Amy Mayer
Reporter
Amy Mayer is Harvest Public Media's reporter based at Iowa Public Radio in Ames, Iowa.
Stories by Amy Mayer
Big Data Is Transforming How Scientists Create Better Seeds
This summer, in cornfields in Iowa and Nebraska, about a thousand small point-and-shoot digital cameras will be enclosed in waterproof cases, mounted on poles and attached to solar-powered battery chargers. They will take pictures every ten minutes as plants grow; all part of a plan to create better seeds. “We watch plants go through their…
Corn Belt Farmers Wary As Leadership In Washington Shifts
As President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Agriculture, former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, goes in front of the Senate, it bucks a recent trend of Midwest leadership at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And it is making many in the farm country of the Midwest and Great Plans a little leery. Coupled with the…
Study: Agriculture Sector Should Ramp Up Response To Climate Change
The agriculture sector needs to ramp up its response to climate change, especially in the Midwest, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers at the University of Maryland used climate projections and historical trends in agricultural productivity to predict how changes in temperature and rainfall will…
To Diversify The Landscape, Diversify Who Works It
Farmers in the U.S. like to point out that their products feed people all over the world. And while this is a diverse country, the people working on farms and elsewhere in agriculture often don’t reflect the nation’s demographics. Changing that is becoming a priority, in hopes new people will bring fresh ideas to meet…
Down Economy Has Many Midwest Farmers Looking For Agronomists’ Advice
As another harvest season wraps up, Midwest farmers are once again facing low commodity prices amid enormous supplies. And when they recover from the long days bringing in the grain, they will eventually sit down with their books and try to figure out how best to farm again next year. Many will turn to an…
Watching Our Water | Farmers Dabble in Voluntary Measures to Stop Harmful Runoff
On a gray day, just as the rain begins to fall, Roger Zylstra stops his red GMC Sierra pick-up truck on the side of the road and hops down into a ditch in Jasper County, Iowa. It takes two such stops before he unearths amid the tall weeds and grasses what he’s looking for. “Here…
Despite Changing Gender Roles, It’s Still Often Sons Who Inherit Midwest Farms
Growing up on a family farm in West Bend, Iowa, Haley Banwart and her brother were like other farm kids. They did chores, participated in 4-H, and even raised cattle together. “My brother and I have had the same amount of responsibilities. I can drive a tractor, I can bale square hay,” Banwart says. “But…
These Midwest Farmers Think They Know The Next Trendy ‘Superfruit’
Peggy Fogle and her dog, Abe, walk among rows of aronia berry bushes on the family property outside Carlisle, Iowa. Plants on the ends of rows are smaller from years of being nibbled by deer and rabbits. But on nearly nine acres, filling four separate fields, the bushes are reaching maturity, eight years after Fogle…
How The Futures Market Helps Keep Your Grocery Bill Down
At the grocery store, processed foods like cereal, crackers and candy usually maintain the same price for a long time, and inch up gradually. Economists call these prices “sticky” because they don’t move much even as some of the commodities that go into them do. Take corn, for example, which can be a major food…
Student-Run Organic Farm Thrives at Traditional Land-Grant University
A weathered wooden shed that holds wheelbarrows, hoes and other basic tools is the beacon of the Student Organic Farm, a two-acre swath within the Iowa State University Horticulture Research Farm. On a warm spring evening, a half-dozen students gather here, put on work gloves and begin pulling up weeds from the perennial beds where…