2018 Women in Ag Tours - Allamakee County

Women across Iowa have the opportunity to visit diverse agricultural businesses through one-day bus tours this summer. Each tour is designed by local groups of women in agriculture and led by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach county professionals and the Women in Ag program. Interested persons may sign up for a local tour, take a tour across the state, or join several tours.

While showcasing Iowa’s agricultural diversity, each tour will feature discussion around five common agricultural risks: 1) costs and benefits of production practices, 2) safety of families and employees, 3) impacts of changing regulation, 4) storing and marketing farm products, and 5) managing soil and water.

The tour hosts are graciously opening up their farms and agribusinesses to demonstrate their unique spins on niche to commodity agricultural production, processing and marketing. Extension specialists will add expertise and guide discussion along the way. Bus rides provide an opportunity for guided discussion, informative video clips and networking with other women interested in Iowa agriculture.

2018 Women in Ag Tours • Allamakee County • Friday, September 7, 2018, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Led by Julie Christensen, Office Coordinator, and Teresa Wiemerslage, Food Systems Coordinator, Allamakee County

WW Homestead Dairy LLC • Ryan Collins Beef Farm and Tri State Precision Ag • Lunch at Empty Nest Winery • Jason Howe Farm.

This tour meets at the WW Homestead Dairy LLC milk processing company founded by two farm families in Waukon, Iowa. The bus will make its first stop at the Ryan Collins Farm. Ryan Collins operates a commercial cow/calf operation near Harpers Ferry. As a beginning farmer, Ryan has utilized several programs from the NRCS to implement conservation practices on his 170-acre farm. As part of his rotational grazing system, Ryan installed more than 7,000 feet of permanent barbed wire multi-strand fence and 3,500 feet of permanent high-tensile fencing. Ryan also operates Tri-State Precision Ag and will talk about how the technology works in the bluffs and valleys of the Driftless Region. Tour participants will have lunch at the Empty Nest Winery, which opened its doors in 2011 and is a century family farm.

The tour continues with a stop at the Jason Howe Farm. Jason Howe operates a 60 head dairy near Waukon. In November 2017, he installed a robotic milker which not only eased the labor demands of the dairy, but also increased the herd’s milk production. Jason also has a 75 head cow/calf operation which grazes 35 acres along a trout stream. He also has a cooperative agreement with the Iowa DNR to allow public trout fishing in the stream.

Pre-registration is required. Register online at https://psr.extension.iastate.edu/events/935/register or contact the Allamakee County Extension Office at 563-568-6345 for assistance.  Visit Iowa State University Extension & Outreach Women In Ag, for a complete list of Women in Ag Tours being held across the state of Iowa this summer.

These tours are made possible through the support of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture - North Central Extension Risk Management Education program and Farm Credit Services of America.