MEAT SCIENCE LEADS GRAD FROM ROOKIE TO THE BIG LEAGUES

Alum Craig Morris, deputy administrator of the USDA's Livestock and Seed Program, credits F.C. Parrish for helping him land his dream job-facilitating the domestic and international marketing of the nation's meat supply.

Craig Morris always wore his St. Louis Cardinals hat. As a freshman animal science student at Iowa State in 1988, that hat made him feel at home. It also caught the eye of his meat science professor, F.C. Parrish, who would come to do the same.

Morris (’92 meat science), now the deputy administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Livestock and Seed Program, credits Parrish’s influence for leading him to his dream job—facilitating the domestic and international marketing of the nation’s meat supply.

Like Morris, Parrish was a native of the St. Louis area, and felt an instant kinship. “He was an excellent scientist as a young guy. You don’t find them that work any harder than Craig did. He wanted to succeed,” Parrish says.

Morris worked with a butcher in high school and was working for Carriage House Meats in Ames at the time. “I loved everything about the meat business,” Morris says, “and F.C. loved teaching people about the business. We gravitated toward each other.

Parrish hired Morris as an undergrad research assistant. “After I was exposed to research, I never really left,” he says. Once he arrived at Iowa State, Morris spent every weekend and every semester break either working in the ISU Meat Lab or on an internship that Parrish helped him land. He was a member of the meats judging team, and Parrish introduced him to the American Meat Science Association.

“I didn’t have a friend in college that I spent more time with than F.C. It was seamless between work and fun,” Morris says.

Well known in the meat science industry, Parrish was on faculty in animal science for more than 35 years teaching introductory and advanced meat science classes. He taught more than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students during his tenure and was major professor to more than 30 graduate students before retiring as a University Professor in 2001.

He and his wife Fern provided Morris with home-cooked meals and moral support. In return, Morris mowed their lawn when Parrish was recovering from minor surgery. For him the couple became “like second parents.”

After graduation in 1992 Morris continued to work at the Meat Lab. Parrish recommended graduate schools and helped him find the best fit at Texas A&M.

“F.C. wanted me to go out and experience the world. If he would have just once asked me, I would have stayed, but he was kicking me out of the nest. It’s the best thing that could have happened,” Morris says.

At the USDA Morris oversees marketing activities for livestock, meat, fish, grain and seed. It’s a big job. He manages budgets and human resources for nearly 500 fulltime employees.

He oversees USDA grading and verification programs ranging from Prime Beef on restaurant menus to export verification programs allowing U.S. meats to enter countries all over the world. He handles purchasing specifications for commodities that go into the nation’s school lunch program and food banks. He also oversees country of origin labeling; market news reporting for livestock and grain; check-off programs for beef, pork, lamb, soybean and sorghum; accreditation of organic certification bodies; and the Federal Seed Act ensuring agricultural seeds are accurately labeled for interstate and international commerce.

Morris learned to manage employees from Parrish’s example. “I used to put a lot on my plate and needed help to prioritize. F.C. would put a ‘one’ next to everything on my list and let me work through it,” Morris quips. “I’ve tried to emulate him as I’ve gotten more responsibility in my career. He surrounded himself with self-starters, independent thinkers and creativity. He trusted his employees. He would impart ownership and push you into the limelight.”

Morris can’t help but wonder what his life might have been like if not for Parrish.

“Just think,” he says, “if I’d have been a Cubs fan, that might have been the end of it.”

DRIVEN: ADVANCING RURAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH RESEARCH

Despite being briefly sidelined after a car-bike accident, Sarah Low is making an impact on rural development as an economist with the USDA.

Sarah Low was supposed to be training for the Washington D.C. Triathlon, not immobilized in a neck-to-hip brace.

Low (’02 public service and administration in agriculture) didn’t get to do the 2010 triathlon. The car-bike accident during her commute made sure of that. But she was able to celebrate several victories along her six-month journey to recovery.

One was continuing to work–from her bed–as an economist in the Farm and Rural Business Branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service.

“I drew on my indomitable spirit, developed through TaeKwonDo, to continue working. An intern I supervised that summer said I was the most hardworking and demanding supervisor she’d had, despite the fact I was immobilized. I was tickled pink,” Low says.

Low conducts research on farm and rural business and rural economic development. The outreach and policy-relevance of her work drives her. She wants what she does to create economic opportunities for people in rural areas.

“I am often asked to summarize the current state of research for members of Congress. I recently briefed the Deputy Secretary of Agriculture on my local food marketing research. I just love taking calls from graduate students or economic development practitioners who have questions about my research. These are the outlets in which I can make a difference,” she says.

She’s done work on rural entrepreneurship and innovation, rural broadband accessibility and she’ll be delving into rural manufacturing resilience next.

Low’s list of published research and presentations is lengthy, especially for a young professional, and continues to grow. She has a master’s in agricultural economics from Purdue and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in agricultural and consumer economics.

As a student at Iowa State, Low participated in precursor courses that now are part of the college’s Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative. The native of Maysville, Iowa, also enjoyed getting her hands dirty.

“Working at the ISU dairy farm as part of the freshman honors program was a lot of fun. I’m so glad I got to experience that. I remember going directly to my first class of the day smelling like, well, a dairy farm,” Low says.

Low was known on campus for her involvement in the Government of the Student Body, which was very influential in shaping her career. She also fondly recalls the support of mentors like Liz Beck, then director of the campus honors program, and her academic adviser, Steve Padgitt, professor of sociology.

“I’ll never forget Dr. Padgitt giving me a copy of the Main Street Economist, a publication of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. I was enthralled. I did research on the author and decided that I wanted a job like hers when I grew up,” Low says. “Less than three years later, I was in the cubicle next to her, writing about rural economic development issues for the Main Street Economist.”

That same drive and focus allowed her to get back on her bike. Eighteen months after her accident, she finished a sprint triathlon. She still bikes to work on occasion and trains with the DC Triathlon Club.

MICKELSON TOURS FOR A HIGHER POWER

Steve Mickelson was three when he started singing in public. Known as “The Mickelson Five,” he, his sister and three brothers sang at funerals, church events, community events and Farm Bureau meetings around Storm Lake where his family farmed. His mother taught them show tunes, hymns and gospel music.

Professor Steve Mickelson tours with a professional gospel group when he's not busy teaching or chairing the agricultural and biosystems engineering department.

Today Mickelson (’82 agricultural engineering, ’84 MS, ’91 PhD) tours with a professional gospel group when he’s not busy in the classroom or chairing the agricultural and biosystems engineering department. He has been singing with “Higher Power” for about 16 years at churches and community events around the Midwest.

The group performs more than 40 concerts a year, and they usually find time for a recording project each year. Although the group has been asked on more than one occasion to go full-time, they agree it isn’t for them.

“We want it to be fun. We have never wanted it to be a burden on our family, or to take away from our fulltime job responsibilities,” he says.

Music has always been a major part of Mickelson’s life.

“I grew up on the Oak Ridge Boys and the Statler Brothers. The Imperials was a gospel group I loved,” Mickelson says. “I remember seeing them at Estes Park at the age of 16 in Colorado and saying, ‘I want to do that.’”

While studying agricultural engineering at Iowa State, Mickelson made time for taking part in the Oratorio Choir, Chamber Singers and a VEISHEA play. He met his wife, Colette, a music education major, in Cardinal Keynotes, the university’s show choir.

Each of the couple’s five children have chosen to make music an important part of their lives as well. Mickelson says bus rides to gigs became a family tradition, “like camping, but in style.”

Mickelson says he feels blessed to have music as such a big part of his life.

“It’s still a tremendous passion for me. My wife will sometimes ask, ‘Do you really want to go out and sing this weekend?’ And I say, ‘I can’t wait.’

BUILT ON TRUST – STRONG RELATIONSHIPS SUPPORT AGRICULTURAL COMMUNICATIONS

Agricultural journalism alum Janine Whipps helps her clients focus on what's most important: their relationships with customers.

When Janine (Stewart) Whipps was a student at Iowa State, her family’s farm faced a crisis when pseudorabies struck the purebred Duroc herd.

The family worked with Iowa State to successfully transfer embryos from their best Duroc sows and implant them in disease- free sows. The result: Elite genetic lines were saved and the herd rebuilt.

Whipps (’83 agricultural journalism) wrote a story about it. She pitched it to Successful Farming magazine, which bought the article and ran it.

“That was the first article I ever sold. It was a big deal. As a student, you have to do things like that to be different and stand out from the crowd,” she says. “That’s what I tell young people who have a passion for agriculture and for communications.”

Whipps has lived her advice. She’s one of the principals of Morgan&Myers, a company she’s been with 27 years, that provides integrated communications and strategic planning services for agricultural clients in animal health, seed, banking, commodity organizations and more. The company offices in Waterloo, where Whipps is based, and Waukesha, Wis.

As a student, Whipps was active in both journalism and agricultural groups, including working for swine industry legend Al Christian at the ISU Swine Teaching Farm. Her goal was to work for a national agricultural magazine. But she graduated as the Farm Crisis deepened and found slimmer opportunities.

So her first job was working for a Harvestore dealership in communications, advertising and client relations. “It was a great first job. You leave college thinking you know it all, then you realize you don’t. That’s good for everyone to learn,” she says.

Whipps went on to work for the Hampshire Swine Registry in Peoria and then an agency in Cedar Falls that worked on animal health and seed industry accounts. Morgan&Myers eventually bought the agency and Whipps stayed on.

“We’ve grown while staying very true to our agricultural and pasture-to-plate roots,” she says. “I’m pleased to have worked so long with so many who are making a difference in food and agriculture.”

One accomplishment she’ll never forget was leading the team that worked with Asgrow to introduce Roundup Ready soybeans.

“I’d take farmers to a field and watch them as the plants were sprayed. You’d just see them cringe,” she recalls. “Then we’d return two weeks later and see this beautiful field of soybeans. Seeing that new technology take off was a great experience.”

Whipps has seen major changes in communications tools (gleefully, she believes every student should experience a manual typewriter). But some things don’t change.

“The fundamentals remain the same. You need to know your audience, have insight into what’s important to them, know what information is relevant and understand who influences their decisions,” Whipps says. “These are the foundation for building consistent messages that are on track and resonate. Then you need to build relationships and gain trust by being as transparent as possible. At the end of the day, relationships matter and are what sets companies, products and people apart.”