Farmer Partners — Iowa Learning Farms

Mark Kenney

Mark Kenney is a 5th generation farmer in Story County where he farms corn, soybeans, and seed corn. After growing up in the 80s during the farm crisis he didn’t think he would become a farmer or have a career involved in agriculture at all. When Mark started high school, he had a great ag teacher and FFA advisor who opened students’ eyes to agriculture careers that weren’t involved in production. Mark then went to university in Missouri and majored in ag business with a minor in agronomy. He continued his learning and received a master’s degree in ag economics.

Central IowaLiz RipleyApril 19, 2023Story County

Matt Bormann and Nancy Bohl-Bormann

Matt and Nancy live in Kossuth County with their three children and farm corn and soybeans as well as raise corn and soybeans for seed. Matt grew up in Kossuth County and started farming in 1999, raising cattle and custom baling. He then transitioned to full-time farming in 2001 after graduating from Iowa State University with a degree in Agricultural Business. Nancy, who grew up in Wisconsin, completed her bachelor's degree in Agricultural Education and Environmental Science in 2004 from Iowa State University and her master’s degree in Soil Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006. She then joined Matt on the farm in Iowa and is currently obtaining her Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota.

North Central IowaLiz RipleyJanuary 20, 2023Kossuth County

Tom Gronstal, Andrea Benton, and Ingrid Gronstal

With deep ties to Iowa agriculture, Andrea Benton and Ingrid Gronstal are new landowners excited to learn more about farming. From their great grandparents who farmed during the Great Depression to growing up in Carroll and playing with friends on farms, the sisters have an appreciation for Iowa’s agricultural landscape and a strong desire to protect soil and water.

West Central IowaLiz RipleyJanuary 12, 2023Greene County

Kellie and AJ Blair

Kellie and AJ Blair farm in Webster County outside of Dayton, IA. After graduating from Iowa State University in 2004, AJ started working alongside his dad on the farm, and Kellie after graduating from ISU worked in various agriculture spaces until she transitioned to farming full-time with her husband in 2017. As fourth-generation farmers, the Blairs are constantly looking for new ways to advance conservation while remaining profitable in Iowa.

Central IowaLiz RipleyNovember 18, 2022Webster County

Wendy Johnson and Johnny Rankin

Wendy and her husband John started Jóia Food Farm where they farm holistically and implement new conservation ideas. In addition, Wendy co-manages the family’s farm, Center View Farms Co, with her father. She originally farmed organic row crops but decided to rotate the land to pasture for soil health and water quality and drainage concerns. Wendy has also helped to expand conservation practices on her family’s farm, a much larger traditional row-crop farm, to become more sustainable and regenerative by implementing 100% no-till, adding cover crops, and reducing costly inputs.

North Central IowaLiz RipleyOctober 3, 2022Floyd County

Mike Paustian

Mike is a sixth-generation farmer and a scientist from Walcott, Iowa. He spent his early career obtaining a PhD and then working at the National Animal Disease Center before moving back to his family farm to operate the farm with his parents, wife, and kids. The farm consists of corn, soybeans, and farrow-to-finish hogs.

East Central IowaLiz RipleySeptember 22, 2022Scott County

Kelly and Irene Tobin

Kelly Tobin has always wanted to farm, and besides the two years he spent in the military, that is what he has spent his whole life doing. He grew up on a farm in Northwest Missouri, met and married his wife Irene who had a career as a consumer science teacher, and had four children. Later the family of six moved to a farm in Taylor County, Iowa. Kelly always wished he had the opportunity to attend college and went back at age 54 to take classes at Iowa State University while farming and earned his bachelor's degree in agricultural business and agronomy in 1987.

South West IowaLiz RipleySeptember 8, 2022Taylor County

Randy Caviness

Randy has been no-till farming for over 30 years. When the 1985 farm bill mandated conservation practices, Caviness purchased a planter for no-till, but didn’t think it would work. After 10 years, tests showed that the organic matter in his soil was increasing, and is ongoing.

South West IowaLiz RipleySeptember 8, 2022Adair County

Barbara Johnson

Barbara Johnson and her husband, Stanley, farm in Page County in southwest Iowa. They have several farms that are divided into CRP, crop acres and pasture. Some of their land is rented to area farmers.

South West IowaLiz RipleySeptember 8, 2022Page County

Rosemary and D.G. Partridge

Rosemary Partridge grew up on a farm near Iowa City. She remembers her dad reading farm magazines to look for practices that would work on his land. Their worst nightmare was doing something wrong and losing their good topsoil. Conservation was a point of pride with the people that she knew – people had pride in passing on their land to their children.

West Central IowaLiz RipleySeptember 8, 2022Sac County

Bill Hammitt

ILF farmer partner Bill Hammitt knows conservation from many aspects. He is a no-till farmer and was employed for 15 years at Natural Resources Conservation Service. Farming near Portsmouth in Harrison County, he has been a corn-soybean no-tiller for over 30 years. He farmed while working for NRCS and the farm grew to where he couldn’t keep doing both, so he chose to become a full-time farmer.

West Central IowaLiz RipleySeptember 8, 2022Harrison County

Whiterock Conservancy

Whiterock Conservancy is a non-profit land trust of 5,500 acres located near Coon Rapids along the Middle Raccoon River. Staff work together to fulfill the Conservancy’s mission to actively manage conservation land, to demonstrate sustainable farming practices and to keep the land open to the public.
For in-field practices, the Conservancy has incorporated no-till and cover crops on almost every crop acre. The Conservancy uses both single species and mixtures of cover crops, including cereal rye, oats, red clover, tillage radish and Austrian winter pea.

West Central IowaLiz RipleySeptember 8, 2022Carroll County, Guthrie County, Greene County, Audubon County