Farm News
08-25-06
Kanawha farm to hold open house
By RANDY MUDGETT- Managing Editor
KANAWHA — The Northern Iowa Research Farm in Kanawha will celebrate
more than an anniversary next month, the farm is set to celebrate a partnership
that has endured for 75 years.
On Sept. 8, the 80-acre research farm will host a day-long open house on the
south edge of Kanawha featuring the history of Iowa’s first research farm plus
addressing current crop conditions and taking a look into the future of agriculture.
Back in 1931, during the early years of the Great Depression, farmers were
plagued with a variety of cropping problems. In those days, research farms were
uncommon as Iowa had only its farm at Iowa State University in Ames. The vast
differences in farming styles were apparent to farmers in north Iowa, and while
corn and oats were the primary crops studied in Ames, north Iowa farmers relied
on small grains like barley, oats, flax and wheat besides growing labor-intensive
potatoes and sugar beets.
According to George Cummins, Iowa State University Extension crop
specialist, the beginnings of the Northern Iowa Experimental Association were
rocky as funds to buy land and develop a research farm during the Depression
years were hard to find. The American Crystal Sugar Company provided much of
the finances to make the research farm a reality in the early years. The
company’s plant in Mason City could process more sugar beets than area
farmers could raise, mostly because many diseases hampered production. Also,
because raising beets was labor-intensive, few farmers could effectively raise
beets. Because of limited transportation means in the early years, traveling from
Ames to Kanawha could take two or three days, so the research performed on
the farm had to be centered around area farmers’ needs.
Cummins said a speech given by I.E. Melhus in 1955 sheds light on how the
research farm was founded. Melhus, who headed Iowa State’s botany and plant
pathology division at the time, did much of the early experiments and educational
efforts at the farm. Initially, new methods were studied that involved planting
disease-resistant crops and new methods of planting, weed control and fertilizer
applications. Farmers who were members of the association were given the
chance to purchase seed from the farm in the early years.
The early efforts of the farm and its effectiveness in helping answering some of
the questions of area producers proved beneficial as experimental crops and
methods were passed along to its members. Once such instance, according to
Cummins, was the raising and selling of hybrid corn varieties that stood taller
than open pollinated corn. The farm also showed farmers they could raise oats
that was resistant to rust, flax that was resistant to wilt and beets that were less
susceptible to damping off and more prolific due to advanced fertilization
methods.
‘‘We will focus on the past, present and future of the Northern Iowa Research
Farm,’’ Cummins said of the upcoming 75th anniversary of the farm. ‘‘The
philosophy of the farm has remained constant since it started and that is to find
solutions to questions farmers raise. While in the early days, the focus was on
what crops to raise to make the most money, today farmers seek answers to
complicated problems that involve specific soil analysis to when best to apply
herbicides to fight common weeds.’’
The program, which lasts from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sept. 8, will be highlighted by
comments from current ISU College of Agriculture President Wendy Wintersteen,
Iowa Rep. Tom Latham, crop tours both historic in nature and current crop
production plus a noon luncheon, educational displays and antique machinery
exhibits.