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"We live and die by chemical agriculture". In the age of rampant use of chemicals such as the dreaded dicamba, truer words have perhaps never been spoken. Zachary Michael Jack, Iowa View contributor recently writes in the Des Moines Register about stark contrast between pesticide and herbicide spraying in the 80's during his childhood versus the […]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_hvGmoLrE0] You're never seen a sprout look this ghoulish. AMAZING video from band C.A.M.P.O.S. for their song Teosinte, which features incredible slow-mo of the title seed germinating. Most of the sites that reviewed the band mentioned that teosinte is a "form of Mesoamerican corn," but being the horticulture geeks that we are, we can't help […]

Check out the sweet trailer for the the Rural Route Film Tour!

The Women, Food and Agriculture Network is accepting applications for their Harvesting Our Potential program, an 8-10 week internship for women who are interested in farming/raising food or food products. The purpose of the program is to empower women who want to farm by providing them on-farm experience and a network of other women in food […]

Versaland is a 145-acre permaculture research farm in Iowa City, Iowa. Science-focused and early stage, Versaland (with you!) will plant 12,000+ trees in the 2016 season while continuing to develop our ponds, earthworks and Keyline installations. Versaland operates custom-built machinery, an electric tractor and many other farm innovations. Hosting skill-specific workshops throughout the season including […]

The Drake University Agricultural Law Center, in cooperation with the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, will host a two-day, state-wide conference on soil and water conservation policy. The conference will bring together individuals and organizations working to protect Iowa’s soil and water resources to consider the role of policy and law in shaping our stewardship […]

Ecopolis Iowa City: Community Forum Launches Regenerative City Initiative by Jeff Briggers, Huffington Post A broad range of community members in Iowa City, Iowa kicked off the "Ecopolis Forum" today, a groundbreaking series of monthly winter conversations on creating the first regenerative city of the arts, food, renewable energy, and commerce in the heartland. Featuring […]

The debate really hasn't occurred in Iowa in a prominent way, in part because of the prevalence of GMOs in Iowa agriculture and because of the clout that such agribusinesses as DuPont Pioneer and Monsanto wield in this state. But that doesn't mean there aren't strong feelings in Iowa on both sides of the GMO […]

The following essay written by George Naylor was published published by the Huffington Post on May 9, 2014 and is deserving of attention. Picture via National Geographic The brief article, "A Five-Step Plan to Feed the World" offered by Professor Jonathan Foley in the latest National Geographic magazine, clearly states the stark features of a global […]

The National Conference is coming right up. November 6-8, Des Moines, IA Gather with women farmers, advocates and landowners from across the US engaged in healthy food and farming for a unique mix of sharing, learning, field tours, and seasonal food from Midwest women farmers! Keynotes by Danielle Nierenberg of FoodTank, Pakou Hang of the Hmong American Farmers […]

Cultivating Our Food, Farms and Future: 4th National Conference for Women in Sustainable Agriculture Nov. 6 - 8, 2013 • Des Moines, IA Registration now open! This year marks the first time this biannual conference has been held in the Midwest, and we're hoping that will encourage women from all over the U.S. to attend. […]

Family bequeaths farm to PFI By Jean Caspers-Simmet, Published 3/05/2013 AMES, Iowa —Tom and Irene Frantzen's desire to preserve their New Hampton land for generations to come led them to bequeath the 300-acre certified organic farm to Practical Farmers of Iowa. They announced the transition plan at the recent PFI conference in Ames. Their voices […]

Greetings Greenhorns!! As a leader in the national young farmer movement, I wanted to take a moment of your time to invite you to submit a proposal to present at the 4th National Women in Sustainable Ag Conference: Cultivating Our Food, Farms and Future. The conference will be held November 6-8, 2013 in Des Moines, […]

meet Patrick Diedrich, a young farmer working on a family farm near DeWitt, IA [youtube=http://youtu.be/EHjRiOVwvok]

The 4th National Women in Sustainable Ag Conference: Cultivating Our Food, Farms and Future will be held November 6-8, 2013 in Des Moines, IA, hosted by the Women, Food & Agriculture Network. Presentations are invited in the following tracks: Cultivating our Food/Fiber (production-related topics); Cultivating our Farms (management, human relations and farm transfer topics); and Cultivating our […]

to support women landowners making good decisions about stewardship. Check out the series, particularly if you know a woman landowner who could use a sustainably minded posse. Join us at an upcoming WFAN event! Wednesday, Feb. 6 Women Caring for the LandSM Meeting: Risk Management 8:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. United Methodist Church 509 4th […]

That's what our Crash Course in Economic Sustainability for Non-Economist this summer is about. We want to help those who are responsible for educational programs related to sustainability to gain a sufficient understand of the essential principles of sustainability, so that they will not be hesitant to call for radical economic reform. Check out the […]

Farmers brainstorm simple tools to make their work easier June 20, 2012 in The Gazette IOWA CITY — Carolyn Scherf wants to harvest her peas while lying down. On Wednesday, the Solon-based vegetable farmer and 20 other local farmers and engineers attended the first day of Farm Hack Iowa — a two-day event at the […]

We're very excited for farmack Iowa NEXT WEEK!  Don't forget to RSVP. Here's the latest: Farm Hack Iowa team is way excited for next Wednesday, and we hope you are too.  We wanted to give you all a few updates on the event, and also introduce one aspect of the Farm Hack process: the design […]

Farm Hack:Iowa Wednesday, June 20th + Thursday, June 21st @ University of Iowa, Iowa City + Echollective CSA, Mechanicsville, IA. Farm Hack seeks to bring together farmers and allies to promote the time-honored agricultural traditions of tinkering, inventing, fixing and improving agricultural tools and machinery that fit the needs of the diverse and creative people working […]

20-21 June 2012 MECHANICSVILLE, IOWA @ echollective farm, 879 echo ave. farm hack iowa: inviting farmers, designers, engineers, and tinkerers to come together to share, create, and re-purpose farm tools and technologies. focused on on-farm energy production, electric tractor conversion, biodiesel production from waste oil, micro-wind, micro-hydro, and wood gas/producer gas fuels. sponsored by the greenhorns, the […]

From Iowa State University Extension & Outreach: We are pleased to present you with the 2011 Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll Summary Report. This year’s survey was completed during January and February 2011 by 1,276 Iowa farmers. The 2011 Farm Poll survey focused on a range of issues that are important not only to […]

an Iowa organization with some great agriculture programming.  Wallace.org. Chef/Food Programs Manager: Culinary arts education with strong interest in local foods; ability to develop food programming & value-added food products. Full-time w/ benefits, $28K to $32K. Based at the Henry A. Wallace Country Life Center near Orient, IA. Complete job description & application at www.wallace.org. […]

Women and farming: A nurturing nature By Dan Pilar for the Des Moines Register, May 7 2011 Here's a Mother's Day question for Mom: Is there a maternal instinct that makes women, long the caregivers in most cultures, better suited than men to care for Iowa's 24 million acres of rich farmland? The question and […]

these farmers aim to reintroduce Aronia berries to America!  Intrigued?  Here's some great coverage from The Atlantic. Aronia Berries: The Next Acai? by James McWilliams The aronia berry is a dark purplish fruit that grows in clusters of 12 on handsome green shrubs. When eaten off the vine it’s bitter—for good reason, many call it […]

Iowa Greenhorns - hook up with these folks! The Northern Iowa Food & Farm Partnership is organizing a meeting for all growers currently selling to schools, growers who would like to begin selling to schools, and growers just interested in learning more about farm to school.  We'll have presentations on the procurement process, how farmers […]

Dr. Vandana Shiva will be the keynote speaker at the Seed Savers Exchange 2011 Conference! Join us at Heritage Farm for Seed Savers' 31st Annual Conference & Campout! It's a great place to meet like-minded gardeners, learn from experienced seed savers and enjoy the beauty of Heritage Farm. This year the keynote address will be […]

The next three posts are Severine’s travel journals from a swoop she just made visiting farms in the midwest, seeking out young farmers and sleeping in their greenhouses in Tennessee, and attending a conference in Georgia, among many other agrarian investigations and pursuits. Iowa --------------------------------- I arrived in Iowa just after a little snow, and […]