Equipping farmers to build resilient farms and communities.
We concluded our 2021 field day season on a cool day last week with our final field day, hosted by lifetime Practical Farmers of Iowa member Nick Wallace of Wallace Farms in Keystone, Iowa.

Guests toured the farm; saw freezer and cooler spaces where the Wallace family stores and packs orders; learned about the infrastructure and organization it takes to aggregate products from multiple farms; and heard about the family's past, present and future endeavors in meat marketing – including Nick's 99 Counties initiative.

Thank you to everyone who made it to a field day this season!
ON THE BLOG
Grazing cattle on cover cropped fields can extend the grazing season and provide additional economic benefits. Three recently published PFI research reports explore this topic focusing on the profitability of feedlot and cow-calf operations, and different cover crop mixes.
NEWS
Jenny Quiner, of Dogpatch Urban Gardens in Des Moines, Iowa, started a farm to grow her community. Danelle Myer, of One Farm near Logan, Iowa, discovered her community because she started a farm.

Today, their storefronts are sources of personal fulfillment, valuable market streams and platforms to not only grow their businesses – but to let creativity and community blossom.
In this research report, 18 oat varieties were screened at four Iowa State University research farms, building on previous trials from 2015-2020.
Rose and Mike Roelf are creating land access for community-conscious beginning farmers. Located near Iowa City, Iowa, their farmland currently hosts two beginning farm businesses that are raising food for the local community.

In this episode, we talk with Mark Quee, the farm manager at Scattergood Friends School near West Branch, Iowa, about beneficial insects, integrated pest management, flowers and the wonderful mysteries of ecological processes.

He was just featured in a new video series from PFI: "Bringing Back the Edges: Creating Wildlife Habitat on Farms." Check out the video here.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Saturday, Nov. 6 | 2-4 p.m.

Join us for a land connection meet-up in Manning, Iowa, on Denny Kasparbauer's farm.

Land Connection meet-ups are a place for landowners to welcome land seekers to their farms for a conversation around land access.
Thursday, Nov. 4 | 6-8 p.m.

Join us online for the first Explore Farming workshop of the series, where we will discuss how to establish your purpose in farming.

Getting started in farming can be hard, but with a solid understanding of your purpose and readiness, you can create a plan to guide you into farming.

This workshop series is $20 for PFI members and $30 for non-members.
Join us at a Conservation Programs Forum to share your experiences, questions and concerns with other farmers and staff from Practical Farmers of Iowa. We want to help you harness the power of conservation.

Nov. 16 | 7-8:30 p.m. | Oskaloosa, IA
Nov. 17 | 7-8:30 p.m. | Storm Lake, IA
IN THE NEWS
Patti Naylor of Churdan, IA, co-authored an article that was published in the journal Development: Disparity to Parity to Solidarity: Balancing the Scales of International Agricultural Policy for Justice and Viability
Have you been featured in the media? Tell us when and where to find a link to the article, and we'll feature you in a future issue of Practical News.