Professor brings industry experience to new digital and precision agriculture major

Students are getting an early look at a new digital and precision agriculture major launching this fall, where technology, data and agronomy converge. With hands-on experience using drones, sensors and mapping tools, the program prepares students to help farmers make smarter decisions and to lead the future of modern agriculture.

Graduate student’s research aims to provide solutions for organic vegetable growers

Smriti Chaudhary, a graduate student in sustainable agriculture and horticulture, has had great success studying vegetable crops at Iowa State University. So much that she was awarded a 2026 Graduate Program Research Excellence Award. With her May 2026 graduation on the horizon, Chaudhary plans to continue working in horticultural science and specialty crop production. She wants to develop research-based management strategies that help growers improve crop performance while maintaining sustainable production systems. 

Iowa State nitrogen specialist engaged in answering farmers’ questions

Traditional approaches, like applying a fixed amount of fertilizer early in the season, do not account for how crop needs change over time, according to Richard Roth, an assistant professor of agronomy at Iowa State University. Too much fertilizer or poorly timed applications often lead to wasted input costs, along with water pollution and increased greenhouse gas emissions. As the state’s new nitrogen science specialist for ISU Extension and Outreach, Roth provides leadership to help answer farmers’ questions about growing crops profitably and responsibly. 

Unexpected discovery leads to potential pollination control mechanism for baby corn

Baby corn, essentially unfertilized young ears of corn, is a specialty food with a global market. Its quality and taste are greatly reduced by pollination. To prevent pollination, farmers depend on labor- and cost-intensive detasseling to remove the male flowers from the plant early in its growth, before they shed pollen to fertilize the ears. A promising alternative to the bottleneck of detasseling has been discovered by Iowa State University researchers who study corn breeding. 

Iowa CARET representatives visit Capitol Hill on behalf of land-grant university system

Iowa representatives of the Council for Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching joined like-minded citizens from across the country in Washington, D.C.,  recently to advocate for Iowa State University and the land-grant university system.