Change to student aid formula would hit Iowa farm families

Apr 27, 2023

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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Video: What If Everything You Knew About Feed Inventory Was Wrong?

AI, Agriculture & the Future of Smart Farming with BinSentry CEO Ben Allen. Every day, livestock producers make thousands of dollars' worth of decisions based on one simple question: How much feed is actually left in the bin? For decades, the answer has often been an estimate.

In this episode of AgTech with Andrew, I sit down with Ben Allen, CEO of BinSentry, to explore how artificial intelligence, machine vision and real-time data are transforming one of agriculture's most overlooked challenges—feed and grain inventory management.
We discuss why some of the biggest inefficiencies in livestock production aren't happening in the barn, but throughout the feed supply chain. Ben shares insights from his career leading agricultural technology companies, explains why AI must solve real business problems to earn producer trust, and offers his vision for the connected farm of the future.

In this interview, you'll discover:
Why feed inventory has remained one of agriculture's biggest blind spots
How AI is reducing costly feed outages, waste and unnecessary deliveries
The hidden safety risks of traditional bin inspections
What separates successful ag technologies from those that never gain adoption
How connected farms are changing decision-making for producers, feed mills and integrators
Why real-time inventory may become as important as precision planting and autonomous equipment

Whether you're a livestock producer, grain farmer, feed manufacturer, ag retailer, nutritionist or simply passionate about the future of agriculture, this conversation offers valuable insights into where the industry is headed.