Field Days

Summer Events 2021

We’ve all shared in the past year’s long, strange and challenging journey of isolation, distance and sacrifice, with gatherings postponed, rituals upended and connection confined to screens.

But as we start to see light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, our thoughts turn to journeys of a more joyous kind.

We’ve had plenty of time away from one another. Now, it’s time to get out of our homes and catch up with friends and neighbors, farm fellows and family near and far. We can once again enjoy a summer of sharing knowledge in fields and pastures, the sound of insects buzzing under hot Iowa skies as we rekindle the spirit of in-person learning and connection.

After a year of virtual-only events, Practical Farmers of Iowa is pleased to offer a summer events season with a mix of in-person and virtual events.

READ part 1 OF THE SUMMER EVENTS GUIDE – Virtual & limited-attendance Events

READ part 2 OF THE SUMMER EVENTS GUIDE – IN-person field days

2021 Field Day Season

We have worked with farmers to build this additional line-up of field days. These field days do not require pre-registration or RSVPs, and there are no caps on attendance – but some event hosts have requested RSVPs to help with meal planning, and all events have an option to RSVP if you want to let us know you’ll be attending.

The field days listed here are in addition to our two on-going summer events series, for which you can find schedules and more information further down this page.

July 13: Relay-Cropping Rye and Soybeans

July 22: Organic Crops and Cover Crops

July 22: Realizing a Vision for Habitat Restoration

July 23: Compost Management, Interplanting and No-Till Vegetable Production at Brun Ko Farm

Aug. 1: Benefits of Companion Planting & Value-Added Enterprises at Walker Homestead

Aug. 6: Cover Crops From Start to Finish

Aug. 7: Silvopasture by Subtraction: Using Livestock & Forestry Mowing

Aug. 21: Corn and Cover Crops

Aug. 23: Cover Crops & Saturated Buffers: Teaming Up for Better Water Quality

Aug. 28: Partnering With a Neighboring Cattle Farmer to Graze Cover Crops

Sept. 18: Building a Small, Diversified Farm From Scratch

Sept. 25: Farmland Owner Legacy Award Celebration + Beginning Farmer Showcase

Sept. 29: Raising 100% Grass-Fed Beef in Row-Crop Country

Oct. 22: Meat Marketing Endeavors

Read the 2021 Field day guide

Catching Up

This year, we’ve planned a series called “Catching Up,” an ever-growing line-up of small, energizing, in-person gatherings on farms across Iowa. Anyone is welcome to RSVP for a Catching Up event!

We believe these smaller events will allow hosts and attendees to have richer conversations, and will catalyze new friendships and networks among farmers and friends of farmers.

To learn more about a specific event or to RSVP, email the PFI staffer indicated on this page

“CATCHING UP” COVID-19 POLICY

PONERSE AL DIA

Live From the Farm

During 2020, we found many people enjoyed the opportunity to attend field days virtually, so we’re improving our virtual engagement options with a weekly series called “Live From the Farm.” This series builds on our 2020 virtual field day season, but with improved video and streaming quality.

Most Tuesdays from June through September, we will stream live from a member farm, aiming to showcase important farm activities that are interesting to see but harder to show and make engaging to in-person visitors, such as planting, harvest, cultivating, processing and delivery days.

You’ll see things up close, be able to ask questions and have a chance to rewatch your favorite parts. These live events are interactive on YouTube Live, with chat enabled for attendees and the host, and will be available as recorded videos on PFI’s YouTube channel as soon as the live event ends.

SEE A LIST OF LIVE FROM THE FARM EVENTS

Other upcoming PFI summer events

Reduced Tillage Vegetable Production Web Series

Thinking about ways to reduce tillage in your vegetable operation? Have you heard about “no-till” or “low-till” methods and are curious to see them in action? Join fellow low-till (and low-till-curious) growers for this summer web series!

Presented in four sessions over four weeks, this series includes virtual tours, demonstrations and presentations from researchers and farmers in Iowa and Wisconsin. Learn what they do (and don’t do anymore!), how they do it and how they are increasing their implementation of reduced-tillage practices at their vegetable farms.

Learn more about this series

Landowner Boot Camp

Owning and managing farmland can be a complicated process with few, if any, one-size-fits-all solutions. From communicating with renters, to understanding stewardship practices, to knowing how to write a farmland lease, nonfarming landowners face many barriers that keep them from realizing their visions for their land.

Join Des Moines Water Works, Heartland Cooperative, Peoples Company and Practical Farmers of Iowa for a multipart virtual boot camp designed to share the why, what, when and how of successful and intentional farmland management.

Learn from landowners, farmers and conservation professionals about successful strategies for implementing conservation and stewardship practices on rented farmland, and hear why responsible landownership is so important to building a better agriculture in Iowa and across the Midwest.

Learn more about these workshops

Acknowledgements

“Live From the Farm” events are supported by the following grants:

Bees, Beetles & Broccoli: Establishing & Managing Native Habitat for Beneficial Insects & Designing Diversity: Climate-Smart Habitat Management for Pollinators

These events are made possible by a grant from the Wildlife Conservation Society Climate Adaptation Fund, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Benching & Boulders: Restoring Stream Hydrology and Habitat for Wildlife and Water Quality

This event is supported by U.S. Department of Agriculture State Conservation Innovation Grant Program, under agreement number NR196114XXXXG003.

Packhouse Set-Up and Packing Vegetable CSA Boxes at Blue Gate Farm; Sheep Production With a First-Generation Farmer;

New and Favorite Equipment in the Field and Packshed for Vegetables; & Expanding Agritourism on the Farm

These events are supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, project 2020-03788.

Diverse Forages for Dairy Operations & Small-Grain Harvest and Post-Harvest Handling in the Little Sioux Valley

These events are supported by USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, under agreement number NR193A750008G004.

Clarion Locker Tour

This work is supported by USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, Local Food Promotion Program, under agreement No. AM200100XXXXG188.

“Catching Up” events are supported by the following grants:

IDALS Water Quality Intiative

Ceres Trust

Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number NR186114XXXXG002

U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number NR196114XXXXG003

Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under number NR193A750008G004

USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, Local Food Promotion Program, under agreement No. AM200100XXXXG188

Financial support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under an Assistance Agreement

Agriculture and Food Research Initiative of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under 2019-68008-29909 subaward number 021155

USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, project 2020-03788

U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number NR203A750001C038

Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

PFI is an equal opportunity employer.