Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Practical Farmers of Iowa

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Headquarters
  
Iowa, United States

Learning from farmers practical farmers of iowa field day


Practical Farmers of Iowa (also known as PFI or Practical Farmers) is a non-profit farmer organization supporting agricultural producers in Iowa, and around the central United States. PFI's mission is to advance profitable, ecologically sound, and community-enhancing approaches to agriculture through farmer-led investigation and information sharing. Practical Farmers supports diverse programs to assist farmers with both production and marketing needs, to raise public awareness of where food comes from and how it is grown, and to educate youth about agriculture and the environment.

Contents

Program Areas

Practical Farmers has programming that supports the following areas of agriculture:

  • Field crops, including corn, soybeans, and small grains.
  • Livestock, including poultry, niche pork, beef and dairy cattle, and others.
  • Horticulture, including fruit and vegetable production.
  • On-farm energy, including energy audits and solar and wind energy production.
  • Beginning farmers, including a mentoring and savings match program.
  • Local foods, including finding markets for Iowa small grains and tracking consumer purchases.
  • Limited policy work, including advocacy for beginning farmer and conservation funding.

    • Much of the work done by Practical Farmers of Iowa and its members falls under its "Cooperators' Program." Members meet annually to decide research priorities, then work with PFI staff to design and conduct experiments. The results are published for free on the Practical Farmers website.

    Values

    Practical Farmers has adopted the following official values:

  • We value ingenuity, exploration, experience, and sharing of knowledge for solving on-farm challenges.
  • We value diverse and independent farm operations that are integrated with and enhance the earth's ecosystems.
  • We value an agriculture that is economically and ecologically sustainable and built on a fair market system.
  • We value widespread ownership of land and resources.
  • We value commitment to family, community and the celebration of wholesome food.

    • Funding

    Practical Farmers of Iowa is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization. It is funded by member dues, unrestricted donations, and state, federal, and foundation grants. For fiscal year 2012, Practical Farmers had an operating budget of approximately $1.1 million.

    History

    Practical Farmers of Iowa was founded in 1985 by Larry Kallem and Richard Thompson resulting from Kallem's attendance at a 1984 on-farm field day on the Thompson farm northwest of Ames in central Iowa. The field day was then an annual event that showed the results of scientific trials in agricultural production techniques. Richard Thompson had for a number of years been actively testing production practices that were both ecologically and economically sound. Kallem sought to make this information and this philosophy more widespread by creating an organization to support and promote it.

    References

    Practical Farmers of Iowa Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA