industry Center on Jan. 1.
Research
Crespi Named Director of CARD
John Crespi has been named director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development. A professor of economics, Crespi joined the faculty at Iowa State in 2015 and has served as interim director of CARD since September 2018. More
Agronomists Publish Study on Modeling Flood-Induced Stress in Soybeans
Michael Castellano and Sotirios Archontoulis, and graduate researchers Heather Pasley and Isaiah Huber, agronomy, have published “Modeling Flood-Induced Stress in Soybeans” in Frontiers in Plant Science. The soybean modeling study advances the ability to predict and mitigate yield losses related to climate volatility. More
Teaching and Students
ABE Graduate Student Selected for National Leadership Program
Heather Tenboer, graduate student in agricultural and biosystems engineering, has been selected as a 2020 Farm Foundation Agricultural Scholar. The new program, a partnership between the Farm Foundation and USDA’s Economic Research Service, will take 10 graduate-level students of agriculture through a year-long emerging leader development program.
CALS Student Leads ISU Dance Marathon
Riley Wilgenbusch, senior in agronomy and global resource systems, served as director of the 23rd annual ISU Dance Marathon in January. Students danced day and night to raise more than $340,000 for the University of Iowa’s Stead Family Children’s Hospital. More
CALS Student Wins Iowa Miss United States Agriculture Title
Winning the Iowa Miss United States Agriculture title was the first step in promoting the agricultural industry for Alexis Stine, junior in animal science. As she prepares to represent Iowa at the national pageant in Orlando in June, Stine is working on a platform she wrote for the pageant to advocate and promote agriculture. More
Landscape Club Members Offer Design Sessions for Homeowners
The Landscape Club will host a Student Design Session on Sunday, March 8, noon to 5 p.m. in Horticulture Hall. Club members will consult with homeowners to give landscape design advice and plant recommendations, and draw rough elevation sketches over the top of photos of a home. The hour-long sessions are $70 by appointment only; email iastatelandscape@gmail.com or phone 294-6375 to schedule a session or get more information. The event is a fundraiser for the club's spring break trip to the National Collegiate Landscape Competition at Michigan State University, East Lansing.
Extension and Outreach
Toolkit Developed to Track Small Farm Marketing Costs
To help producers track their cost of marketing, the Farm, Food and Enterprise Development Program at ISU Extension and Outreach has developed the Market-Based Enterprise Budgets Toolkit. It contains sample marketing budgets for 10 crops or enterprises and allows producers to enter and track their numbers. Included are costs like packaging and labeling, delivery and mileage, and labor. More
Extension Offers Wide Range of Risk Management Tools
Managing risk will continue to be a key part of farm profitability in 2020 and ISU Extension and Outreach is providing farmers with a wide range of risk management tools to help make the process more understandable. The February edition of Ag Decision Maker contains four risk management articles, along with accompanying videos that allow producers to watch and listen to each specialist describe each tool. More
Registration Open for Iowa Water Conference
Registration is now open for the 2020 Iowa Water Conference, scheduled for April 8-9 in Ames. The focus will be on promoting inclusive, resilient water resource management. Partners include ISU Extension and Outreach.
Around the College
CALS Faculty and Staff Honored by 25 Year Club
More than 20 faculty and staff in CALS departments, centers and units will be honored tonight, March 2, at the 85th annual ISU 25 Year Club Banquet. Those honored for 25 years of service are: Lucinda Clark, Susana Goggi and Roger Hintz, agronomy; Dong Ahn and Rita Knight, animal science; Carla Persaud, CALS administration; Lois Benning, CALS Career Services; Russell Jurenka, entomology; Patrick O’Malley, Extension to Agriculture; Jill Cornelis, Iowa Soybean Research Center; and Kent Berns and Arlie Penner, Research Farms. The following will be honored for 35 years at the university: James Shahan, agricultural and biosystems engineering; William Rogers, animal science; Steven Fox; CALS administration; Mike Gaul, CALS Career Services; Jerolyne Packer and David Stender, Extension to Agriculture; Richard Jauron, horticulture; and Lynn Schroeder, Research Farms. Wallace Huffman, economics, will be recognized for 45 years of service. Brian Meyer, CALS Communications Service, is president of the 25 Year Club. More
National Farmers Union’s Highest Honor to Harl
The National Farmers Union presented its highest honor, the Meritorious Service Award, to Neil Harl, emeritus Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor of economics, at its 118th anniversary convention on March 1 in Savannah, Ga. Harl’s many areas of expertise include organization of the farm firm, taxation, estate planning and legal and economic aspects of farm finance. More
ISU Horticulturists Co-host Public TV Show
Aaron Steil, assistant director of Reiman Gardens and lecturer in the horticulture department, and Cindy Haynes, associate professor of horticulture and consumer horticulture extension specialist, co-host a horticulture special on Iowa PBS, Gardening with Steil. It premiered on air and online March 1 and will be rebroadcast Saturday, March 7, at 1 p.m. It also will air March 3-8 on Iowa PBS' World and Create channels. Steil and Haynes created three episodes that run consecutively in each broadcast. More
Nominations for Gamma Sigma Delta due March 20
The Iowa chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta, the honor society of agriculture, is accepting nominations for membership and awards. Nomination forms for faculty, staff and alumni membership and awards are available online and are due March 20. More
Calendar
March 10: CALS Town Hall Meeting
CALS will hold a town hall meeting for all college faculty and staff on March 10 from 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. in the Dolezal Auditorium in Curtiss Hall, Room 127. Refreshments will be served. Endowed Dean Dan Robison will provide a welcome and remarks, including updates on enrollment and budget. There will be an opportunity to ask questions and provide comments.
March 25-27: Inaugural C-CHANGE Conference
ISU’s Consortium for Cultivating Human and Naturally reGenerative Enterprises (C-CHANGE) is hosting its inaugural Conference on Agriculture, Technology and Innovation on March 25-27 in Des Moines. The conference will bring together experts from agriculture, energy, government, science and society to share new thinking and new ideas to expand the value chain for renewable natural gas, a component of biogas. Lisa Schulte Moore, natural resource ecology and management, is the C-CHANGE director.
Communications Kiosk
“Be Social” with CALS: Check Out the Directory
The social media directory for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has been updated and available online. Find out which departments, units and centers have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Linkedin.
Infograzing
Students: Enroll in Multifactor Authentication by March 25
Students are encouraged to activate the cybersecurity feature known as multifactor authentication for their ISU login. MFA will be required for all students beginning March 25. Multifactor authentication is a two-step login system that requires an additional action after inputting your password. With MFA enabled, hackers cannot easily compromise your primary email account and other accounts routed through it (i.e. Amazon, Venmo). More
National Competitive Grants Program Accepting Proposals
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Institutes for Water Resources, requests proposals for research projects to improve and enhance the nation’s water supply and availability and promote the exploration of new ideas that address or expand our understanding of water problems. Submission deadline is March 10.
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Online
Julie Stewart, Editor
jstewart@iastate.edu, (515) 294-5616
http://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.