While her roots are in rural Iowa, Kristi Heffelmeier began her agricultural journey fairly recently in 2013. After several years teaching in San Antonio, Texas, Kristi chose to move back to the Midwest where she soon realized that her family’s fifth generation farm would someday be left to her. Knowing this, she began working her way into the farming operation with her father Chris Foss. Kristi soon decided to put full focus on the operation and now does everything from field work to bookkeeping. The opportunity to farm also opened doors to further implement conservation practices on the family operation.
Read MoreLocated near Clutier in Tama County, Mark Pokorny began hosting a demonstration site in Fall 2009 for the ILF/PFI cover crop working group. “I was interested in trying a winter rye cover crop for the erosion benefits over winter and in early spring,” Mark said. “I had not considered the nutrient capture, organic matter increases and reduced weed pressure benefits that I saw in 2011.” This past harvest, Pokorny reported higher soybean yield following the cover crop and also saw reduced common waterhemp and lambsquarter weed pressure.
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