Central Iowa Farms

Area Map

Location

Story, Boone and Polk counties

Size

8,200 acres, approximately

Owners

Iowa State University
City of Ames
Committee For Agricultural Development, a nonprofit corporation organized in 1943, works with ISU researchers to purify, increase and distribute seed and germplasm of crop varieties developed by researchers at experiment stations in the North Central Region and the USDA.
ISU Foundation, a nonprofit, tax-exempt Iowa corporation, is the official fund-raising and gift-receiving organization for ISU. It manages donated assets for the benefit of ISU in accordance with donor-imposed restrictions.

Farmland in central Iowa is used to produce forages for ISU’s dairy and beef cattle herds as well as recycle manure nutrients.

Background

Agricultural land owned by ISU and its affiliates provides room for future growth of research programs and the university’s infrastructure. In addition to research, the agricultural land also is used for demonstrations, feed production for livestock and as areas to spread manure. Affiliate ownership of a large portion of this land keeps it on the local tax rolls and provides greater flexibility in buying and selling property.

Soils

Terrain is gently sloping, broken by a rectangular grid-work of roads and fields. Much of the land is drained by tile systems and open ditches because the land has poor natural drainage. Predominant soils are Clarion, Nicollet and Webster.

Teaching, Research and Demonstration

The Experiment Station manages and assigns its farmland to faculty and project leaders based on their research needs.

The projects encompass a variety of disciplines, including: agronomy, animal science, agricultural and biosystems engineering, horticulture, forestry, ecology, entomology and plant pathology. In addition researchers at the USDA’s National Soil Tilth Laboratory and the North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station use land for research.

Animal Science Department. This department uses a number of farm sites for teaching and research.

The Animal Science Teaching Complex includes several farm sites located south of Ames and is used for laboratory classes, applied research and demonstrations of production systems on beef, sheep, swine and horses.
The Ruminant Nutrition Research Farm, located north of Ames, was remodeled in 1996 to better accommodate continuing research on management and nutritional needs of ruminants, especially beef cattle.
The Dairy Farm located south of campus opened in 2007. The farm is used for dairy breeding and related research. Two lines of cattle are selected for high and average pounds of milk protein and milk fat. Correlated responses in health and feed efficiency are studied as are differences in maternal lineages (mitochondrial effects) and ability to change milk composition to higher protein and lower fat. The farm is used for the study of nutritional and physiological aspects of dairy cattle. Dairy cattle from this herd are used in classes for animal science, dairy science and veterinary students.
The Lauren Christian Swine Research Center at the Bilsland Farm, located near Madrid, is used to study the importance of genetic variation in economic traits of swine. Researchers evaluate the influence of various genetic lines and breeding systems on producer profit and product composition.
The Swine Nutrition and Management Research Farm, located west of Ames, was completed in 1993. It is used to study nutrition and management techniques to improve feed utilization, lean tissue gain, animal well-being and meat quality of pigs.
The Poultry Science Research Farm is a complex located south of Ames and is used to study nutrition and genetics of turkeys and chickens. The complex includes animal-holding, laboratory, classroom and office facilities. For more information on animal science research conducted at sites in central Iowa, call (515) 294-2160.
The Zumwalt Station Farm is located southwest of Ames and is the site of research related to odor characterization and dietary manipulation of manure nutrients.

Iowa State University is a leader in research related to corn: breeding, genetics, pest management, soil fertility, tillage, water quality, management, mechanization, grain drying and storage and economics. ISU Research Farms serve as outdoor laboratories for these research projects.

Other facilities:

The BioCentury Research Farm is a new facility located adjacent to the Agricultural Engineering and Agronomy Research Farms in Boone County. It is the first integrated, sustainable biofuel and bioproduct feedstock research, development and demonstration farm in the United States. Its mission includes: research that brings together scientific expertise to address biomass cropping, logistics of biomass supply, environmental effects and biofuel processing; teaching that serves as a laboratory and resource for training scientists, producers and extension specialists; and extension that demonstrates economic, social and environmental viability of biorenewable energy and bioproducts production.
The 50-acre Hinds Irrigation Plots, located on a flat, well-drained area north of Ames, is the primary irrigated farm available to ISU researchers. Agronomists and plant pathologists conduct most of the research. Forestry, entomology and botany researchers also use the farm. For more information, call (515) 294-0359.
The Animal Resource Station is a 160-acre farm located south of Ames. This unit is under the administrative direction of the Vice President for Research and supports university teaching and research programs by housing a variety of animal species. For more information, call (515) 294-8507.
The Ag 450 Farm has been managed by students since 1943, serving as a laboratory for students enrolled in Agricultural Education and Studies 450, Farm Management and Operation. The farm includes 266 acres of ISU-owned land and additional rented property. The farm includes swine operation. For more information, call (515) 294-6924.
The North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station, a joint USDA-ISU facility located south of Ames, uses 120 acres of ISU-owned land for its germplasm preservation, evaluation and distribution efforts. Primary crops include amaranth, Jerusalem artichoke, asparagus, buckwheat, carrots, chicory, sweet clover, collards, coriander, corn, crambe, cucumber, dill, endive, millet, ornamental landscape plants, melons, mustards, parsley, parsnips, pumpkin, spinach, squash, sunflowers and zucchini. The facility, funded by the USDA, state experiment stations in the North Central region and ISU, maintains a germplasm collection that includes about 1,000 species and more than 40,000 accessions (different samples of plant material). For more information, call (515) 294-3255.
The Committee for Agricultural conditioning plant is located south of Ames. The plant processes seed of plant varieties developed by researchers in the North Central region for distribution to seed companies and certified seed producers. For more information, call (515) 292-3497.
Compost Facility - In 2008 Iowa State University constructed a new facility for composting organic waste materials from several campus sources. The facility was planned as part of the new ISU Dairy Farm to handle solid manure in an environmentally responsible manner. is designed to handle more than 10,000 tons of organic wastes annually. The facility is located west of the ISU Dairy Farm. The organic wastes processed by the composting facility include manure and bedding from the ISU Animal Science Dairy, Beef, Sheep, Swine, Poultry and Equine farms, campus yard waste and campus greenhouse materials. Plans are underway to include ISU Dining food waste, bedding from ISU Veterinary Medicine complex and biomass research organic wastes.