Hello CALS colleagues –
First, please think about our friends and fellow Iowans in northwest Iowa who are struggling through flooding at this very moment, even while large parts of our state are dry. The images of homes and streets inundated with water are awful, and so too, perhaps more subtly to many, are the acres of crops lost. Agriculture – the activity that feeds the world and so much more, is dependent on the weather and the swings it causes in productivity and the capacity of farmers to farm this year and next. One of the tools in the U.S. box to help farmers through dramatic shifts in weather and keep the products of agriculture in our lives at prices we can afford is crop insurance, which is sometimes misunderstood. It stems from the 1930s and the realization that our nation’s farmers depend on weather and the rest of us depend on them. For some interesting background, check out the History of the Crop Insurance Program and Crop Insurance at a Glance.
Given the flooding in northwest Iowa, our ANR Extension colleagues are already engaged with farmers struggling with crop issues due to standing water. Responding to emergencies is one of the foundational activities of Iowa State University Extension.
Last week, I was full-up with visits with some key stakeholders in the college, attending various parts of meetings with the Iowa Soybean Research Center, Iowa Corn Boards, Iowa Soybean Association Board, Midwest Dairy Association (including with Governor Reynolds and a stop at the great ISU Creamery in the Food Science building!), and the Agronomy department’s Baker Council. What is so true is the value, trust and confidence these groups have in what we do here in CALS, for our students, with our faculty and staff, and in support of Iowa and its interests here at home and worldwide. Thanks to each of you for what you do.
This week, among many activities, we have the external review team here to help us think about all the great next steps we have for our outstanding Seed Science Center. Check out this list of the terrific people that do this work.
Today at 10 a.m. in Harl Commons, we are celebrating Carolyn Lawrence-Dill as she prepares to move on to her next role as Dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences at Colorado State University. Please join us in wishing her luck!
Please be sure to be safe and stay safe out and about whatever you are doing this summer – in the heat, when thunder rumbles, on the water, driving and more. Safety first – always.
My best - Dan
Scenes from CALS
Our students are fully engaged at the campus in Uganda, doing independent projects, as well as service learning, and together with students from Uganda’s Makerere University. Here are pictures from Tom Brumm (who just returned from Uganda) of Julia and Bony harvesting amaranth (a superfood we are further developing, including a new project with Thomas Lubberstedt and others) and a group of service learners helping with the development of beekeeping capacity.
Saturday evening moon over suburban Ames, while in northwest Iowa the waters were rising.
Governor Reynolds stopped by the ISU Creamery last Wednesday to celebrate National Dairy Month.
