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Change to student aid formula would hit Iowa farm families

Darcy and Eric Wemark and their family milk nearly 600 cows at their dairy operation in Ridgeway, near Decorah in northeast Iowa.

The family also has 450 heifers, a 2,500-head swine facility and farms about 1,500 acres of corn and soybeans on land it mostly rents.

The couple’s eldest son, Carson, is finishing his first year at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, where he’s studying agronomy. The 19-year-old plans to carry on in the family business, as does their eldest daughter, Addison. The high school senior plans to head to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville to study dairy science next fall.

Carson currently receives federal financial aid through a Pell Grant to help the family pay for the roughly $16,000 annual expense to send him to college, including tuition, fees, room and board, and other expenses.

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InsidePTI | Livestock Manure (Swine Effluent) ? Corn & Soybean

Video: InsidePTI | Livestock Manure (Swine Effluent) ? Corn & Soybean


Here at the PTI Farm, we've always tried to incorporate livestock manure into our fertility program. This past year, we incorporated hog manure for the first time, removing the solids so we could band swine effluent in-furrow. Livestock manure can be a powerful tool if we manage it correctly and use it strategically as part of a nutrient management program. In this video, Jason is sharing what we saw from our first year incorporating swine effluent.