Faced with the same issues as farmers, researchers turned challenges into opportunities
A wet growing season caused challenges for farms across the state in 2019, including at Iowa State University’s Research and Demonstration Farms.
Faced with the same issues as farmers, most of the 13 research farms decided to include weather-related topics for their field days, including delayed and prevented planting, weed and nutrient management, cover crops and harvest considerations.
Despite the challenging year, field day attendance topped 15,300, on par with previous years.
“This past year was very wet, so the topics, to some degree, had to do with the weather,” said Mark Honeyman, associate dean for operations at Iowa State University. Many of the research farms experienced delayed planting, but by August and early September the state saw an extensive dry period, followed by the return of heavy rain in late September.
