Homebuyer Education eCourse: A Place of Your Own

Financial Decision Making improves student's understanding of financial management techniques. The course enables students to better analyze and manage their farming operations. Exercises cover the creation and analysis of financial statements. Quizzes test comprehension of materials provided in the course.

Farmers make many decisions about the use of capital and credit. Making good financial decisions is often the difference between a prosperous, growing farm business and one that is constantly wondering how to pay the next bill. The Financial Decision Making course helps students build their capacity to answer the following questions about their farm businesses.

• How much to invest?
• Where to obtain capital?
• What mix of equity and debt to use?
• What credit rates and terms to negotiate?
• How much financial risk to take?

Course questions can be sent to Patrick Hatting at: fdmcourse@iastate.edu

FDM satisfies Iowa Farm Service Agency mandatory borrower education requirements.

This course prepares individuals for the Iowa Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) Examination.

The course is divided into the four major exam competency areas. Within each competency area are modules that cover the subject matter. In total, there are 26 modules with nearly 8 hours of recorded programming. For individuals preferring text over audio, scripts are provided as an alternative.

Each module includes a practice quiz of up to 10 questions randomly selected from a pool of questions for that module. Users may take each quiz up to three times. A practice exam covering information from all the modules is also available. It consists of 100 randomly selected questions. The practice exam may be taken a maximum of three times.


Registration for the Iowa CCA examination is not included in the purchase price of this course. For examination information please visit the International Crop Adviser website.

Containing over 70 recipes from Main Dishes, Appetizers, and Desserts to Soups, Salads, Sides, and even Snacks. This 82-page cookbook will have you preparing healthy meals and smartly spending your dollars too!

This guide is a comprehensive reference to the basic ecology and identification of Iowa's wild mammals. The 134 page booklet contains full species account for 57 species found in Iowa today, and supplemental material about extirpated or rare species, living alongside mammals and scaled comparisons highlighting the wide variety of shapes and sizes of Iowa's mammals. Species accounts feature photos, range maps that highlight county distributions in the state, and information on the identification, habitats, breeding behavior and diets of each species.

Development of the Field Guide to Mammals of Iowa was a collaborative project between Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Funding for the development of the guide was provided through grants from the Wildlife Diversity Program and the Resource Enhancement and Protection Conservation Education Program of the Iowa DNR.

Improving water quality, soil health, and wildlife habitat while remaining productive and profitable is the focus of many conservation efforts in Iowa. Confidence in practice selection and management is essential for implementing conservation practices. This publication provides best management recommendations for farmers and landowners getting started with conservation and water quality practices by helping select and incorporate in-field and edge-of-field conservation practices most appropriate to the decision maker's land and preferences.

This certification manual is intended to provide the "core" or basic understanding of safe and responsible pesticide use needed to successfully pass the Iowa Core examination for commercial pesticide applicators. This manual serves as a study guide for the core exam which covers subjects relating to applicable state and federal laws and regulations; pest management; label comprehension; pesticides; safety; the environment; and equipment and application techniques.

(Previously known as IC 0445)

The Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll is an annual survey of Iowa farmers. The survey project collects and disseminates information on issues of importance to farmers and agricultural stakeholders across Iowa and the Midwest. The Farm Poll has been conducted since 1982, making it the longest-running survey of its kind in the nation. The survey is conducted by Iowa State University (ISU) Extension Sociology in partnership with the ISU Center for Survey Statistics and Methodology (CSSM) and supported by ISU Extension and Outreach and the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station. The information gathered through the annual survey is used to inform the development and improvement of research and extension programs and is used by local, state, and national leaders in their decision-making processes. We thank the many farm families who responded to this year’s survey and appreciate their continued participation.

This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll. Thanks to the vision of its founder, Dr. Paul Lasley, the Farm Poll continues to be an important tool that helps ISU Extension and Outreach and a wide range of public and private agricultural stakeholders to better understand Iowa farmers’ perspectives and needs.

The 2022 Farm Poll survey focused on a range of issues including farm family quality of life and well-being, farming and traumatic experiences, opinions about what makes a “good farmer,” influence of information sources on decisions, and participation in carbon markets.

This guide offers insights and formulas for planning the layout of a small-scale locker-type red-meat processing plant. Two model designs are presented and were created by an experienced meat plant consultant. The plans are for initial design use and not for construction use.

Corn Growth and Development is an updated and expanded publication and includes whole plant photography, detailed descriptions of vegetative and reproductive development, and dry matter and nutrient accumulation figures.

Corn Growth and Development replaces the long-standing publication, How A Corn Plant Develops (SR 0048). Content related questions can be sent to the current Extension Agronomy point of contact Dr. Mark Licht at: lichtma@iastate.edu

Large quantity discounts (100 copies+) are available. To inquire, please contact us by email (extstore@iastate.edu) or calling (515)294-5247.

All images from this publication can be purchased by visiting our Digital Media section.

Requests for permission to repost, reprint or use content of ISU Extension and Outreach publications.

This publication can help soybean producers achieve better yields. It includes photos of soybean vegetative and reproductive stages and updated information about soybean plant growth and management.

All images from this publication can be purchased by visiting our Digital Media section

This publication replaced SR 0053 - How a Soybean Plant Develops.