Secretary Naig to Present the Arthur Family with the Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award

Dec 04, 2024

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig will present the Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award to the Tim and Amanda Arthur Family of Fayette County on Wednesday, December 4. The presentation will take place at an event beginning at 11 a.m. at the Hawkeye Community Hall, 102 E. Main Street, Hawkeye.

Tim and Amanda Arthur live on a farm in rural Sumner that Tim’s grandparents, Lyle and Zenita Arthur founded in 1975. Tim originally farmed alongside his parents, Mark and Nancy, for a few years before they retired in 2015. The diversified family farm today includes both crops and livestock as well as a custom farming business. Chase and Johnathan Redfern and Grace and Bradley Arthur, Tim and Amanda’s children, represent the fourth generation to be involved.

“For nearly 50 years, four generations of the Arthur Family have been farming in Fayette County, showing great care for both their livestock and their land,” said Secretary Naig. “The family has also demonstrated what it means to be a ‘Good Farm Neighbor.’ Whether through service to our country or by leadership and participation in numerous community organizations, families like the Arthurs are what makes rural Iowa so special.”

The Arthurs feed approximately 50 to 70 steers annually and raise pigs in a 1,200 head nursery and a 2,200 head finishing barn. They utilize a manure management plan and maintain certifications in Beef Quality Assurance (BQA), Pork Quality Assurance (PQA) and Transport Quality Assurance (TQA). Mark and Nancy were named Master Pork Producers in 1990.

Their farm consists of approximately 1,300 acres of corn and soybeans, and they use a range of conservation practices to ensure the land remains productive for future generations. Filter and buffer strips have been installed and they participate in a butterfly pollinator program. They have also devoted 80 acres to a pheasant recovery program. Tim’s custom planting and harvesting business adds approximately 1,000 additional acres of work in the spring and fall.

The Arthurs are heavily involved in their community. Tim and Amanda are active in the Trail Blazers Snowmobile Club and are members of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association. Tim also serves on the Union Methodist Cemetery Board. Amanda serves on the Sumner Boy Scouts of America Troop Committee and she and Grace are active with the Fayette County Dairy Promotion Board, where Grace is currently serving as Fayette County Dairy Princess Alternate. The family has remained active in the Sumner-Fredericksburg FFA Chapter as well as in Fayette County 4-H, where Grace currently serves on the Fayette County 4-H Council. Jonathan is currently enrolled as a freshman in the Diesel Tech program at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo. Chase is currently serving on active duty in the United States Army. He is stationed in Fort Myer, Virginia, where he serves as a team leader in the U.S. Army Caisson Detachment. His day-to-day duties include training, riding, and caring for the horses that participate in funerals at Arlington National Cemetery.

The Wergin Good Farm Neighbor Award is made possible through a partnership with the Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers (CSIF), The Big Show on WHO Radio and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. Now in its 20th year, this award recognizes Iowa livestock farmers who take pride in caring for the environment and their livestock while also being good neighbors. It is named in memory of Gary Wergin, a long-time WHO Radio farm broadcaster who helped create the award.

Source : iowaagriculture.gov

Video: Turning Plant Defense Into a Management Strategy

Turning Plant Defense Into a Management Strategy

Understanding how a plant responds to stress is one thing.

Using that knowledge to make better management decisions is another.

Systemic acquired resistance, or SAR, is the plant's more direct defense response. When stress or infection occurs, the plant begins signaling throughout its system and preparing defensive compounds.

But if we know that response exists, can we help prepare the plant before the stress arrives?

The answer starts with understanding what triggers the response and what the plant needs to carry it out.

The Trigger and the Fuel

Salicylic acid plays an important role in triggering the SAR pathway.

Think of it as turning the truck on.

The engine may be running, but it still needs fuel to do the work.

In this case, manganese plays an important role in supporting the enzyme systems involved in the plant's defensive response.

This makes manganese status an important part of the conversation. Whether a producer is using tissue testing, sap analysis, or simply scouting for visible deficiency symptoms, the goal is to make sure the plant has adequate manganese available.

Manganese is required in relatively small amounts, but that does not make its role small.

If the plant receives a signal to defend itself but lacks the nutrition needed to support that response, it may struggle to carry out the process efficiently.

The trigger matters.

The fuel matters too.

Prepare Before the Stress Arrives

The best time to think about stress management is before the plant is overwhelmed.

Once a crop is already struggling, management can quickly turn into a game of catch-up.

This is similar to nitrogen management. Once a plant becomes severely deficient, correcting the problem does not necessarily erase the time and yield potential already lost.

Plant defense can work the same way.

Low-rate, targeted approaches designed to support the SAR pathway may fit best ahead of an expected stress event rather than after significant damage has already occurred.

That requires producers to think about predictable stress.

We may not know exactly what the weather will do tomorrow, but we generally know summer heat is coming. We know certain field conditions increase disease pressure. We know a herbicide application can temporarily stress a crop as the plant processes the chemistry.

Even a properly timed and labeled herbicide application can create a temporary response in the plant.

That does not mean the herbicide is bad.

Weeds can create significantly more yield loss than the temporary stress caused by controlling them.

The question is not whether we should eliminate every stressor.

The question is whether we can better prepare the plant to manage necessary and predictable stress.

Not All Stress Is Bad

Stress is a normal part of plant growth.

A perfectly stress-free environment does not exist in the field.

In fact, some stress is necessary for normal plant development. A plant responds to wind, temperature, moisture, sunlight, and countless other environmental signals throughout the season.

The environment is stress.

The plant's job is to manage it.

Problems begin when the stress load becomes greater than the plant's ability to respond.

Extreme heat, drought, high salt concentrations, disease pressure, and even certain management practices can add to that load.

This is where understanding SAR becomes useful.

Instead of waiting until the plant is visibly struggling, producers can begin identifying periods when stress is likely and make management decisions around those windows.

ISR Starts With the Soil

While SAR is a more direct defense response, induced systemic resistance, or ISR, brings the conversation back to soil health.

The longevity of a farm is closely connected to the health of its soil.

Carbon plays a major role because it supports biological life within the soil. Bacteria, fungi, and other organisms interact with plant roots and influence how the plant grows, accesses nutrients, and prepares for stress.

This is why soil health cannot be reduced to one product or one application.

It is a system.

Keeping living plants in the field longer can support biological activity. Cover crops may fit some operations. Better water management can improve soil conditions.