Eastern IA Farmer_Fall23_SOUTH

The Eastern Iowa Fall 2023 

Farmer 

® 

A Publication of Sycamore Media 

SCOTT | CEDAR | MUSCATINE | LOUISA | JOHNSON 

AG 

CAREERS 

While growing crops and raising 

livestock are the lifeblood of the Eastern 

Iowa farm community, agriculture isn’t 

just for farmers. Many area folks pursue 

careers that support the industry in a 

variety of fields. 

Laying the Groundwork: Niche family 

business has been growing sod since 1967. 

Experience is the Best Teacher: 

Students get hands-on learning at the Wilton FFA farm. 

A Landmark Slice: Produce stand famous for 

melons offers fruits, veggies, flowers and more. 

Growing and cooking: A local 

woman promotes self-sustaining lifestyle 

with garden-to-table practices. 

HERE’S TO YOU: 

See photos of your 

friends and neighbors! 

EasternIowaFarmer_South_Fall2023.indd 1 

9/19/23 3:34 PM

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2 EASTERN IOWA FARMER | FALL 2023 eifarmer.com 


9/19/23 3:34 PM

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9/19/23 3:34 PM

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9/19/23 3:34 PM

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9/19/23 3:34 PM

The Eastern Iowa 

Farmer® 

DIRECTORY OF ADVERTISERS 

Addington Place of Muscatine.........................22 

AgWest Commodities......................................21 

Altorfer Ag Products.........................................59 

American Family Insurance 

- Wayne Vanauken........................................12 

Amhof Trucking, Inc.........................................51 

Ben Schueller Auction Co.................................54 

Bennett Grain...................................................26 

Brother’s Truck & Trailer Repair.........................33 

Buchanan House Winery & Vineyard................50 

CBI Bank & Trust...............................................87 

Charlotte Locker...............................................71 

Circle P Veterinary Services..............................19 

Community Foundation 

of Greater Muscatine....................................30 

Cove Equipment..............................................13 

Custom Builders..............................................82 

Dekalb - Alex Beck............................................85 

Duane Headings..............................................39 

Eastern Iowa Farmer.........................................46 

Farm Bureau Financial Services 

- Oliver Owen, Marsha Daufeldt-Gingerich, 

Troy Mitchell.................................................35 

Farm Bureau Financial Services 

- Megan Fulgsang........................................55 

Farm Credit Services of America.......................18 

First Choice Real Estate, Dan Oien....................14 

First Trust and Savings Bank.............................47 

Fulwider Agency, Inc........................................60 

Grell Custom Metal Works, LLC........................32 

Hertz Farm Management, Inc...........................74 

Iowa Realty......................................................23 

Iron Creek Cattle Co .........................................20 

J.J. Nichting Company.....................................40 

Kunau Implement............................................32 

Lee Agency.......................................................66 

Liberty Ag & Excavating....................................37 

Liberty Insurance Agency Inc ...........................63 

Liberty Trust & Savings Bank............................56 

Liqui-Grow.......................................................15 

Madden Ag Services, PIVOT BIO.......................67 

Martin Agency Insurance Services....................31 

Ohnward Insurance Group...............................29 

Padgett Business Services................................41 

Peoples Company..............................................2 

Pioneer..............................................................4 

Prairie Hills Tipton............................................22 

Quad Cities Community Foundation................62 

Reiser, Jennings & Co, P.C................................50 

River Valley Cooperative....................................9 

Rockdale Locker...............................................38 

RPJ Repair and Warehouse..............................28 

RPM Revival.....................................................42 

Schroeder & Associates Insurance....................36 

Sinclair Tractor..................................................43 

Star Moving Service.........................................54 

TADA Meats......................................................64 

The CROSSROADS Inspired Living....................78 

Tipton Meat Locker LLC.....................................61 

Weaver’s Pipeline Specialists...........................65 

White Crane Service.........................................49 

White Pigeon Agency.......................................27 

White Roofing..................................................49 

Wilton Bank.....................................................88 

Wuestenberg Agency, Inc.................................60 



9/19/23 3:34 PM

EDITORIAL INDEX 

Ag Careers 

While growing crops and raising livestock 

are the lifeblood of the Eastern Iowa farm 

community, agriculture isn’t just for farmers. 

Many area folks pursue careers that support 

the industry in a variety of fields 

PAGE 24 

PAGE 10 

PAGE 16 

PAGE 52 

PAGE 57 

Experience is the best teacher 

For more than sixty years, students have run 

the show at the Wilton FFA farm, taking care of 

livestock, planting crops that generate revenue, and 

keeping the operation a going concern 

A big slice of Americana 

Muscatine couple’s love of agriculture, 

entrepreneurship help landmark live on 

Niche farm finds success 

along Interstate 80 

From the Field of Dreams to local backyard 

landscaping, Seven Cities Sod has spent decades 

laying the groundwork for beautiful green spaces 

Learning to be self sustaining 

Donahue woman reaching the masses 

PAGE 68 

PAGE 72 

PAGE 75 

PAGE 79 

PAGE 83 

Turning a lens on our 

farmer community 

Show featuring photographs from The 

Eastern Iowa Farmer on display at MAE; 

readers invited to opening reception. 

Landowners should consider general 

legal issues for hunting ‘leases’ 

Navigating a changing river 

High and low water levels leave 

farmers a little seasick 

From the FSA 

Career with the Iowa Farm Service Agency 

helps farmers provide fuel, fiber 

Ag Bytes 

with YouTube food channel 

Tidbits from the ag world 

eifarmer.com FALL 2023 | EASTERN IOWA FARMER 7 


9/19/23 3:34 PM


The Eastern Iowa Fall 2023 


AG 

CAREERS 

While growing crops and raising 

livestock are the lifeblood of the Eastern 

Iowa farm community, agriculture isn’t 

just for farmers. Many area folks pursue 

careers that support the industry in a 

variety of fields. 

Laying the ‘Ground’work: Niche family 

business has been growing sod since 1967. 

Experience is the Best Teacher: 

Students get hands-on learning a the Wilton FFA farm. 

A Landmark Slice: Produce stand famous for 

melons offers fruits, veggies, flowers and more. 

Growing and cooking: A local 

woman promotes self-sustaining lifestyle 

with garden-to-table practices. 

HERE’S TO YOU: 



® 

Sycamore Media President: 

Trevis Mayfield 

Advertising: Faith Jones, 

Trevis Mayfield, Wendy McCartt, 

Connie Myers, and Dean Upmann 

Creative: Brooke Till, Elizabeth 

Goodman, Tate Huckstadt, Erica Mohr 

Editorial Content: Jennifer 

Harrington, Kate Howes, Nancy 

Mayfield, Trevis Mayfield, Sara 

Millhouse, Jane Schdmit, Jenna 

Stevens, Kristine Tidgren, Jessica Yuska 

Photography Content: Kelly Gerlach, 

Kate Howes, Nancy Mayfield, Trevis 

Mayfield, Erica Mohr, Brooke Till 

Editors: Kelly Gerlach, Nancy 

Mayfield, Trevis Mayfield 

Published by: Sycamore Media 

108 W. Quarry St., Maquoketa, IA 

563-652-2441 

Cover: Brooke Till 

See photos of your 

friends and neighbors! 

The Eastern Iowa Farmer is a specialty publication 

of Sycamore Media Corp., 108 W. Quarry Street, 

Maquoketa, Iowa 52060, 563-652-2441. No 

portion of this publication may be reproduced 

without the written consent of the publisher. Ad 

content is not the responsibility of Sycamore 

Media Corp. The information in this magazine 

is believed to be accurate; however, Sycamore 

Media Corp. cannot and does not guarantee its 

accuracy. Sycamore Media Corp. cannot and will 

not be held liable for the quality or performance of 

goods and services provided by advertisers listed 

in any portion of this magazine. 

® 

SCOTT | CEDAR | MUSCATINE 

VIEW THE ENTIRE 

MAGAZINE ONLINE 

EIFARMER.COM 

MESSAGE FROM THE PUBLISHER 

Welcome to The Eastern Iowa 

Farmer, a project we could 

not have done without you 

What fun we have had for 

the past four months 

working on the launch 

of this magazine. 

This project began with a belief. That 

belief was that agriculture is the core 

driver of the eastern Iowa economy and 

that those who make the wheels turn share 

common goals, common problems and a 

strong sense of community. After meeting 

and talking with countless grain farmers, 

livestock men 

and women and 

agriculture service 

providers, it became 

clear that our 

belief was actually 

a fact. 

We found plenty 

of interesting people 

and interesting 

Trevis Mayfield things to write 

President, 

about, and we had 

Sycamore Media Corp. a wonderful time 

doing it. 

For me personally, it has been an 

opportunity to return to my roots. Having 

grown up on what was then a 97-acre 

grain farm in west central Indiana, many 

of my early memories are of the farm my 

parents still manage. I pulled my first disc 

with an Oliver 1850 when I was about 12, 

and I remember the pride my parents felt 

when Indiana’s governor awarded them 

their Heritage Farm certificate a few years 

ago. 

There are some interesting family stories, 

too, as I suppose there are with most 

farms that have stayed in a family for that 

long. 

My great-aunt Geneva was credited 

with having saved the farm during 

the Great Depression. She married a 

man who did well selling oil drilling 

equipment, and it was she who kept my 

great-great-grandfather’s land from being 

lost at auction. 

When it was time for me to figure out 

my path in life, simple economics dictated 

that the farm was not big enough to be a 

realistic option, but it is still in the family 

today and it’s still part of who I am. 

That’s one of the reasons why this project 

has been so rewarding for me. Another 

reason is that I love what I do as a publisher, 

and this effort has allowed me to 

combine both interests. I have also always 

enjoyed people, and this magazine is all 

about people. During the process of interviewing 

farmers and agriculture professionals 

for stories and seeking advertisers, 

I had a lot of laughs and came into contact 

with a bunch of smart, hardworking folks. 

The rest of our staff can say the same. 

Yes, what fun! 

We found lots of interesting things to 

write about in these parts, and we hope 

you enjoy the stories as much as we 

enjoyed producing them. This inaugural 

issue will not be the last that you see, so 

let us know what you would like to see 

in future issues. Feel free to email us at 

EIFarmer@sycamoremedia.net. 

We would like to thank all of those who 

helped make this first issue of The Eastern 

Iowa Farmer a reality. I’m personally 

grateful to the staff here at Sycamore 

Media who worked extremely hard on 

this project. 

We appreciate those of you who gave 

us ideas and helped us source our stories, 

and 

a special thanks goes to our advertisers. 

Without our advertising partners this 

magazine would not exist. 

Sincerely, 

Trevis Mayfield, 

Sycamore Media president 



9/19/23 3:34 PM

Caleb Kaufmann, Kale Petersen, 

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9/19/23 3:34 PM

Experience 

is the best 

teacher 

Wilton High School FFA student Damien Dann participates in 

planning logistics to begin planting at the Wilton FFA farm. 

EASTERN IOWA FARMER PHOTO / BROOKE TILL 


9/19/23 3:34 PM

For more than sixty years, students have run 

the show at the Wilton FFA farm, taking care of 

livestock, planting crops that generate revenue, 

and keeping the operation a going concern 

BY NANCY MAYFIELD 

EASTERN IOWA FARMER 

About a dozen teenagers 

stood at the edge of a Wilton 

field on a Wednesday 

morning in early May, 

firming up a plan to begin planting 

soybeans within the hour. 

“We’ve got to figure out our starting 

point,” Joshua Day said to the 

group, some of whom nodded their 

heads in agreement. 

For several minutes they discussed 

how many feet the driver of the tractor 

pulling the planter would need 

to be able to safely stop, the row 

pattern they’d use, and the strategy 

for cleaning out the meters in the 

planting boxes, among other details, 

“As long as that makes sense to 

you guys, that’s the plan,” Day said 

after a consensus was reached. As if 

on cue, Tommy Fitzer, a local farmer, 

pulled up in his tractor, ready to 

get started at the Wilton FFA farm. 

FFA students run the farm with 

the help of Wilton High School ag 

teachers and FFA advisors Day and 

Olivia Sippy. Seed and equipment 

are donated every year. Area farmers 

take turns helping with planting and 

harvesting, but, for the most part, 

students call the shots. 

In fact, students have managed the 

property since 1957. The concept 

started when 12 farmers donated 40 

acres of land for a student-operated 

agriculture farm. 

As technology, soil health and 

knowledge about seed genetics have 

advanced over the years, so too have 

yields increased. Corn yields went 

from an average of 140 bushels per 

“This gives them 

experience they 

don’t otherwise get 

if they don’t live on a 

farm. For those who 

are more familiar, 

the work lets them 

advance their skills.” 

— OLIVIA SIPPY 

Wilton High School FFA student Jacy Wiese helps care for 

livestock at the Wilton FFA livestock barn. Students are taught 

how to properly care, breed, and feed the livestock. 

EASTERN IOWA FARMER PHOTOS / BROOKE TILL 


9/19/23 3:34 PM

WILTON FFA 


Olivia Sippy, Wilton High School FFA advisor, teaches students about the economics involved in 

raising livestock. 

acre in the 1980s to 200 bushels per acre 

in 2022, and soybeans jumped from 40 

bushels an acre in the 1980s to more than 

70 bushels per acre in 2021. 

It’s a lesson in economics too and a 

quite successful one. 

“The ag farm sustains itself due in large 

part to community support,” Sippy said, 

and the students have a hand in that. They 

see how their decisions impact the bottom 

line. The operation extends beyond row 

crops. 

At the north edge of the field, other students 

were at work in the livestock barns 

where hogs and sheep are housed. 

The students who are raising animals 

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9/19/23 3:34 PM

WILTON FFA 


Clay Ledger (left), and Kale Caffery survey the field prior to soybean planting. Wilton High School FFA 

students learn skills hands-on from teachers, advisors, and local farmers on how to plant and harvest fields 

and care for livestock on the Wilton FFA farm. 

do contribute some money 

for a buy-in, but the program 

covers the rest of the cost, 

Sippy said. 

They learn about breeding, 

proper nutrition and other 

care. 

The FFA program has about 

103 high school members and 

105 junior high members, 

Sippy said. They range from 

students who have grown up 

on farms to those who are 

“city kids.” 

For the latter, “this gives 

them experience they don’t 

otherwise get if they don’t live 

on a farm,” Sippy said. For 

those who are more familiar, 

the work lets them advance 

their skills. 

While Damian Dann, who is 

a junior this fall, lives in town, 

he works for a group of farm- 

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9/19/23 3:34 PM

WILTON FFA 


Wilton Ag Teacher Joshua Day leads students in planning soybean planting. 

ers in the summer and on weekends and 

after school. He does maintenance, runs 

equipment and pulls fences. After he 

graduates he wants to farm and possibly 

go into mechanics. 

The experience on the FFA farm is 

valuable, he said. 

“One of the biggest things is we are to 

see how everything progresses,” he said. 

The harvest of the crops planted last 

spring are overseen by some of the same 

students. 

Jacy Wiese was the president of the 

Wilton FFA Chapter last school year. She 

graduated in May and studies agriculture 

education at Iowa State University. 

She said FFA teaches students many 

valuable skills, giving them the chance to 

judge livestock contests, learn about soil 

health, gain experience in public speaking 

and more. But the Wilton FFA farm 

gives the program an additional dimension 

because of the hands-on experience. 

“It let me see everything else ag has to 

offer,” Wiese said. n 

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9/19/23 3:34 PM

A 

BIG 

slice of 

It’s hard to miss the 12-foot tall iconic watermelon slice towering above Highway 

61 that has welcomed guests to Mairet’s Farm produce stand for decades. Shane 

Mairet, along with his wife, Karin Mairet, purchased the legacy produce farm in 2009 

and continue the tradition of selling prized Muscatine melons and local produce. 




9/19/23 3:34 PM

AMERICANA 

Muscatine couple’s love of agriculture, 

entrepreneurship help landmark live on 



A 

big, pink slice of watermelon stands some 

12-feet high and 16-feet wide on the north 

side of Highway 61 in Muscatine, beckoning 

passersby from near and far to stop for 

a juicy treat from Mairet’s Farm produce 

stand during the peak summer season. 

“This melon is a Muscatine landmark. It was here 

before the new highway was built,” said Shane Mairet, 

whose last name was painted on the massive concrete 

sign after he and his wife, Karin, bought the historic 

operation in 2009. 

“The people who owned this farm before me were 

several-generation produce farmers,” he noted on a 

windy and sunny spring day, standing in front of the sign 

to talk as cars and trucks whizzed by on the well-traveled 

four-lane. 

“There is at least as much of it underground as what 

you see above ground,” he said of the monument. Local 

legend says it took three cranes to pick the sign up and 

move it. Entire baseball or softball teams and other people 

routinely stop by to use it as a backdrop for pictures. 

It’s a slice of Americana, harkening back to the day 

when produce stands selling tomatoes, zucchinis and, of 

course, watermelon and cantaloupe, dotted rural highways. 

While farm stands still exist, but in fewer numbers, 

Mairet’s is one of only two outfits that grow the prized 

and well-known Muscatine melon in the local sandy soil. 



9/19/23 3:34 PM

AMERICANA 

Each year, Mairet’s harvests about 20,000 

melons with the help of seasonal workers, 

including local high school students. 

He and Karin initially started the business 

as a garden center. 

His wife grew up on a farm in Clinton 

County, and her family, the McCullohs, 

raised and sold sweet corn. Mairet grew 

up in rural Louisa County. 

“My grandfather row cropped, so I 

have an ag background. We lived on the 

farm growing up,” he said. “I always 

liked horticulture, and I’d always wanted 

a garden center. The more the business 

grew, it seemed like agriculture was the 

way it was tracking.” 

So they pivoted and got out of the 

tree and flower business (except for fall 

mums) and began focusing on produce. 

While the Highway 61 location is the 

main operation, Mairet’s also sells sweet 

corn, melons, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini 

and more at a stand in downtown 

Muscatine and one in DeWitt, Iowa. 

In May, a month before the selling 

season began, Mairet gave visitors a 

COMPANY: Mairet Farms 

FOUNDED: 2009 by Shane and Karin Mairet 

LOCATION: 4707 S. Highway 61, Muscatine 

PHONE: (563) 263-2338 

ONLINE: Mairet Farms on Facebook 

peak into the greenhouse, where 100,000 

plants created a sea of green. Some of 

the plants would be shipped to other 

farms, but most of them were intended 

for Mairet’s fields. 

Speaking above the noise of the fans 

that circulate the warm, moist air in the 

greenhouse, he explained that while a 

machine plants the seed, the plants were 

hand watered every day. 

“You begin with a seed. It’s a hope and 

a prayer that it comes up, germinates and 

grows. It’s a very exact science – how 

hot, how much moisture, and how much 

time,” he said of the greenhouse process. 

With a bachelor’s degree in horticulture 

from Iowa State University, Mairet 

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9/19/23 3:34 PM

AMERICANA 

EASTERN IOWA FARMER PHOTOS / TREVIS MAYFIELD 

(Left) Aubrey Duncan stocks fresh produce at Mairet’s Farm last 

summer. Duncan, of Columbus Junction, worked at the business during 

its peak season while on a break from her college studies. (Above) 

Colorful blooms are among the offerings at the produce stand. 

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9/19/23 3:34 PM

AMERICANA 

is right at home talking about 

the finer points of the growing 

process. In addition to 

running the produce business, 

he also teaches horticulture 

at Muscatine Community 

College. 

At ISU Mairet minored 

in entrepreneurship, another 

field of study that has served 

him well as he makes adjustments 

to the business. 

The business took a hit 

seven years ago when a hail 

storm came through early in 

the harvest season. 

“We lost everything,” 

Mairet said. “Being that we 

hadn’t been in the business 

very long, it was a hard thing. 

We’re just now seeing the 

other side of digging ourselves 

out of that.” 

A silver lining in that 

experience was the kindness 

shown by their colleagues in 

EASTERN IOWA FARMER PHOTOS / TREVIS MAYFIELD 

(Above) Each year, Mairet’s Farm harvests about 20,000 melons with 

the help of seasonal workers, including local high school students. 

(Right) These acorn squash are among the many fresh fruits and 

vegetables available to customers. 

the business. 

“The produce industry 

community helped us so 

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and say ‘Hey, we got an extra 

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They’d knock a few bucks 

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9/19/23 3:34 PM

AMERICANA 

a lot of support,” he said. 

This year, he will be opening a concession 

stand fashioned from a grain 

bin from his grandfather’s farm. 

Last year, they branched into 

agri-tourism, adding a corn maze, a 

jumping pillow, a corn pit and a big 

slide. This fall, they are adding four 

trolley lines, which are zip lines that are 

lower to the ground. It provides fun for 

his family, including sons Maverick, 5, 

and Landon, 2, as well as for others. 

“We wanted to give families something 

close to home to do activity 

wise,” he said. “We also wanted to give 

it a farm feel. If you grew up on a farm 

like I did, you grew up just having fun. 

We did straw bale races where we had 

straw bales lined up, and you could run 

on top of them. And we made slides. 

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I wanted my kids to experience, and 

that’s why I wanted to do this piece.” n 


Shane Mairet stands in the greenhouse, where he started more than 100,000 plants. Some were 

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9/19/23 3:34 PM

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9/19/23 3:34 PM

Terry Mente, a technical agronomist for DEKALB Asgrow, likes to 

help figure out problems for farmers to maximize their bottom line. 

EASTERN IOWA FARMER PHOTO / CONTRIBUTED 

CLASS OF 

1993 



9/19/23 3:34 PM

AG 

CAREERS 

While growing crops and raising livestock are the 

lifeblood of the Eastern Iowa farm community, agriculture 

isn’t just for farmers. Many area folks pursue careers 

that support the industry in a variety of fields. 

‘I don’t sleep well until 

I can figure it out’ 

Agronomist helps farmers 

choose the best seeds 

and fix problems in the field 

BY SARA MILLHOUSE 


Do you like asking and answering questions, 

learning and teaching, juggling 

variables and analyzing data? Do you 

like being outside and communicating 

with farmers and people in ag? Consider agronomy. 

Terry Mente graduated from Tipton High School 

with plans to become a veterinarian. He never 

guessed his path would lead him to agronomy, now 

as a technical agronomist for DEKALB Asgrow, 

covering a territory that covers southern Iowa from 

the Mississippi River to Interstate 35. 

Mente grew up in Cedar County on a farrow-to-finish 

operation. His family also grew crops 

and had cows and chickens. 

“I always wanted to be outside, with plants and 

animals,” he said. “I was not born to be inside.” 

Mente was the youngest of three. 

“It was not a large operation by any means, and 

the middle child wanted to farm,” Mente said. At 

first, he thought he would become a veterinarian. 

At Iowa State University, he soon decided he 

didn’t want to spend eight years in school to become 

a vet. He first took agronomy classes almost 

as an “afterthought,” but “it hit home,” he said. 

“The more I got into it, the more I liked it,” he said. 



9/19/23 3:34 PM

AG CAREERS 

After graduating, he worked as a crop 

scout and for a cooperative that was a 

seed dealer before moving into agronomy, 

helping farmers and seed dealers make the 

best choices for their situations. 

Mente worked for many years for two 

other seed companies before starting with 

DEKALB Asgrow. Still in his first year, 

he’s checking test plots throughout his 

territory in late April and advising farmers 

on planting – especially when a cold snap 

worsens growing conditions just when 

farmers are antsy to get in the field. 

A technical agronomist’s work is as 

seasonally varied and multifaceted as the 

work of the farmers that they serve. Issues 

vary throughout his territory, from drought 

to tar spot. 

Farmers who find problems in their 

fields contact their seed dealers, who turn 

to technical agronomists like Mente to 

figure out problems they can’t figure out or 

fix themselves. 

“If I can bring new ideas or little tips 

that will make it better and make their 

bottom line better, if I can help them figure 

out a problem, if there’s a problem… I 

don’t sleep well until I can figure it out,” 

Mente said. 

Through spring and summer, Mente 

is also checking test plots. Currently, 

DEKALB Asgrow is testing short-stature 

corn. 

“With the derecho in 2020, the shorter 

corn just withstood the wind better,” Mente 

said. “It just plain makes less of a sail.” 

The question with short corn is, “Can 

we sidestep some of that down corn?” he 

said. 

Short-stature corn is designed to be less 

than 7-feet tall when mature, with ears still 

at least 24 inches off the ground so that 

machinery can get under the ears. Shorter 

corn could be less susceptible to wind 

damage and give farmers the options to 

treat problems later in the growing season. 

“That’s what we’re trying to evaluate,” 

Mente said. “The groundbreaker trials are 

pretty interesting stuff. It’s the tip of the 

iceberg.” 

During the growing season, the technical 

agronomists train district sales 

representatives and dealers so that they 

can better help farmers pick out the best 

genetics for their specific land and situation. 

They talk to the public and to school 

groups about agronomy as well. 

In college, mentors had tried to steer 

Mente toward teaching. 

“It would have been fine if every day 

was a field trip,” he joked. 

With agronomy, he found a field in 

which he’s teaching quite a bit – but every 

day is a field trip. As an agronomist, he 

does constant education with seed dealers, 

as well as with the public and individual 

farmers. 

His love of teaching is matched by his 

love of learning. 

“If someone can teach me something, 

that’s a great day,” he said. 

Agronomists spend much of the winter 

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9/19/23 3:34 PM

AG CAREERS 

crunching data and forecasting what hybrids 

need to be grown next season to produce 

seed for farmers the following year. In 

late 2023, they’re trying to figure out what 

farmers will plant in 2025. 

If a person is considering agronomy, 

Mente suggests they consider not only the 

environment they want to work in but also 

the way they’ll communicate with people. 

“There are a lot of very intelligent 

people,” he said. “What they miss out on is 

their delivery of a message. 

“Keep your mind open. We can all learn 

more,” he advised. 

“Some of the best people can put things 

in terms people can understand but can also 

jump to the next level if they need to,” he 

said. 

Sometimes it seems as though the field of 

agronomy can change almost as quickly as 

field conditions. 

“My focus is to learn something new 

every day,” Mente said. “And to make that 

an asset to pass around to the customer.” n 

‘There is lots of good 

to do in this world’ 

Inspired by his own teachers, North Scott educator 

encourages ag students to focus on making a difference 

BY JANE SCHMIDT 


Jacob Hunter’s journey in the 

field of agriculture began 

where he grew up, on a beef 

cattle farm north of DeWitt. 

He did chores every day before 

school and on weekends. In the 

summer, he helped bale hay. 

“I developed a strong work ethic 

and a home that gave me a heart 

for agriculture,” Hunter said. And 

his years in grade school and high 

school gave him the foundation to 

build his career as teacher in that 

field. 

As a student at St. Joseph Catholic 

School he learned about service and 

the importance of giving back to others. 

Through his participation in 4-H, 

he learned the art of public speaking. 

Great teachers also inspired Hunter, 

a 2007 graduate from Central 

DeWitt High School. 

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9/19/23 3:34 PM

It was ag teacher Dan Smicker who 

encouraged him to stay at Central 

DeWitt and not transfer to a smaller 

school district. Smicker led him on 

the path of leadership through involvement 

in FFA, and Hunter eventually 

became a state officer in the 

organization. He also credits teachers 

like Christine Gilroy, his publishing 

advisor, and Pam Burke, his Spanish 

teacher. 

“In Gilroy’s class, I learned the art 

of communication through the written 

word, and in Spanish class I was given 

opportunities to teach lessons on 

the topic of agriculture,” he said. 

With none of his friends in his 

lunch hour, Hunter took a Spanish/ 

English dictionary to the cafeteria and 

planned lessons. Attending an FFA 

Washington Leadership Conference 

and traveling to China with National 

FFA changed his life, both experiences 

showing him how to be an authentic 

leader. All of these opportunities 

were the “perfect storm” for Hunter – 

AG CAREERS 

leading him to Iowa State University 

and a future in teaching. 

While in college, Hunter traveled to 

Uganda with the Center for Sustainable 

Rural Livelihoods. 

“It was there I held a malnourished 

child, and this experience gave me 

a drive to understand the value of 

teaching people how to grow their 

own food,” he said. 

He also had an epiphany: “There is 

lots of good to do in this world.” 

With his newfound drive, he returned 

to ISU and eventually student 

taught in Chicago to better understand 

those with different backgrounds. 

In Chicago, he began his life goal: 

“To build leadership in students 

through content and using work-based 

learning experiences to guide students 

to find careers that fit their interests.” 

Hunter was the top graduate in the 

ISU College of Agriculture and Life 

Sciences and in 2018 was selected as 

Jacob 

Hunter 

Central DeWitt Community 

High School 

Jacob Hunter consults with 

students working on a project in 

one of the ag classes he teaches 

at North Scott Community High 

School. After traveling the world 

and teaching in urban settings, he 

has landed back in Eastern Iowa 

where he encourages students 

to seek out ways to make a 

difference. 

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9/19/23 3:34 PM

AG CAREERS 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

AG CAREERS 

CLASS OF 

2007 

an Emerging Leader in Agriculture. 

After student teaching and a year 

of teaching in Lincoln, Illinois, 

Hunter returned to an urban setting 

at Des Moines – Central Campus 

where he managed a farm, developed 

an FFA chapter, and taught 

animal science. 

“Putting in many hours with 

no extended contract, I realized I 

needed to do self-advocacy,” he 

said. 

He took an opportunity to 

work for the World Food Prize, 

an organization committed to 

bringing forward conversations 

on increasing quantity, quality 

and accessibility of food. He 

became the director of the 

Iowa Education Programs and 

honed his consultant skills, 

as well as helping with the 

Iowa Youth Institute at ISU. 

With the World Food Prize’s 

commitment to feeding the 

world, the main question asked was, “How 

do we make a difference in the world?” 

The North Scott Community School 

District contacted Hunter as a consultant 

for developing their ag program, seeking 

to hire an ag teacher. Upon working with 

Hunter, the district offered him the job as 

the new agriculture teacher. After several 

“thanks but no thanks,” he realized he 

missed teaching and working with people 

directly every day. Hunter finally found his 

way back to the classroom. 

At North Scott, Hunter continues his 

belief in “hands-on learning and assisting 

students in finding a future that is right for 

them.” He and his team have grown the 

program from a handful to more than 400 

in junior high and high school. 

Most recently, North Scott passed a $19 

million bond referendum to build a Regional 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

AG CAREERS 

program and a general ag program. 

“This will allow students in the 

area that have not had access to 

ag classes, to take them through 

the North Scott School District,” 

Hunter said. 

Last year, Hunter graduated 

with a master’s degree in education 

from Harvard in the area of 

school leadership with a concentration 

in school improvement. 

“There is a lot to improve in this 

world in the area of agriculture 

and education, and I encourage 

students to look at the world in a 

different way,” he said. 

He knows it is difficult for 

people to see a world they have 

not experienced but believes we 

can create a better world to allow 

greater access to agriculture programs 

as well as creating different 

ways to farm while making food 

production more sustainable. 

The lessons Hunter learned 

growing up on a farm continue to 

“There is a lot to improve 

in this world in the area of 

agriculture and education, 

and I encourage students 

to look at the world in a 

different way.” 

— JACOB HUNTER 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

AG CAREERS 

Clients, community form 

cornerstones of banking career 

Francesca 

Schwartz 

Aplington-Parkersburg High School 

Francesca 

Schwartz loves all 

things agriculture, 

and with a career 

as an ag lender 

at DeWitt Bank & 

Trust and a family 

farm, she has found 

her niche. 

EASTERN IOWA 

FARMER PHOTO / 

BROOKE TILL 

Francesca Schwartz 

didn’t follow a direct 

route to her job as 

an ag lender, but 

every step along the 

way prepared her. 



Showing goats, heifers, pigs and 

chickens at the Iowa State Fair as 

a kid, Francesca Schwartz and her 

family would spend almost two 

full weeks in Des Moines working 

and living closely – day-in and day-out –with 

people they had often just met. 

“We were at the fair for 11 days 

straight, so we had better like the 

people we were going to spend time 

with,” she said on a warm July day 

while unchaining a metal fence at the 

Lowden farm where she lives and 

raises beef cattle with her husband, 

Taylor, and their children, Oaklynn, 3, 

and Camden, nine months. 

“It’s really about the connections 

and having those friendships all 

around the state,” she said of her 

early affinity for agriculture. 

A self-described people person 

and a lover of rural living, Schwartz 

didn’t have a career in banking on 

her radar at first. But as an ag lender 

at DeWitt Bank & Trust the past 

CLASS OF 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

AG CAREERS 

“Today I had a 

land deal. I had an 

equipment deal. 

Another one I’m 

working on is a cattle 

deal. What kind of 

conversations I’m 

having just depends 

on the day. 

— FRANCESCA SCHWARTZ 

four years, she’s found her fit. 

In Eastern Iowa, farmers and ag-related 

businesses consult with their bankers on everything 

from capital investments and budget 

development to loan decisions and retirement. 

And that variety is appealing, Schwartz 

said. 

“I enjoy the people aspect, but it’s more 

than that. Our bank has trust, accounting, 

lending and day-to-day banking services. 

You get to learn a lot being in the facility 

with people who do things besides lending. 

That’s one of the primary things that I love. 

We have so many resources at our fingertips,” 

she said. “The other aspect is that we get to 

be involved directly with our clients and with 

the community. I love being in the forefront 

and working with so many different people.” 

She didn’t take a direct route to the banking 

world. 

“My path has kind of taken me all over. 

I’ve not had a straight shot to where I am 

today,” Schwartz noted. 

Born in Kansas City, as a child Schwartz 

also lived in Platte City, Missouri; Grand 

Junction, Iowa; and then Kentucky. In 2001 

her family moved to Parkersburg, Iowa, 

where they initially raised about 100 head of 

sheep. They scaled that operation back but always 

had five to 10 on feed at all times so she 

and her siblings could show them at the fair. 

After graduating Aplington-Parkersburg 

High School in 2012, she decided to go to 

the University of Northern Iowa for nursing. 

Once there, she encountered a problem. 

“I did not like blood…or needles,” she 

said. 

She graduated from Iowa State University 

with a degree in ag communications. Her first 

job out of school was selling boxed beef for 

South Dakota-based Beef Products Inc. She 

also worked at a veterinary clinic and sold 

advertising for the magazine Iowa Farmer 

Today before starting at the bank. 

“And here I am,” she said. 

She loves the variety in her job. 

“Today I had a land deal. I had an equipment 

deal. Another one I’m working on is a 

cattle deal,” she said. “What kind of conversations 

I’m having just depends on the day. 

Taylor, her husband, manages the P&K 

Midwest location in Lowden, so she learns 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

AG CAREERS 

a lot about the equipment industry from 

him. 

“We’re a pretty good team. He’s shown 

me a lot and helped me learn about the 

cattle side of it, and obviously the equipment 

side as well,” she said. 

Together, they run TFS Cattle, which 

markets animals for show purposes. In the 

late summer, they were getting ready for 

their fall steer sale and heifer sale. 

Their daughter participated in her first 

show earlier in the summer. 

“It was fun to get that going,” Schwartz 

said. She and Oaklynn also are raising 

chickens. 

“We have six chickens and six eggs 

a day. I oversee the chickens. This is a 

project I wanted for my daughter, and it’s 

a start to her college fund,” she said. 

With a schedule that has her leaving the 

house weekdays at 7 a.m. to drop the kids 

off at daycare and returning home at 5:45 

p.m., she said her husband is the primary 

caretaker of the cattle. 

“In the winter, it’s more of a family 

affair because we’re feeding sileage 


Schwartz and her husband Taylor run TFS Cattle, which markets animals for show purposes. In 

the late summer, they were getting ready for their fall steer and heifer sale. 

and always laying fresh bedding, which 

requires more hands,” she said. 

The combination of living on a farm 

and working in ag lending is perfect, 

Schwartz said. 

“I knew I wanted to live on a farm and 

raise children on one like I was raised,” 

she said. “Banking wasn’t so much on my 

mind. They took a chance on me, and I 

love it.”n 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

AG CAREERS 

Building 

a network 

Cultivating people 

for ag industry positions, 

Bonnie Andersen gets to 

work in a field she loves. 



In her home office in rural Eastern 

Iowa, Bonnie Andersen is hard at work 

connecting global ag companies and 

industry organizations with the perfect 

person for their job openings. 

She recruits for agribusinesses all over the 

United States and Canada, placing candidates 

Bonnie 

Andersen 

Iowa State University 

Bonnie Andersen works 

from her home office 

where her window 

overlooks the herd 

of goats she raises. 

Andersen’s business, 

ExecutiveAg Recruiting, 

connects ag companies 

with the ideal job 

candidates. 


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9/19/23 3:35 PM

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

AG CAREERS 

in companies all over the country, including 

for many located in Iowa in counties including 

Scott and Clinton. 

“I work with clients that need employees. 

They hire me to find the ideal candidates. 

What I really do is find the person with the 

right skill set,” Andersen said of her business, 

ExecutiveAg Recruiting. 

If a company is looking for a seed 

salesperson, she can help. If an industry 

association is searching for a new executive 

director, she’s got some leads. If a cow/ 

calf operation needs a herdsman, she knows 

where to look. Ag engineers, equipment 

operators, agronomists, marketing executives 

– the list goes on. 

“There are so many positions in the agriculture 

field that are beyond the traditional 

roles,” she said. And connecting employers 

with employees is like fitting together the 

pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. 

She keeps a sharp focus on data, creating 

and maintaining detailed spreadsheets on 

each client and potential employee. And 

she constantly works the phone, email and 

other communication methods to cultivate 

Bonnie’s advice on what 

makes an “A” job candidate: 

• Get a degree 

if you feel it 

benefits you and 

your career goals 

• Network 

• Work hard 

• Treat people with 

kindness and 

respect 

• Get along well 

with others 

• Solve problems 

on the job 

• Be open to 

opportunities 

• Don’t be afraid 

to take on 

a position 

that seems 

challenging 

• Realize there’s no 

perfect job 

new clients and build her base of possible 

employees. 

“What I really do is network. It builds 

over the years,” she said. She has many 

tools at her disposal, particularly with online 

options and video calls. She uses websites, 

LinkedIn, industry contacts, and more 

to mine potential employees. Sometimes 

she’ll cold call. She works her connections. 

“I know people, who know people, who 

know people,” she said. 

As her contacts constantly expand, keeping 

data organized is important. 

From the window in the room where she 

works, Andersen can look out at the herd of 

goats and cattle she raises on the farm she 

shares with her husband, Eric Andersen. On 

the desk in front of her is an array of computer 

screens that display the sophisticated 

system she uses to keep her files on clients 

and potential employees. 

But perhaps most important in her work 

are good old-fashioned communication 

skills – the ability to connect with people in 

person, by phone, by email and virtually. 

She’s been in the profession since 1998 

after getting her start in the ag industry in 

dairy promotion and public relations after 

graduating from Iowa State University with 

a degree in dairy science and public service 

and administration in agriculture. It was 

after a stint with the Iowa Cattleman’s Association 

and Monsanto that she by chance 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

AG CAREERS 

CLASS OF 

1990 

IOWA STATE 

UNIVERSITY 

became connected to the recruitment 

industry. 

The opportunity to work from home 

while she raised her children, as well as 

a flexible schedule, led her to a profession 

that combines her love of agriculture 

with her skills at networking and 

connecting with people. 

“I’m kind of like a realtor, but for 

jobs,” said Andersen who grew up 

on a crop and dairy farm in Fayette 

County in Northeast Iowa and has 

experience in ag sales and marketing 

as well. She has also taught as an 

adjunct in the agriculture department 

at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. 

Andersen ventured out on her 

own five years ago after a connection 

she made after working for 

different ag industry associations 

and then a major ag company. She 

found her way into the recruiting 

business as an employee and she 

found she enjoyed the flexibility 

and the work. She started ExecutiveAg 

Recruiting and never looked back. 

From her years of experience, she said she 

would tell people who are just starting out and 

want a career in the ag industry to take a long 

view, as she did. 

“Your major in college is a starting point. 

You’re not locked into your first job for the rest 

of your life,” she noted. “Your career is a marathon, 

not a sprint.” 

She also said that getting work experience on 

farms or related jobs during summer and winter 

breaks and while in school is important. 

“You’re going to be a much better seed salesman 

if you’ve combined corn,” she said as an 

example. 

And lastly, realize that no job is perfect. 

“Every role you take on will have pros and 

cons,” she said. “They’ll depend on where you 

are in life.” 

For instance, it may be convenient and desired 

to travel until they have children. Then it may 

be more conducive to not be on the road. People 

also will weigh such things as salary against a 

flexible schedule. 

“You have to look at what works best for your 

life at the time,” she said. n 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

AG CAREERS 

Three brothers grew up playing with 

The Flenker brothers 

work together, operating 

a trucking company 

that hauls cross state 

for area farmers. 

BY JENNA STEVENS 


The rural roads of Scott 

County are busy places 

these days as farm 

equipment crowds the 

narrow shoulders and 

farmers wave amicably to everyone 

who passes them. Along with 

tractors and combines, hopper bottoms 

can be found hauling grain 

from the fields to waiting bins or 

sitting in an early morning line-up 

at ADM. 

Fall is especially busy in the 

trucking industry, but for the 

Flenker brothers, spring and summer 

have them on the go as well, 

hauling fertilizer and feedstuffs for 

customers across several states. 

LeClaire-based Flenker Bros LLC 

is owned and operated by the 

brothers, Nick, Nate and Grant 

Flenker. Nick, the oldest, is president 

of the company, managing the 



9/19/23 3:35 PM

AG CAREERS 

toy tractors together… 

Members of the Flenker family (from left) are Brooklynn, Nick, Melissa, 

Brock, Bryce, Kim (in driver’s seat), Haley, Lana, Grant, Adeline, Nate, 

Pearl, Roland, Angie, and Charlotte. Nick and Melissa are the parents 

of Brooklynn, Bryce, and Brock; Grant and Haley are the parents of 

Lana; Nate and Angie are the parents of Charlotte, Adeline, Pearl, and 

Roland; and Kim is the father of Nick, Nate, and Grant. 

EASTERN IOWA FARMER PHOTO / NANCY MAYFIELD 

GRANT 

CLASS OF 

2012 

NATE 

CLASS OF 

2000 

payroll and books. Middle brother Nate serves 

as vice president and head mechanic, and 

youngest brother Grant manages dispatch and 

operations. All three brothers drive full-time 

and manage to fit the other duties that come 

with running a company into their schedules. 

“Most of the time we spend one to two 

hours once we finish hauling catching up and 

preparing for the next day. This can be anything 

from loading the night before to doing 

repairs and washing trucks,” Nate said. 

The long hours and double duties sometimes 

make it difficult to make plans, but they 

eifarmer.com 

still believe that working together and 

owning their own business is worth it. 

“We wouldn’t want it any other way,” 

Nick said. “We always assumed we would 

work together when we got older, because 

we grew up farming together, grew up playing 

with toy tractors together when we were 

kids. It just seemed natural that we would do 

this together, too.” 

Owning the trucking company together is 

not the only thing they do as a team. They 

NICK 

CLASS OF 

1999 


9/19/23 3:35 PM

AG CAREERS 

also farm and raise livestock, including a 

purebred Angus cow-calf herd. All three 

boys are married with kids, eight in total, 

and their wives and children are vital 

parts of keeping everything together. 

“We have great wives,” Nate said, 

speaking for the three. “We are only as 

successful as the women behind us and 

thankfully we picked good ones. Our 

wives all grew up around agriculture, so 

they get it. And we rely on them a lot to 

help with everything from checking cattle 

and fences to looking over the books. 

We couldn’t do it without them.” 

The strong agricultural background of 

the husbands and wives is what makes 

their business such a success and is what 

they want to pass on to their own kids. 

“Growing up on the farm taught us a 

strong work ethic and to work at a job 

until it is finished. When we were kids 

Dad made us finish as much as we could 

instead of leaving it to the next day. We 

maybe didn’t like it back then, but it is 

something we are grateful to have gone 

through now that we are adults, and 

we want our children to learn the same 

lessons,” Nick said. 

A commitment to doing the job right 

and in a clean and professional manner 

is something on which the Flenkers pride 

themselves. They take the time to make 

sure their equipment is maintained and 

that they themselves and their employees 

are versed in useful skills like handling 

augers, so they can help if problems happen 

at the loading site. Their customers 

appreciate these qualities of the operation 

and most of them return to use their 

services year after year. 

“The majority of our customers are 

repeating at this point, which is what we 

want. We also have a good relationship 

with surrounding companies like ADM, 

River Valley, CHS, and Cargill, which 

is helpful in getting return loads when 

we are hauling to places out of state like 

Wisconsin or Nebraska,” Grant said. 

The guys stay so busy in fact that they 

have started to contract with third parties 

to make sure all their customers receive 

what they need. With labor shortages and 

increased DOT regulations both in and 

out of the state, working with third-party 

contractors is a place they see their business 

expanding. 

“The work is definitely there. We 

are not at a shortage for anything, but 

expanding our own operation with more 

trucks just isn’t going to happen right 

now,” Grant said. 

Instead, the families continue to look 

for ways to increase their own production 

operations in row crops and especially 

cattle. 

“Our passion is farming and the crops 

and cattle. It is agriculture at its core and 

is the reason we got into the hopper-bottom 

business in the first place,” Grant 

said. “We don’t want to lose sight of that 

because it is important. We want our 

kids to grow up with those experiences 

the way we did and continue to be a part 

of agriculture, and hopefully the family 

business, in the future.” n 

SHARE YOUR LIFE 

ON THE FARM 

PHOTOS WITH US! 


We want to highlight life 

in Scott, Cedar, Muscatine, 

Louisa, and Johnson counties. 

Submit your fall harvest photos 

for our spring edition! 



Submit here! 

eifarmer@sycamoremedia.net 



9/19/23 3:35 PM

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

AG CAREERS 

Landing close to home 

Austin 

Howe 

Tipton 

After Austin Howe graduated 

from Iowa State, he was hired 

as an agronomist at the Cedar 

County Coop. Coming back 

home to Tipton has allowed 

him to help on his family farm 

while working in the ag field. 


NANCY MAYFIELD 

When Austin Howe graduated with an agronomy 

degree, he had out-of-state opportunities, but he 

decided stay in a community he loves. 



Since his earliest memories, if 

Austin Howe wasn’t helping his 

dad on the family’s Tipton farm, 

he was working at someone else’s 

farm. 

“I have faint memories of when my dad 

raised hogs when I was little,” said Howe, 

28, sitting in his office at the Cedar County 

Coop in mid-August, taking a breath after 

the busy spraying season. 

“I remember us sorting and loading the 

trailer. There used to be a hog-buying station 

in Tipton. All three of us (dad Harlan and 

brother Logan) would jump in the cab of 

dad’s pickup and off to town we’d go,” he 

said. 

Now working as an agronomist, the 2018 

graduate of Iowa State University said his 

hands-on farming experience from grade 

school through college led him to where he 

is today. 

“I realized early on that I wanted to 

stick in the ag field,” he said. “Growing 

up on a farm, it’s where my interest was.” 

Indeed, all through middle and high 

school, he balanced playing football 

with working at a friend and neighbor’s 

farm two miles down the road when 

he wasn’t helping his dad. He had his 

commercial driver’s license before 

he went to Iowa State, which helped 

him land a part-time job for a farmer 

who had a large row-crop operation 

about 15 minutes outside of Ames. 

He worked there all through college. 

Before he graduated, he picked up his 

commercial applicators license as well. 

As he entered his senior year and considered 

his future, he entertained job opportunities 

out of state. 

“The more I thought about it, I decided 

I wanted to stay close to home,” he said. 

While it wasn’t feasible for him to start 

working on the family farming operation 

– about 300 acres where they raise corn, 

CLASS OF 

1914 

soybeans 

and alfalfa , 

along with some stock cows – he enjoys 

being able to help out there when he can. 

That’s usually in the fall, as spring season at 

the coop is crazy busy. 

He saves some of his vacation time to 

help his dad with harvest, and fits some time 



9/19/23 3:35 PM

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

AG CAREERS 

in here and there. 

“Even with our little operation, 

we seem to do quite a bit of 

work on the weekends,” he said. 

Today, he and his wife, Ally, 

are focused on renovating a 

farm house they recently bought 

and raising crops on the 10 acres 

that came along with it. 

Howe said he feels lucky to 

have found his niche right out of 

college at the coop after contacting 

David Summers, the general 

manager. 

“I shot Dave an email one 

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coming back home. I’m looking 

for a job if you’d be willing 

to hire someone right out of 

college,” he said. 

The spring he graduated from 

ISU, he took three weeks “off” 

to help his dad plant before 

starting his job. 

“I helped dad put his entire 

crop in,” he said. “He had me 

full-time for one spring.” 

The experience of growing up 

on a farm and learning from his 

dad, who was on the coop board 

decades ago, has been an asset. 

“That has definitely helped 

me big time,” he said. 

He enjoys consulting with 

farmers. 

“We talk about their goals for 

yield. We want to grow as much 

corn and soybeans as we can 

because they are getting paid on 

yield,” he said. “We talk about 

what they need to achieve their 

goals.” 

His “typical” day depends on 

the season. 

In mid-August, the coop was 

mostly done spraying, and they 

were moving on to plans for the 

fall and even the next planting 

season. 

“Now we’re starting to sell 

fertilizer and ammonia and crop 

inputs for the 2024 year already. 

That will go basically from now 

until we get in the field again, 

selling as much as we can to 

existing customers and new 

customers,” he said. 

He believes growing up on a 

farm has helped him throughout 

his life, whether on the football 

field, working on the farm or on 

the job. 

“You learn the ability to keep 

going when things get tough 

or things don’t go your way. 

There’s a lot of rewards,” he 

said. n 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

Niche farm finds success 

a 

From the Field of 

Dreams to local 

backyard landscaping, 

Seven Cities Sod has 

spent decades laying 

the groundwork for 

beautiful green spaces 

BY JENNA STEVENS 


Being the vice president of a 

company typically invokes 

images of glossy conference 

tables and custom-tailored 

suits unless that company is 

also a working farm. 

For Keaton Frye, being the vice 

president of his family’s company means 

fertilizing, spraying, and communicating 

with his supervisors; but, it also means 

covering the front desk while his sister is 

on vacation, answering phones, helping 

customers with orders, coordinating his 

daughter’s camp schedule, and losing 

count of how many cups of coffee he has 

poured. 

Frye is one of the owners of Seven Cities 

Sod located in Davenport along the 

Interstate 80 corridor. The family owns 

630 acres of land, which rotates between 

sod grass varieties and soybeans. This 

niche farming business started back in 

1967 when Frye’s grandfather made the 

decision to convert five acres of row 

crop ground into sod. The whole process 

took two years and looked like it was not 

going to pay off. 

“They took care of the sod from 

planting all the way to maturity with 

no idea what they were going to do 

with it. Finally, the DOT (Department 

of Transportation) called them up and 

asked them to buy four acres worth to 

finish an overpass project they had been 

working on. Once grandpa calculated his 

Brother and sister Keaton Frye and Jill Oostendorp 

operate Seven Cities Sod on the Interstate 80 corridor in 

Scott County. The family owns 630 acres of land, which 

rotates between sod grass varieties and soybeans. 


profit margin versus traditional crops, he 

decided to convert more land the next 

year,” Frye said. 

Today, this family-owned business still 

sells sod for transportation projects but 

has expanded into commercial businesses 

and personal landscaping as well. 

About 75% of the business is wholesale 

and 25% is onsite retail. Sod can be purchased 

in rolls, which are 3.5-feet wide 

by 90-feet long, or in smaller squares, 

which come stacked on pallets. The larger 

rolls normally go to new construction 

sites, while the smaller cuts can be used 

to fill in around pools or patch up yards. 

Seven Cities allows 18 months from 

seed to harvest, which is longer than 

some other companies. They do this 

because they want to make sure the crop 

goes through a winter cycle to harden off 



9/19/23 3:35 PM

along Interstate 80 

the roots, which makes them stronger for 

their customers. 

“The sod we sell is made up of four 

different types of grasses to create a hybrid 

that is disease-resistant and a bright green 

color. All our seed is Kentucky Bluegrass 

and is sourced from growers in Washington 

and Oregon. This is a unique aspect to our 

Norman Frye, founder of 

Seven Cities Sod, surrounded 

by his grandsons, (from left) 

Tony Ash, Keaton Frye and 

Easton Armstrong 


CONTRIBUTED 



9/19/23 3:35 PM

SOD FARM 

“We never want 

to lose sight of 

the pillars that 

we’ve built our 

farm business 

on, which are our 

quality of product 

and our personal 

relationships.” 

— KEATON FRYE 

business because most of the 

agriculture in the area is not 

dependent on what is happening 

so far west,” he said. 

The company has accounts 

all over Eastern Iowa and 

Western Illinois and has done 

work as far away as Omaha. 

Some of their most notable 

projects include the baseball 

and softball fields at the University 

of Iowa, the Newton 

Speedway, and even the Field 

of Dreams movie set back in 

the 1980s. Several Iowa golf 

courses also boast fairways 

made from their sod. 

The family is members of 

TPI or Turf Grass Producers 

International, which keeps 

them at the forefront of this 

changing market. One place 

they have been seeing changes 

is the artificial turf industry. 

“Artificial turf was really 


Keaton Frye and his dad, Lance Frye, represent two generations of 

company ownership at Seven Cities Sod. 

popular in sports but now 

there is a shift happening to 

go back to natural grasses,” 

Frye said. “There has been a 

lot of research come out that 

artificial turf has an impact on 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

SOD FARM 

Lance Frye, Jack Armstrong, Easton 

Armstrong and Keaton Frye stand by 

some roles of sod, which they sell for 

both residential and commercial use. 

The Armstrongs are family members 

who were involved in the Seven 

Cities Sod business in years past. 

COMPANY: Seven Cities Sod 

LOCATION: 12554 210 St., Davenport, IA 

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FOUNDED: 1966 by Norman Frye, a 

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ONLINE: sevencitiessod.com 

FUN FACTS: The company’s name came 

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Moline. 

athlete injuries, so organizations like 

TPI are working to promote sod to 

take its place.” 

Like most farmers, a lack of rain 

had an impact on their business this 

year even though they can irrigate almost 

70% of their fields using pivot 

irrigation systems. 

“Yeah, we have irrigation, but we 

rely on Mother Nature as much as 

we can, especially in the early part 

of the summer. This year we had 

to start irrigating in May, which is 

one of the earliest dates I remember. 

Normally we don’t get into 

our irrigated fields until July and 

August,” Frye said. 

Despite the dry conditions, the 

family continues to look for ways to break 

into new markets including the ever-growing 

Des Moines metro area. 

“One of the options we are looking at is 

creating satellite farms around Des Moines 

and Waterloo, so we have our product closer 

to these urban populations,” Frye said. 

“We want to continue growing in our industry, 

whether that is expansion regionally, or 

expansion locally. We never want to be a 

stagnant company. With that in mind, we 

never want to lose sight of the pillars that 

we’ve built our farm business on, which 

are our quality of product and our personal 

relationships.” n 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

LEARNING TO BE 

SELF SUSTAINING 

Cedar County 

woman reaching 

the masses with 

YouTube channel 

BY KATE HOWES 


It has been just over a year since 

Calamus-Wheatland Family and 

Consumer Science teacher Savanna 

Bachus launched her own YouTube 

channel. 

The idea to start such an endeavor was 

pitched to her by her fiancé, Austin Coobs, 

who thought she would do a good job with 

it. 

Bachus admitted she had been considering 

the idea of doing something to help occupy 

her time during the summer months. 

“I stay so busy during the school year,” 

said the educator, who graduated from 

Calamus-Wheatland in 2012 and now lives 

in Donahue. 

“But I like structure, and (the YouTube 

channel) gives me structure … a weekly 

goal.” 

However, it wasn’t until she learned her 

good friend and neighbor, Bree Tyler, had 

given some thought to starting a channel as 

well that Bachus felt confident enough to 

see the idea through. 

YouTube.com, a website that provides 

anyone with an avenue to create and post 

videos of their choosing, is free to watch. 

Both Tyler and Bachus— each with 

their own channel — decided if they 

had each other to lean on for advice and 

support, they would embark on their new 

adventures together. 



9/19/23 3:35 PM


Bachus said she knew right away 

she wanted her subject matter to center 

around homesteading. It’s a subject 

she knows can mean different things to 

different people. 

“For me, it’s about building more of 

a self-sustainable lifestyle,” she explained. 

“Growing your own food, gardening, 

getting away from convenience 

items … I’d also like to do something 

about all-natural cleaners. I talk about 

different recipes and (canning).” 

Bachus said when it came to coming 

up with a name for her YouTube channel, 

Coobs was the inspiration behind 

that as well. 

The couple lives on an acreage on 

Allens Grove Road, in Donahue, which 

also happens to be in Allens Grove 

Township. 

So, when Coobs suggested calling the 

channel “Allens Grove Acres” it only 

seemed fitting. 

Bachus said she still endeavors to 


Sprouting seedlings is one of the how-to segments on Calamus-Wheatland teacher Savanna 

Bachus’ YouTube channel. 




Be a part of the Eastern Iowa Farmer experience! 

Advertise with us. Share your story ideas. Join our mailing list. 

Share your photos from around the farm! 

Contact us: 

Phone: 563-659-3121 

Email: eifarmer@sycamoremedia.net 

Web: eifarmer.com 



9/19/23 3:35 PM

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9/19/23 3:35 PM


“It was something we 

always did and was always 

fun. It was the same with 

cooking; we were expected 

to cook as a family, but it 

never seemed like a chore. 

We always did it together 

and it was fun.” 

— SAVANNA BACHUS 

fine-tune her content and has learned 

talking to a camera isn’t as easy as it 

looks. 

However, she always can lean on her 

upbringing on a farm outside of Wheatland 

to help convey her fondness for and 

interest in gardening and cooking to her 

audience. 

Growing up growing things 

The person to whom Bachus attributes 

her knowledge of cooking and gardening 

is her mom, Jill. 

“We always cooked and gardened 

together,” Bachus shared. “From a young 

age, she would put me in the wagon while 

she was gardening. I learned to like the 

garden. I’m not all that great at it, but I 

enjoy it. It was something we always did 

and was always fun. It was the same with 

cooking; we were expected to cook as a 

family, but it never seemed like a chore. 

We always did it together and it was fun.” 

Bachus by no means considers herself 

an expert on the subject matter she discusses 

on Allens Grove Acres. 

EASTERN IOWA FARMER PHOTO / TREVIS MAYFIELD 

Bachus chops some green onions that will 

become part of a savory dish. 

One point she wants to get across to 

her viewers is no one else is expected to 

become an expert, either. 

“I’m very transparent that I don’t know 

what I’m doing all the time,” Bachus 

related. “I just think it’s so important to 

grow your own food. Maybe some people 

just need to see someone else show them 

how, and they’ll start doing it, too. You 

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GENEROSITY 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM


don’t need to be a genius; we 

can succeed together, and we 

can fail together. My mom 

taught me a lot, but I’ve had to 

figure stuff out from scratch, 

too.” 

Bachus also is figuring out 

things like what kind of equipment 

she needs to record her 

videos, which run about once 

per week, and how to be more 

interactive with her audience. 

Even talking to the camera 

has proven more challenging 

than she expected. As a teacher, 

she is used to addressing 

people face-to-face; however, 

when you can’t see who 

you’re talking to, she said it 

isn’t quite the same. 

“It’s a different kind of public 

speaking for sure,” Bachus 

explained. “I’m pretty good at 

talking to people, but it’s very 

different learning how to talk 

to a camera.” 

She said she also is working 

on creating outlines before 

recording her videos, so she 

can present her information 

in a more organized manner. 

After all, teachers can improvise 

on the spot; Bachus is 

having to learn to re-record 

different video portions when 

necessary. 

“I’m gaining more confidence,” 

she related. “I just set 

up my (cell) phone on a tripod. 

The equipment part of it 

has been a learning process.” 

Gardening 

gratification 

Bachus said eventually, she 

would like to do more canning 

and cooking. However, in 

the spring, summer and fall 

gardening will be a main focus 

on her channel. 

She has 10 raised beds at 

home and the supplies to construct 

six more. 

“That will be a big 

game-changer,” she said of 

expanding the number of her 

gardens. “Some will have 

trellises, so I can start growing 

some vining plants like 

cucumbers and peas.” 

Some of the plants she has 

discussed growing with her 

viewers include tomatoes, 

strawberries, broccoli, cauliflower 

and cabbage. 

Bachus said she is thankful 

to her mom and Tyler (who’s 

channel is called That Iowa 

Homestead) for their support, 

and to anyone who has 

taken the time to tune in to her 

channel. 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM


Her advice to anyone who is considering 

starting their own YouTube channel, basically, 

is to “fake it until you make it.” 

“Go in pretending like you’re confident, 

even if you’re not,” Bachus said with a smile. 

“You will be, eventually. Just go in, ready to 

do it.” 

As for the responses she has received from 

her audience, Bachus said she is happy with 

how receptive people have been so far. She 

feels like she has learned a lot so far, yet still 

has more learning to do. 

Regardless, Bachus is happy to have a 

platform where she can share the things she 

loves and maybe help a few people along the 

way. 

“I get my gratification (from growing food) 

when I don’t have to write things down on 

a grocery list,” Bachus shared. “The idea of 

going to the shelf at home and grabbing what 

I need … that’s where I get my gratification.” 

For anyone who would like to tune in to 

Bachus’ YouTube channel, visit https://www. 

youtube.com/@allensgroveacres5031/featured. 

n 

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INGREDIENTS 

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6 Tablespoons melted butter 

1 cup milk 

1 cup flour 

1/8 teaspoon salt 

DIRECTIONS 

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees 

2. Melt the butter in a (preferably 

glass) 9x13 pan in the oven 

3. Mix all the ingredients in a mixing 

bowl until smooth 

4. Pour batter into hot butter 

5. Bake 20-25 minutes 

6. You will see the sides creep up 

the sides and get very tall, with a 

shallow middle, giving it its name, 

Bathtub Pancake! 

Taco Seasoning 

INGREDIENTS 

2 Tablespoons chili powder 

1 Tablespoon cumin 

1 teaspoon garlic powder 

1 teaspoon paprika 

1 teaspoon salt 

1/2 teaspoon black pepper 

1/2 teaspoon crushed 

red pepper flakes 

1/2 teaspoon oregano 

Mix all ingredients together. Recipe 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM


Cole Slaw 

INGREDIENTS 

1/2 cup mayo 

2 Tablespoons white sugar 

1 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice 

1 Tablespoon vinegar 

1 teaspoon dried dill 



Cole slaw mix OR 3 cups sliced 

cabbage and 1/2 cup shredded 

carrots 

2 green onions 

DIRECTIONS 

1. Mix the mayo, white sugar, lemon 

juice, vinegar, dill, black pepper and 

salt. 

2. Add the cole slaw mix OR the 

cabbage and carrots, as well as the 

green onions. 

3. For best quality, refrigerate for at least 

2 hours before serving. 

Makes about 4 servings. 

Italian Minute Steak 

INGREDIENTS 

2 Tablespoons olive oil 

1 onion, diced 

1 Tablespoon garlic, diced 

3 minute steaks 

4 cups crushed tomatoes 

Fresh mozzarella cheese slices 

ITALIAN SEASONING 

1/4 teaspoon sage 

1/2 teaspoon parsley 

1/2 teaspoon rosemary 

1 teaspoon oregano 

2 teaspoons basil 



1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper 

1 cube beef bullion 

DIRECTIONS 

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees 

2. Add olive oil to a Dutch oven, heat 

on medium heat until shimmering. 

Add the diced onion and sauté until 

just translucent, add the garlic. After 

about a minute, add the minute 

steaks. Cook most of the way through 

on both sides. 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM


3. While minute steaks are cooking 

prepare the Italian seasoning. 

4. Add the quart of tomatoes, as well as 

the Italian seasoning. 

5. Simmer for 30 minutes. 

6. Add the sliced fresh mozzarella 

cheese on top of the steaks, transfer 

to the preheated oven, bake until 

cheese is melted and bubbly. 

Rhubarb Custard Pie 

INGREDIENTS FOR CRUST: 

1 1/2 cups flour 


1/2 teaspoon sugar 

1/2 cup lard 

3 or 4 Tablespoons ice water 

INGREDIENTS FOR FILLING: 

2 cups rhubarb, cut fine 

1cup sugar 

2 Tablespoons flour 

Cinnamon 

Pie crust 

2 eggs, beaten 

1/2 cup half-and-half 

Butter 

DIRECTIONS 

1. In a medium mixing bowl mix together 

sugar, flour and rhubarb. Set to the 

side and let sit. 

2. Make the crust by mixing flour, salt, 

sugar, and lard together with a pastry 

blender. Slowly add in the water while 

Donahue resident 

Savanna Bachus started 

a YouTube channel that 

focuses on homesteading. 

She gives viewers a peek 

into her garden and how 

she uses her bounty, as 

well as other tips. Here, 

she shows some of the 

herbs that help flavor her 

recipes. 

EASTERN IOWA 

FARMER PHOTO / 

CONTRIBUTED 

mixing with a pastry blender until you 

get the right consistency. Roll out and 

make a single bottom crust. 

3. Put the rhubarb mixture into the crust 

4. To a small mixing bowl, add the eggs 

and half and half. Mix well. Pour on 

top of the rhubarb mixture in the 

crust. 

5. Top with butter and cinnamon 

6. Bake at 350 degrees 40-50 minutes 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

Turning a lens 

on our 

farmer community 

Show featuring photographs 

from The Eastern Iowa Farmer 

on display at MAE; readers 

invited to opening reception. 

During the past eight years, Brooke 

Till and Trevis Mayfield have 

traversed the far reaches of the 

rural community taking pictures 

for The Eastern Iowa Farmer 

magazine. 

A collection of those photographs will be on 

display from Dec. 1 to Jan. 31 at the Maquoketa 

Art Experience, 124 S. Main St., Maquoketa. 

Readers of the magazine and members of 

community are invited to stop by an opening 

reception for the show between 4 p.m. and 7 

p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4, to meet the photographers 

and view the show. The event coincides with 

the MAE’s annual holiday open house, and 

food and entertainment will be provided. 

The Eastern Iowa Farmer launched in the 

spring of 2016 in Jackson and Clinton counties. 

Since then, it has expanded to encompass more 

than eight counties. It started with a belief by 

Mayfield, who owns Sycamore Media, which 

publishes the magazine. 

“That belief was that agriculture is the core 

driver of the Eastern Iowa economy and that 

those who make the wheels turn share common 

goals, common problems and a strong sense of 

community,” he said. 

Through their work for The Eastern Iowa 

Farmer magazine, Till and Mayfield have captured 

hundreds of images featuring the people 

who animate the fields, barnyards, feedlots, and 

kitchens in this part of the world. 



9/19/23 3:35 PM

They’ve befriended farm dogs, stomped through 

livestock yards, and trekked through acres of corn, 

soybeans, and other crops to capture the essence of 

the eastern Iowa farming experience. 

“Through this collection of photographs, you 

will see area farming through our lens,” said Till, 

who is Sycamore Media’s creative director. “Putting 

a familiar face on agriculture issues connects 

people in our community.” 

Over the years, the magazine has tackled a range 

of issues from legacy planning and soil health to 

how farmers settled Eastern Iowa and how to find 

resilience in the face of adversity. 

Mayfield grew up on what was then a 97-acre 

grain farm in west central Indiana and has many 

early memories of the farm where his parents still 

live. He pulled his first disc with an Oliver 1850 

when he was about 12. The magazine allows him 

to combine his love of the rural lifestyle with 

journalism. 

Till grew up on a farm in Nashville, Iowa, and 

she has fond memories of horseback riding and 

raising miniature horses and goats. She loves 

working in the area where she grew up and her 

family has strong ag roots. 

The MAE is a non-profit organization established 

in 2008 and located downtown. MAE is 

dedicated to arts education, fostering an appreciation 

of the arts and to building community by 

engaging the residents of Maquoketa and surrounding 

areas in diverse creative activities. n 



9/19/23 3:35 PM



B 

Anywhere, Anytime 

with our online edition 

Read an exact digital replica of the latest Eastern Iowa Farmer 

wherever you are with your computer, tablet or smartphone. Catch 

up with past issues of the magazine or submit your story ideas 

and favorite photos for consideration in future editions. Share the 

magazine with family and friends with only a couple clicks. 

For an enhanced reading experience, visit: 

www.eifarmer.com 



9/19/23 3:35 PM

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

Landowners should 

consider general 

legal issues for 

hunting ‘leases’ 

By KRISTINE A. TIDGREN 

Director 

and JENNIFER HARRINGTON 

Staff Attorney 

Center for Agricultural Law & Taxation 

Iowa State University 


Hunting ground is a precious 

commodity in Iowa. Hunters 

often approach landowners 

looking for ground 

to hunt. Whether to grant 

such permission and to whom to grant 

that permission is a complex decision. 

While many hunters in Iowa are 

knowledgeable about gun safety and 

their sport, every year there are new and 

beginning hunters. Having a well-drafted 

hunting lease or liability waiver 

can help ensure that both hunter and 

landowner understand their rights and 

obligations. It can also help ward off 

future problems. 

This fact sheet is designed to highlight 

basic issues landowners should consider 

when deciding whether to let someone 

hunt their ground and how to structure 

that relationship. It also reviews generally 

suggested hunting lease provisions. 

It is not designed to be a substitute for 

legal counsel. 

Liability 

Perhaps the most important issue landowners 

should consider in responding 

to requests to hunt on their property is 

whether they will be subjecting themselves 

to new liability for any injuries 

incurred by the visitors or because of the 

visitors. 

In 2013, the Iowa legislature revised 

the Iowa Recreational Use Statute, 

which encourages landowners to 

open their property to others for recreational 

uses (including hunting) to 

ensure that landowners are immune from 

liability related to recreational entrants. 

The statute expressly states that the 

landowner does not “assume responsibility 

for or incur liability for any 

injury” caused by an act or omission. 

There are two big exceptions to this 

liability protection. First, this protection 

only applies where the landowner directly 

or indirectly invites others to use the 

land for recreational purposes without 

charge. If the landowner charges a fee 

(through a hunting lease, for example), 

the landowner will then owe a higher 

degree of care to ensure the property is 

safe for use. 

This duty includes ensuring the 

premises are safe and there are warnings 

about dangerous conditions. For 

example, a landowner may be liable for 

resulting injuries if a hunter steps in a 

large hole on the property and breaks his 

leg or accidentally discharges his gun if 

the landowner did not adequately warn 

the hunter about the risks. Although a 

waiver of liability may serve to offset 

this risk for adult hunters, it is important 

for landowners to discuss potential hunting 

leases with both their insurer and 

legal counsel to protect against unwanted 

lawsuits. 

The second exception from liability 

protection is when the landowner willfully 

or maliciously fails “to guard or 

warn against a dangerous condition, use, 

structure, or activity.” Iowa Courts have 

not created a legal test for what constitutes 

willful or malicious action under 

this statute, but they have provided some 

guidance. A person acts willfully or maliciously 

when it is proven they had an 

intent to harm or acted indifferently to a 

very obvious harm. This is why it may 

be a good idea to have a potential hunter 

sign a specific liability waiver acknowledging 

the unavoidable risks of hunting 

and uneven terrain, even if they are not 

being charged to hunt. If an accident or 

event occurs, this waiver would be used 

to show that the landowner attempted to 

inform the hunter of potential harms. 

Hunting Lease Provisions 

Most hunting leases are not actually 

leases at all, but licenses. A license, as 

opposed to a lease, is a private grant of 

right to use real property for a particular 

purpose. As such, a hunting lease 

offers contractual rights, not an estate in 

real property. In other words, the parties 

do not take on an actual landlord-tenant 

relationship, and the landowner is not 

subject to burdensome landlord-tenant 

statutory provisions. The parties’ relationships 

to each other are defined and 

bound by the terms of their contract. 

Although an oral agreement for a term 

of one year or less would be legally 

enforceable, it is advisable to have a 

written hunting lease. It is also important 

to seek legal counsel to draft such a 

lease to ensure that the specific needs of 

the parties are met. 

In general, however, a hunting lease 

should include the following provisions: 

Clear Identity of the Parties 

A hunting lease should clearly identify 

by name the persons entitled to hunt 

under the agreement. It should state 

whether the party to the lease can bring 

guests onto the property, if and how they 

can transfer the lease to another, and 



9/19/23 3:35 PM

HUNTING LEASES 

whether children under the age 

of 18 are allowed to hunt or 

accompany adult hunters on 

the land. Consider requiring a 

hunter to provide proof they 

have taken and passed a hunter’s 

safety course (even if not 

required by state law). 

Description of 

the Property 

Any hunting lease should 

specify the exact property 

upon which the party to the 

contract can hunt. It is advisable 

to include legal property 

descriptions, as well a map. 

The map should clearly identify 

nearby inhabited areas 

that will inform the hunter 

what shot directions should be 

avoided. The map should also 

mark known hazards, fences 

and/or ATV paths. 

Terms of Use 

The hunting lease should 

clearly set forth the specific 

terms under which the party 

to the contract can hunt. Is 

the permission for a particular 

animal season only? Is it for 

rifle or bow hunting only? Are 

there particular firearms that 

are not allowed? Does it allow 

any legal hunting for a term 

of one year? Is it is multi-year 

contract? Perhaps a landowner 

will want to offer a multi-day 

hunting lease to a party or 

group. These are all possibilities, 

but the document should 

specify the exact terms of the 

permission granted. 

The lease should also specify 

if the hunting party is also allowed 

to spend the night on the 

property or if they must leave 

by nightfall. Could the hunters 

bring an RV or 5th wheel on 

the property to park? If so, 

can the party have a bonfire 

outside? What is the maximum 

number of people who can 

sleep there? Can people who 

are not part of the hunting 

party spend the night? If there 

is a small cabin or residence, 

the same questions should be 

asked, and the lease should 

specify what behavior and use 

is allowed and not allowed. 

Termination 

and Options to 

Renew Provisions 

The contract should specify 

the particular grounds and 

the manner under which the 

landowner can terminate the 

contract, including for misuse 

or dangerous use of the property. 

The clause should state how 

the termination notice will be 

communicated. The contract 

should also specify whether 

the contract will automatically 

renew or terminate on a particular 

date. 

Waiver of Liability 

As discussed above, liability 

should be a prime concern for 

landowners contemplating a 

hunting lease. Landowners 

should acquire a waiver of 

liability from the hunters as 

part of the lease. Through a 

properly drafted waiver, the 

landowner should be able to 

obtain the same level of liability 

protection offered by the 

Iowa Recreational Use Statute 

as to all adult hunters. Such 

a waiver would not provide 

protection, however, for children 

under 18. Landowners are 

advised to seek legal counsel 

to draft a legally enforceable 

waiver. They are also advised 

to discuss any hunting lease in 

advance with their insurer to 

understand what damages insurance 

may cover if an event 

were to occur. 

Indemnification Clause 

Landowners also may want 

to include an indemnification 

clause. This is when the hunters 

agree to assume the risk 

and pay any damages caused 

to others by the hunter or the 

hunter’s activity on the property. 

This is important if the 

landowner becomes involved 

in a lawsuit where a third party 

was injured or harmed. It also 

can help reinforce the hunters’ 

responsibilities and encourage 

safe hunting practices. 

Tree Stands 

Studies have found that tree 

stands lead to more injuries 

than firearms in a hunting 

context. Providing a tree stand 

or elevated hunting platform 

is increasing the risk that the 

hunter or guest will become 

injured from a fall or improperly 

maintained stand. If there 

is a tree stand, it needs to meet 

the Treestand Manufacturer’s 

Association’s safety standards, 

and the hunter should 

be required to wear a safety 

harness at all times. If the 

hunter is providing the stand, 

the stand should be installed 

in summer when it is easier 

to identify a dead tree. A dead 

tree should never be used to 

support an elevated hunting 

platform. 

Payment Terms 

A hunting lease should 

include the terms of payment 

required under the lease, 

including the amount, the due 

date, the manner in which 

payment is to be made, and 

the remedy in the event of 

nonpayment. It is best practice 

to require payment prior to the 

hunting period, usually well in 

advance so that an alternative 

party can be found if payment 

is not made. 

As noted above, Iowa hunting 

land is a precious commodity. 

Through a well-drafted 

hunting lease, landowners can 

share their resource with others 

and, in exchange, receive a 

monetary benefit. They should 

remember, however, that any 

such agreement should be 

carefully drafted and cleared 

with their insurers. Failing to 

take such measures could place 

them in a liability landmine. n 

About 

CALT: 

n The Center for 

Agricultural Law and 

Taxation (CALT) 

at Iowa State 

University was 

created in 2006. 

It provides timely, 

critically objective 

information to 

producers, 

professionals and 

agribusinesses 

concerning the 

application of 

important 

developments in 

agricultural law and 

taxation (federal and 

state legal opinions 

of relevance, as well 

as critical legislative 

developments) and 

is a primary source 

of professional 

educational training 

in agricultural law 

and taxation. 

Contact CALT: 

Iowa State 

University 

2321 N. Loop, 

Suite 200 

Ames, IA 50010 

Phone: 

(515) 294-5217 

Fax: (515) 294-0700 

www.calt.iastate.edu 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

CHANGING RIVER 

NAVIGATING A 

CHANGING 

RIVER 

High and low water levels leave farmers a little seasick 

BY SARA MILLHOUSE 


Mississippi River levels 

have fluctuated wildly 

in recent years, causing 

consternation for farmers 

trying to market grain 

and forecast costs for next year’s inputs. 

In 2022, low water on the Lower 

Mississippi snarled barge traffic and 

reduced loads, practically doubling barge 

rates for farmers briefly in the fall. The 

river reached record lows near Memphis, 

Tenn., and elsewhere. 

This year saw spring flooding, followed 

by worrisome low water that 

threatens a repeat of 2022. In August, 

river levels at St. Louis were lower than 

they were at this time last year. 

“It seems like we go right from flood to 

no water in the last two years,” said lockmaster 

Brad Hank, of LeClaire’s Lock 

and Dam No. 14. “You just never know.” 

Along with dredging in low spots, the 

U.S. Corps of Engineers’ lock and dam 

system has kept commercial shipping in 

business on the Upper Mississippi since 

lock and dam construction in the 1930s. 

However, this system is still subject to 

the vagaries of flooding and low water, 

slowing the transport of grain to international 

markets. 

Sydney Heims has seen the impacts of 

both low and high water in her work as a 

grain origination specialist with Cargill, 

which has regional elevators along the 



9/19/23 3:35 PM


Mississippi at Bettendorf, Muscatine, 

New Boston and Keithsburg, Ill. 

“We made it down to 3.5 feet,” Heims 

said of last fall’s low water. 

With levels so low, barges could only 

be partially loaded. “Since we could 

only load up about halfway, we needed 

more barges up this direction,” she said. 

“Having it be so low, we had to double 

the amount of barges.” 

“Since we could only load up 

about halfway, we needed 

more barges up this direction. 

Having it be so low, we had to 

double the amount of barges.” 

— SYDNEY HEIMS 

Barge scarcity drove price increases 

during last fall’s low water, according to 

Jeremy Putman, who owns Riverview 

Tug Service in Bellevue with his wife, 

Julie Putman. The Putmans’ first business 

was a grocery service for towboats. They 

now run their own small tows. 

Not only did the shipping industry need 

more barges to haul the same amount of 

grain during last fall’s historic low water, 

but Putman said that the cost of building 

a barge has skyrocketed in the last several 

years, due to higher material costs and 

closing shipyards. 

Barge scarcity continued to impact 

shipping in 2023. 

“Even this spring, we had a lot on the 

books and were trying to get barges in,” 

Heims said. 

Farmers try to book grain as soon as 

possible in the spring to get it out of their 

bins before planting. 

“With corn and beans, there’s shrinkage 

if they’re sitting in the grain bins so 

long,” Heims said. That’s when farmers 

get “antsy” to get it “out of their bin and 

into ours.” 

Flooding this spring again impacted 

loading. 

“Once we get to 17.5, 18 feet, we get 

to a limit when we can’t load a barge,” 

Heims said. “One of our elevators, once it 

hits 18 feet, it goes over floodwalls.” 

And at New Boston, flood cleanup of 

downed trees and limbs further slowed 

loading even after the water went down. 

The case for maintenance 

Barges pushed by towboats on the Mississippi 

River transport both inputs upstream 

to farmers and grain downstream. 

Almost a fifth of fertilizer is moved by 

barge, according to a 2023 report by The 

Fertilizer Institute, which lobbies for 

maintenance of the locks and dams for 

commercial shipping on the Mississippi 

River. 

In 2019, the last year for which annual 

data is tabulated, about 31 million tons 

of soybeans moved across the country by 

barge, along with about 22 million tons 

of corn, according to the U.S. Department 

of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing 

Service. 

In Iowa in 2022-23, more than 65 

percent of soybean movements were 

by barge (about 3.6 million short tons), 

according to the Soybean Transportation 

Coalition. The Soybean Transportation 

Coalition is funded by the Soybean 

Checkoff and also rings the bell for 

maintaining and upgrading the nearly- 

100-year-old infrastructure of the lock 

and dam system. 

At LeClaire’s Lock and Dam No. 14, 

Hank said that the crew spends much of 

each winter doing “preventative maintenance” 

in preparation for the next year’s 



9/19/23 3:35 PM


Brad Hank, lockmaster at LeClaire’s Lock and Dam No. 14, says 

river levels have fluctuated wildly during the navigation season the 

last two years, with heavy rains in the spring and very dry falls. 

EASTERN IOWA FARMER PHOTO / TREVIS MAYFIELD 

navigation season. 

Machinery is torn down, gearboxes 

cleaned, parts oiled, new paint applied 

and timbers on the gates changed out. 

A rehab in the late 1990s replaced lock 

machinery, and the lock chambers have 

relatively new gates, but the concrete is 

mostly original, as is the dam machinery. 

Much of this original infrastructure was 

built out between 1935 and 1939. 

The Corps of Engineers is continually 

working on large maintenance and 

upgrade projects, but industry wish lists 

are always longer than available resources 

allow. 

Recently at LeClaire, the Corps of 

Engineers poured concrete 30 feet in 

diameter for a mooring cell downstream 

from the lock, where tows will be able to 

tie up while they wait to lock through. 

Currently, tows waste fuel idling—“we 

call it ‘paddling,’” Hank says—or wait 

further downstream away from wind and 

rocks. If they do so, they waste precious 

time traveling to the lock after the previous 

tow locks through. 

The bigger picture 

In 2022, 37 million tons of freight 

passed through Lock and Dam 15 in Rock 

Island, Ill. Of that, about 23 million tons 

were grain. 

The Rock Island District of the Corps 

of Engineers estimates a cost savings of 

more than $2 billion in 2022 for those 

shipping by river through Rock Island 

rather than rail. 

Most of the grain that ships downriver 

is bound for export. Heims said that international 

grain is often bound for China or 

the Black Sea, where the war in Ukraine 

has further destabilized markets. 

As of August, year-to-date grain 

transport volumes at St. Louis were down 

about a quarter from 2022 and from 

recent averages. 

“We’ve been really slow,” said Hank 

of barge transport this summer. Experts 

think lower international demand is 

lessening volume, which could result in 

less of an impact to farmers if low water 

drives up shipping prices this fall. 

According to the Soybean Transportation 

Coalition, low transportation costs 

are essential for maintaining American 

competitiveness in the international grain 

market, especially as Brazil upgrades 

freight systems. 

In 2022, the high costs of river transport 

didn’t last long and were softened by 

good grain prices overall. 

“It did have an impact, but farmers felt 

more of an impact in their cost structure 

than they did on their prices,” said Chad 

Hart, crops market specialist, extension 

economist and professor with Iowa State 

University. 

“We were still staring at really good 

prices through the entire problem,” he 

said. 

One development on the Lower Mississippi 

promises to lower shipping costs 

for farmers. The Corps of Engineers is 

currently dredging the Mississippi from 

a depth of 45 to 50 feet from the river’s 

mouth to Baton Rouge, La., which is 

expected to bring cost savings of about 13 

cents per bushel. 

Meanwhile, another development could 

revolutionize river shipping: companies 

are racing to build boats that could effectively 

haul the same containers as are 

used in rail and truck shipping, lowering 

the cost and time associated with loading 

and unloading. 

Economic developers are working to 

create a container shipping hub at St. 

Louis in anticipation of container river 

shipping. 

Meanwhile, as of this writing, low 

water in the Panama Canal – in what is 

usually one of the wettest countries of 

the world –was lightening shiploads in a 

crucial nexus of international trade and 

agriculture, giving farmers just another 

reason to feel a little seasick. n 



9/19/23 3:35 PM

For Such a Time as This... 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

e, 

By JESSICA YUSKA 

Scott & Muscatine County Executive Director 

Farm Service Agency 

jessica.yuska@usda.gov 


More than 600 dedicated 

agricultural leaders work at 

Iowa Farm Service Agency. 

I’m one of those leaders. 

I’ve been with the agency for 

almost 25 years, and the County Executive 

Director managing both Scott and Muscatine 

counties for past two years. 

The Farm Service Agency is one of 29 

agencies and offices under the United States 

Department of Agriculture. Our agency helps 

to ensure the well-being of U.S. agriculture 

through a variety of safety-net, commodity, 

conservation, and farm loan programs. 

Multiple County Farm Service Agency 

offices in Iowa are hiring currently. Whether 

or not you are involved with agriculture, you 

could be a great candidate for our team. The 

FSA office is a fast-paced, regularly changing 

environment. Integrity, accountability, and 

good communication are at the forefront of 

our customer service-based agency. 

My two counties, the Scott and Muscatine 

FSA offices, are made up of eight employees 

in the two locations. We work closely together 

to administer farm programs that enable producers 

to continue to do what they love while 

providing food, fuel and fiber for the world. 

Many FSA employees do in fact retire from 

the agency after 15, 20, 30 and even 40 years 

of service. As their co-workers wish them well 

during their retirement parties, retirees often 

list the people as the number one reason they 

devoted so much of their lives to one career. 

Career with the 

Iowa Farm Service 

Agency helps 

farmers provide 

fuel, fiber 

“The people” are also the number one piece of 

their lives they will miss most post-retirement. 

In addition to taking care of our producers, 

Iowa FSA also takes care of our employees. 

We enjoy a generous benefits package, 

matching thrift savings plan contributions up 

to 5% (similar to 401k), paid vacation of 104 

to 208 annually and 104 hours of paid sick 

leave earned annually, 12-weeks paid parental 

leave, flexible work schedules, retirement and 

11 paid holidays. A career with Iowa FSA, 

also includes opportunities for advancement. 

I started as temporary office in 1998 with a 

Minnesota county office. Made a big move 

to Iowa and was hired permanent as program 

technician in 2001 and recently became a 

County Executive Director in 2023. I’ve loved 

the opportunity to work with some of the best 

people in our region including both my team 

and local farmers. 

To learn more about becoming part of the 

FSA family and taking the first step toward 

the career of a lifetime, contact me via email: 

jessica.yuska@usda.gov. To apply for positions 

within USDA visit www.USAJobs.gov, 

input key words: Farm Service Agency and 

Iowa to locate open job announcements across 

the state. 

Thank you for considering a future with our 

agency. 

Jessica Yuska is the County Executive 

Director for the Scott and Muscatine Counties 

Farm Service Agency. She grew up on a farm 

in Southwest Minnesota and attended Iowa 

State University. She lives in a rural neighborhood 

with cattle grazing across the fence 

in her backyard, and each day she drives 

past beautiful farm fields as she travels to her 

offices. n 

If you have 

any questions, 

please contact 

your local 

FSA Office. 

Cedar 

County FSA 

205 W. South St., 

Ste. 3, Tipton, IA 

52772 

(563) 886-6061 

Johnson 

County FSA 

51 Escort Ln. SW 

Iowa City, IA 

52240 

(319) 354-1074 

Louisa 

County FSA 

260 Mulberry St. 

Wapello, IA 52653 

(319) 527-8067 

Muscatine 

County FSA 

3500 Oakview 

Drive 

Muscatine, IA 

52761-5450 

(563) 263-4601 

Scott 

County FSA 

8370 Hillandale Rd 

Davenport, IA 

52806-6449 

(563) 391-3335 

eifarmer.com 


9/19/23 3:35 PM

1 

4 

5 

7 



9/19/23 3:35 PM

2 

1. Lincoln Hammer rides a 

sheep during the Wapello 

FFA Pro Rodeo Mutton 

Bustin’ action. 

SUBMITTED BY DANA ROYER 

2. The ProRodeo, which 

has been going strong since 

1981, features daring feats 

by seasoned riders. 

6 

3 

8 

3. A young fan dons a 

cowboy hat at the ProRodeo 

last July. The Louisa County 

event is hosted annually by 

the Wapello FFA Chapter. 

4. Wilton High School FFA 

students work in the livestock 

barns where hogs and sheep 

are housed last spring. The 

FFA runs the farm, which 

includes crops and the barns 

where they learn about 

breeding, proper nutrition 

and other care. 

PHOTOS BY BROOKE TILL 

5. Emma Telsrow shows 

you’re never too young to 

ride a tractor at the kiddie 

tractor pull. The county fair 

event was run by Tipton’s 

FFA Chapter. 

6.The rodeo in Wapello is for 

people of all generations, as 

exhibited by the audience 

members here. 

7. This young lady learns 

what it’s like to be a butterfly 

at a Tipton FFA event. 

8. (From left) Tipton FFA 

Chapter members Tara 

Hennings, Addison Bunge, 

Jacob Ellis, Lexi Cochrane, 

Bella Dallege, Abby Ellerhoff, 

and Cheyenne Byrd smile 

for the camera before a 

convention presentation at 

the state FFA convention in 

Ames. 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

Ag Bytes 

Local FFA students advancing 

to national proficiency award 

competition 

Several Eastern Iowa FFA students 

advanced to national competition after 

winning state level proficiency awards 

in areas ranging from agricultural communications 

to service learning and from 

diversified agricultural production to swine 

production. Proficiency Award winners 

have excelled in their Supervised Agricultural 

Experience (SAE) programs. 

These awards encourage members to 

develop specialized skills that will apply 

toward a future career. State winners will 

advance to the National FFA competition 

where they will compete against winners 

from the other State FFA Associations. 

The four national 

finalists selected 

from each area are 

recognized at the 

National FFA Convention 

and Expo 

in November. 

Local winners 

include: 

Morgan Hodge, 

West Liberty FFA 

Chapter, won in 

Outdoor Recreation, 

sponsored by the Iowa Trappers Association. 

Hodge has worked extensively 

in the shooting sports area. She works at 

the Izaack Walton League Gun Club and 

has helped increase membership by 10%. 

She has completed training and received 

her Range Safety Officer certification. 

She also has helped increase the number 

of events held at the trap club by 200%. 

Her future plans include coaching for the 

Scholastic City Target Program. 

Jessica Kroeger, North Scott FFA 

Chapter in Eldridge, won in the area of 

Specialty Animal Production, sponsored 

by Iowa FFA Gold Standard Partners. Kroeger 

has raised bees since her freshman 

year. She has sold hives to others over 

the years from her own stock. Kroger also 

completed an agriscience research project 

based on her bee hives. She is a 2022 

graduate of North Scott High School. 

Blaze Maas, West Liberty FFA Chapter, 

placed first in Wildlife Production and 

Management sponsored by Iowa FFA 

Gold Standard Partners. Maas has planted 

food plots and raised and released 

pheasants. He has increased food plot 

acreage from 50 acres to 105 acres and 

expanded CRP acres from 1,980 acres 

to 2,550 acres. He requires his clients to 

harvest bucks that are 4 years old or older 

to maintain a good deer population. He 

works for Broken Bow Outfitters where 

her has logged 1,412 hours and earned 

more than $22,000. Maas plans to attend 

Kirkwood Community College and major 

in agri-business. 

Local farms earn Century, 

Heritage recognition 

Several Eastern Iowa farm families were 

honored with the Century or Heritage Farm 

designations at the Iowa State Fair last 

summer. The program celebrates farms 

that have been owned by the same families 

for 100 and 150 years, respectively. 

The Century Farm Program began in 

1976 as part of the nation’s Bicentennial 

Celebration. To date, more than 21,000 

Century Farms and 1,800 Heritage Farms 

have been recognized across the state of 

Iowa. 

Receiving a Heritage Farm distinction in 

Cedar County was Feurbach Acres Inc., 

Wiltion, 1871. 

Receiving Century Farm distinctions in 

Cedar County were the Dale Bixler Trust, 

Clarence, 1920; and Richard and Sandra 

Heisch, Bennett, 1917. 

Receiving a Heritage Farm distinction 

in Johnson County were Marvin Lee and 

Katherine Mae (Neuzil) Holeton, Oxford, 

1873. 

Receiving a Century Farm distinction in 

Johnson County was Joseph N. Meade, 

Oxford, 1923. 

Receiving Heritage Farm distinctions 

in Louisa County were Steven R. Bonnichsen, 

Columbus Junction, 1872; and 

Martha J. Ryan Young, Wapello, 1851. 

Receiving a Century Farm distinction in 

Louisa County was Martha J. Ryan Young, 

Wapello, 1851. 

Receiving Heritage Farm distinctions in 

Muscatine County were Randall Eichelberger, 

Muscatine, 1869; Lyle Joe and 

Joan Imhoff, Muscatine, 1873; Martin Paul, 

Muscatine, 1854; and John T. and Linda S. 

Verink, Letts, 1847. 


Muscatine County were Randall Eichelberger, 

Muscatine, 1869; Eis Family Land 

LLP, Muscatine, 1886; Illian Farm, Walcott, 

1923; and John T. and Linda S. Verink, 

Letts, 1847. 

Receiving Heritage Farm distinctions in 

Scott County were 4D Brus Family Farms, 

Walcott, 1870; Robert Moellenbeck, Walcott, 

1872; and Judith Mumm, New Liberty, 

1872. 


Scott County were Earl and Dorothy Kuhl, 

Eldridge, 1910; Robert Moellenbeck, Walcott, 

1872; and Otto Wendhausen Jr., Le- 

Claire, 1914. 

Conference to focus 

on women leaders in ag 

Women are invited to an opportunity to 

network and learn at the 7th annual ISU 

Extension and Outreach Women in Ag 

Leadership Conference Nov. 29-30 at the 

Gateway Hotel and Conference Center in 

Ames. 

Sara Wyant, a Capitol Hill journalist, is 

the keynote speaker for the event. 

Wyant is the founder of Agri-Pulse 

Communications 

Inc., a digital 

media firm she 

launched in 2004 

to focus on farm, 

food and rural 

policy issues. 

During her 

career, Wyant 

also has been 

a trailblazer 

through several 

glass ceilings. In 

1995, she was 

Sara Wyant 

the first female to 

be named to the 

senior management team in agricultural 

publishing as vice president for editorial 

at Farm Progress. She served as the first 

female chairwoman on the Farm Foundation’s 

board of trustees and as president 

of the American Agricultural Editors Association, 

where she earned an award for 

excellence in agricultural reporting. 

A graduate of Iowa State University, she 

recently bought her family’s farm in Iowa 

County. 

Other speakers slated for the conference 

include Laura Blomme, an executive 

recruiter with Hedlin Ag Enterprises, 



9/19/23 3:35 PM

Ag Bytes 

where she specializes in executive-level 

searches for the agribusiness industry. 

Also speaking is Kiley Fleming, the executive 

director of Iowa Mediation Services, 

who released her book “Conflict Imagery” 

earlier this year. 

Other topics to be addressed include 

farmland management, making the most 

of your leadership style, entrepreneurship, 

personal finance and lifestyle balance. A 

panel of current Iowa agricultural board 

leaders will share insights on leading and 

being influences in agriculture. Some of 

the tour highlights include the new Veterinary 

Medicine Diagnostics Laboratory and 

campus greenhouses. 

Also on tap is the celebration of the 

20th anniversary of Annie’s Project, from 

which the conference developed. 

More land leased; less than 

half of farmland owners farm 

As the average age of Iowa’s farmland 

owners continues to rise, other trends in 

landownership have begun to emerge. 

According to an Iowa State University 

study, 58% of Iowa’s farmland is now 

leased out, a significant increase from the 

last time the same study was conducted 

in 2017. 

“There is a long-term trend toward farmland 

leasing since 1982,” said Wendong 

Zhang. Zhang is an assistant professor of 

economics at Cornell University and conducted 

the Iowa Farmland Ownership and 

Tenure Survey with Jingyi Tong, a PhD 

student in economics at Iowa State. 

“The percentage of farmland being 

leased in Iowa increased from 53% in 

2017 to 58% in 2022. This represents a 

relative increase of roughly one million 

acres over five years, which is quite significant,” 

Zhang said. 

Conducted by Iowa State since the 

1940s, the Iowa Farmland Ownership and 

Tenure Survey – completed every five 

years – focuses on forms of ownership, 

tenancy and transfer of farmland in Iowa, 

and characteristics of landowners. 

The latest survey was conducted in July 

2022, and was funded by Iowa State’s 

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 

Iowa Nutrient Research Center, Leopold 

Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Department 

of Economics, Center for Agricultural 

and Rural Development and Iowa 

State University Extension and Outreach. 

Farmland leases also increasingly favor 

cash rent over crop sharing and owner-operating 

arrangements. In 2017, 82% 

Wendong Zhang, 

Assistant Professor 

of economics, 

Cornell University 

of leased farmland 

was cash rented, 

but cash rent, 

predominantly 

fixed-cash rental 

contracts, now 

account for 87% of 

leased land. 

“The rise of cash 

rent, especially 

fixed cash rent, 

correlates with the 

growing percentage 

of landowners 

who are part-time 

and non-residents 

of Iowa,” Zhang 

said. “Fifty-five 

percent of land is owned by an owner who 

did not farm in 2022, and, of them, over 

half do not have farming experience. Especially 

for those landowners, a fixed cash 

rental contract is a natural choice.” 

According to the study, 47% of farmland 

was directly operated by the landowner in 

2017, but that number has now fallen to 

just 42%. 

The survey found that the average age 

of Iowa’s farmland owners is still increasing. 

In 1982, only 29% of Iowa farmland 

was owned by those over the age of 65. 

That percentage has steadily increased 

over the years, totaling 60% in 2017 and 

66% today. Tong noted that women own 

46% of Iowa’s farmland, and they hold a 

larger share among senior owners. 

Tong said several factors are contributing 

to the increasing age of Iowa’s 

farmland owners, including the increase 

in using farmland as an inheritance or 

long-term investment, fewer young people 

going into farming, and those young farmers 

facing large start-up costs. 

“Also, some senior farmers may retain 

ownership of their land due to a lack of 

succession planning, thus keeping the 

farm even if they aren’t actively farming. 

The survey shows 17% of landowners 

neither have a successor for ownership or 

management,” Tong said. 

However, Tong noted that survey results 

show three of every four landowners 

in Iowa are interested in selling land to 

beginning farmers when incentivized with 

federal and state tax credits. 

“At the same time, over half of Iowa 

landowners expressed concerns about 

difficulty finding quality beginning farmers 

as well as beginning farmers’ ability to pay 

the best prices for land,” Tong said. 

The recent survey also reveals changing 

trends in how ownership of Iowa’s 

farmland is held. In 

1982, 80% of Iowa’s 

farmland was 

owned through 

a combination of 

sole ownership 

and joint tenancy; 

however, those 

now only account 

for 52% of Iowa 

farmland ownership. 

Meanwhile, 

the amount of 

farmland held in 

Jingyi Tong, trusts has skyrocketed 

from 1% 

PhD economic student 

at Iowa State University in 1982 to 23% 

today. 

“Trusts have grown in popularity due to 

their numerous benefits. Particularly for 

farmland owners, trusts can ensure the 

preservation of the farm within the family, 

manage land transitions, and potentially 

provide tax benefits, making them a valuable 

tool in succession planning,” Zhang 

said. 

The percentage of farmland owned 

debt-free has also continued to increase – 

84% of Iowa farmland is held without any 

debt, the highest level observed. This represents 

a steady and significant increase 

from 1982, a year that marked the onset 

of the farm debt crisis, when only 62% of 

the land was held without debt. Tong said 

that some of that recent increase is due 

to the hike in commodity profits, aging 

landowners coupled with longer lengths 

of ownership, and government payments 

during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Zhang said that the survey also found 

interesting trends in the use of conservation 

techniques on Iowa farmland. He 

noted that no-till farming saw a significant 

increase from 21% of owners and 27% of 

acres in 2017 to 29% and 30%, respectively, 

in 2022. 

“The use of cover crops also saw a 

slight increase over this period, from 5% 

of owners and 4% of acres in 2017 to 7% 

for both owners and acres in 2022,” he 

said. 

However, only 2% of Iowa landowners 

have already participated in a carbon 

credit program and another 3% are considering 

doing so, but, Zhang said, “most 

landowners are either not interested or 

have never heard of them.” 

More information about the 2022 Iowa 

Farmland Ownership and Tenure Survey 

results can be found on the CARD website 

at card.iastate.edu/. 



9/19/23 3:35 PM

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application of other crop inputs, like fungicides, insecticides and nitrogen. 

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9/19/23 3:35 PM

Ag Bytes 

What makes a quality 

carbon credit? 

Alejandro Plastina, ISU extension 

economist and associate professor, 

answers four questions that are key for 

buyers when determining the quality 

(and the price they are willing to pay) 

for carbon credits. Additional practices, 

permanence, verified protocols, and 

registered credits are all factors that play 

into the perceived quality of a carbon 

credit. 

Buyers often look for high-quality credits 

that are based on additional practices, 

ensure some amount of permanence, are 

verified, and registered, Plastina said. 

A carbon credit is a term for the 

certificate or token 

showing that 

one metric ton of 

carbon dioxide 

(or the equivalent 

amount of other 

greenhouse 

gases) have 

been reduced or 

sequestered, he 

said. But not all 

carbon credits are 

the same, nor do 

they hold the same 

value for buyers. 

There are a few 

Alejandro Plastina, key terms that 

ISU Extension 

speak to what buyers 

of carbon 

economist and 

associate professor credits are looking 

for: 

Are the credits from additional 

practices? Buyers are seeking 

credits created because a producer 

is participating in a carbon program. 

The carbon sequestered should 

be additional when compared to the 

carbon sequestered during “business as 

usual” on the same land – the practice 

changes would not have happened without 

the carbon credit incentive. 

Are the credits permanent? For 

agricultural carbon credits, there’s 

always concern that the practices that 

sequestered soil carbon in the first place 

can be quickly overturned. Carbon could 

be released back into the atmosphere 

from plowing soil that was in no-till 

production or cutting down stands of 

trees. Most carbon programs will specify 

in their contracts how long producers or 

land managers are obligated to maintain 

specific conservation practices to prevent 

carbon from being released back into the 

atmosphere. 

Does the carbon program use 

verified protocols? Verification is the 

process through which the reported 

measurements from a carbon program 

are evaluated to make sure they are 

accurate and use the specified protocols. 

Some carbon programs conduct their 

own verification, which is often viewed as 

less rigorous compared to working with a 

third-party verifier. Buyers often perceive 

carbon credits to be of higher quality when 

issued by a program that uses third-party 

verification. 

Are the credits registered? Carbon 

registries serve as the record-keepers for 

carbon markets. A registry issues a specific 

serial number for a specific carbon 

credit, and retires that serial number when 

the credit is sold to a buyer. A few of the 

primary registries worldwide include Gold 

Standard, Verra, American Carbon Registry, 

and Climate Action Reserve. 

For more information about the structure 

of carbon programs, viewi Plastina’s 

resources from Ag Decision Maker, “How 

Do Data and Payments Flow Through Ag 

Carbon Programs?” and “How to Grow 

and Sell Carbon in US Agriculture.” 

Hotline offers help for stress, 

legal questions and more 

The Iowa Concern Hotline number is 

800-447-1985. Iowa Concern is a program 

of the Iowa State University Extension 

service. The program began in 1985 as 

a toll-free number serving the agriculture 

community. 

Today, the toll-free number serves urban 

as well as rural Iowa. By calling Iowa 

Concern has one access to an attorney for 

legal education, stress counselors, and information 

and referral services for a wide 

variety of topics. 

In addition, Iowa Concern maintains a 

website, extension.iastate.edu/iowaconcern, 

featuring an extensive frequently 

asked questions database for legal, finance, 

crisis and disaster, and personal 

health issue. 

The website is also the link to Iowa Concern’s 

“Click here to chat with an Agent” 

service. 

Live chat immediately connects you with 

a stress counselor where you can “talk” 

(type) one-on-one in a secure environment. 

All Iowa Concern services are available 

24 hours a day, seven days a week at no 

charge. 

Use safety checklist when 

handling grain equipment 

Hazards abound when handling grain, 

such as equipment entanglement, grain 

entrapment and engulfment and dust 

explosions, among others. 

To lower your risk of injury: 

n Check that all exposed moving 

machinery parts have guards, shields or 

cages installed and are in good condition 

to prevent entanglement, including auger 

flighting, conveyers, belts and powertake-off 

(PTO) components. 

n Don’t wear loose or baggy clothing, 

tie back hair and remove dangling drawstrings 

and jewelry that could get pulled 

into moving parts. 

n Lock-out the power to augers, conveyers, 

belts and PTO components before 

performing maintenance or replacing 

parts so they can’t be accidentally turned 

on. 

n Stay clear of flowing grain, which can 

trap a person knee-deep in a few seconds 

and can completely submerge them 

in less than 20 seconds. 

n Work from outside of the bin whenever 

possible and use the buddy system 

and safe bin entry procedures when a bin 

must be entered. 

n Check that everyone knows how to 

de-energize grain loading and unloading 

equipment and lock-out the power sources 

so that grain moving equipment can’t 

be turned on while someone is inside of 

a bin. 

n Use hazard signage and teach kids 

and unexperienced people to stay out 

of stored grain, including bins, piles and 

grain transport vehicles. 

n Keep the grain vacuum nozzle away 

from the area below your feet and keep 

an eye on the angle of the grain surface 

as you are removing grain. To prevent 

grain flow, the grain angle should be less 

than the grain’s angle of repose, which 

is around 21 degrees for corn and 23 

degrees for soybeans. 



9/19/23 3:35 PM

PROUD TO BE 

Your Financial Partner 

Our communities were founded on the strength of local farmers, their dedicated 

work ethic and their commitment to great values. Today, local farmers, breeders and 

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BUFFALO PRAIRIE | CORALVILLE | DAVENPORT | KALONA | MUSCATINE | WALCOTT | WASHINGTON | WILTON 

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Team members include: Kent Nelson, Melissa Manley, Matt Brown, Diane Coulter, Zachary Kinrade and Kody Johhnson 



9/19/23 3:35 PM

Farm Finance 101 

Legacy 

Gifting 

Tax 

Returns 

Retirement 

Funding 

Like Kind 

Exchanges 

Cash Flow 

Management 

Tax 

Planning 

Revocable Living Trust 

How 

Wilton Bank 

will help your 

farm succeed 

Machinery 

Loans 

Farm Purchase 

Long-Term 

Fixed Rates 

Feeder Livestock 

Purchases 

Succession & 

Estate Planning 

Bookkeeping 

Lines 

of Credit 

Member 

FDIC 

Banking • Lending • Trust • Tax & Accounting 

www.wiltonbank.com • 618 W. 5th St., Wilton • 563.732.3211 

Investments 

Ben Brown* 

Grant Lilienthal 

Derek Sawvell 

Kathy Rollings 

Greg Gannon 

Laura Kauffman 

Bill Vetter 

Meet our team 

*Ben Brown is a Financial Advisor offering Securities and Investment Advisory Services through Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, a Broker/ 

Dealer and Registered Investment Adviser. Member SIPC and FINRA. Located at Wilton Bank & Trust Co., 618 5th St., Wilton, IA 52778. 

Phone: 563-732-3211. Wilton Bank & Trust Co. and Cetera Advisor Networks LLC. are not affiliated companies. Investments are not FDIC 

Insured – May lose value – Not a deposit – Not financial institution guaranteed. Not insured by any federal government agency. 



9/19/23 3:35 PM

Eastern IA Farmer_Fall23_SOUTH

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