Mission
To be a practical educational resource for Iowa State University and the Department
of Agricultural Education and Studies demonstrating quality and sustainable
production agriculture in the midwest. To achieve this mission, the following
objectives have been articulated for the farm and class:
-
to be a self-supporting agricultural production entity
- to be engaged
in practical and economical midwestern production agriculture
- to
develop an agricultural farming system (crops and livestock) that
use farming
- resources (land, labor, and capital) efficiently
and effectively
- to efficiently and competitively produce and
market quality agricultural products to implement agricultural production
technologies
that maintain economic efficiency, agricultural sustainability,
and
complement cropping
and livestock production activities on the farm
- to provide
exposure of production agriculture to the public
- to function as a
farm management laboratory for students enrolled in AGEDS 450
Goals
Farm production and marketing goals are:
-
farming operations will be profitable 3 out of 5 years
- three-fourths
of all products marketed will be sold at a price that exceeds the
average price received for those products in Iowa for that
given marketing year crop yields will be above the average
yield for Story County, Iowa
- soil losses shall not exceed the soil
loss guidelines for soil types found on the farm as prescribed by
the Natural Resource Conservation
Service
- all of the crops produced will be within the top five
crops produced in Iowa based upon crop acreages reported by the
Iowa Crop and Livestock
Reporting Service
- all of the livestock produced will be
within the top five livestock enterprises based upon the number sold
by Iowa
farmers as reported
by the Iowa Crop and Livestock Reporting Service
- livestock
enterprises shall complement the cropping enterprise and contribute
as value added production to the farm
and utilize existing and
proposed livestock buildings and facilities
- livestock
production efficiency factors will be above the average as reported
by the Iowa State University
Extension Service and its
livestock
enterprise record analysis programs
- profits from
the farm shall be retained within the farm and used to make farm
improvements, acquire
additional land, and upgrade equipment and
facilities
