Edith Munro

In the drive to manage nitrogen (N) more effectively, active crop-canopy sensors may become an option in your toolbox. But John Sawyer, Iowa State University agronomy professor, warns that they still have limitations, and more research is needed.

A list of cover crop benefits came easily for more than 50 farmers at the Iowa Crop Advantage workshop: erosion control, weed control, improved soil organic matter, nutrient retention, better water infiltration and reduced nitrogen losses.

When Stephen Censky became CEO of the American Soybean Association in 1996, ASA was emerging from an unsettled sequence of chief executives who came and went quickly. “Steve was a welcome solution,” remembers Ron Heck, an Iowa soybean grower who has worked with Censky almost from the start.

Ask Rick Tolman what he has achieved in 11 years as CEO for the National Corn Growers Association, and instead he will tell you what the NCGA has achieved. That is in character. Tolman, who came to NCGA with a reputation for strategic thinking and effective resource management at the U.S. Grains Council, shifts the talk to grower leadership as a defining strength that drives the corn growers’ successes.

When grandson Darren asked Glen and Marilyn Riekhof about getting into farming, it was good news. Keeping the farm in the family was important to both Riekhofs, but with two children and three other grandchildren not interested, it presented a challenge.

Five years later, Darren, Glen and Marilyn are one year into their formal succession plan and the farm’s future looks good, but it hasn’t been easy getting there.