David Irons met the love of his life in 1989 when they were both working in the same office in Des Moines.  Although David and Patty had both grown on up farms – he on a cow-calf operation in the Altoona-Runnells area and she on a feeder cattle-row crops operation in North Iowa –  farming fulltime wasn’t something they had thought about much. After all, they had grown up during the 1980s Farm Crisis and moved to the city for stable paychecks and promising careers.

Then, as it often does, life handed the young couple a curve ball. Patty’s father was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1992, so the Irons had a decision to make. They chose to move to Northwood to become a part of the family farm and make a fresh start. They moved to the farm in January 1996 after Patty’s mom moved to town.  Over the years, they’ve remodeled facilities. They put a new roof on the barn in 2009 and tinned it in 2013 to make a nice area for the girls to store show equipment and fit cattle.

Fitting is something Lisa, a junior studying Animal Science and beef production at Iowa State, enjoys and has become known for. She also enjoys showing cattle they’ve raised themselves and was proud to have produced the top selling heifer at the 2015 Worth County Club Calf Sale.  This is the last summer Lisa is eligible to show in FFA. Both Lisa and Mary showed at the Worth County Fair in June. They plan to show at various open shows in July, the Iowa State Fair in August, and the Clay County Fair in September.

The Irons have shown in many Iowa Junior Beef Breeds Association shows, including Beef Expo. Lisa has also shown at Ak-sar-ben in Omaha and the Minnesota Beef Expo in St. Paul.  Lisa has led several clinics for beginning showmen.

“Giving presentations and leading fitting demonstrations has helped me develop confidence, overcome my fear of public speaking and cope with anxiety,” says Lisa. “My 4-H and FFA beef project has helped me develop so many skills, meet many people and led me toward a career. My dream is to graduate from college and farm with my dad.”

Lisa started showing cattle as a third grader when she entered a bucket bottle calf in the county fair. She brought that heifer back the following year.  Mary followed in her sister’s footsteps, starting with bucket bottle calves.  As a N-K High School Senior, she plans to bring her first heifer back as a cow/calf pair to the 2017 Worth County Fair.

As the girls have grown, so has their beef herd. They began with Maine-Anjou and have added more Simmental, which had more genetic resources available. Plus, the Simmental are known as a pretty docile beef breed that makes them good show animals. The Irons have focused on developing better and better stock, selling off animals and then using those proceeds to purchase better genetics.

Most of their steers are sold to local feeders, but they feed out a few to sell directly to consumers. Female calves are kept as replacements or sold as bred heifers to other beef operators.

“My dream is for my kids to find something they enjoy that provides a good life, as well as a good living, and to pass this farm to the next generation.”

When you have a product to sell – whether its athletic shoes or beef cattle – you need to know market trends. Did you know Millennials have overtaken Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation? That equates to $2.45 trillion in buying power! It also explains why beef producers like Scott McGregor of Nashua, Iowa, are allocating more resources toward reaching this important target market.

Scott and his wife, Tracy, live on the home place purchased in 1936 by Scott’s grandfather. Tracy teaches physical education and music at Nashua-Plainfield Elementary. Scott farms with his two brothers, David and Allan, as well as his nephew Patrick. Scott and Tracy’s sons both graduated from Iowa State University. Brendan earned a degree in marketing and works in Des Moines. Chet earned a degree in Ag Studies and helps a neighbor farm and raise cattle.

“As beef producers, our message to millennials needs to include information about the nutritional profile of the beef. I want people to feel confident about the food they eat,” explains Scott, who represents the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) as co-chair of the Consumer Trust Committee, a joint committee between the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and the NCBA. “We need consumer trust to market our products, so we’re placing more emphasis on the safety and quality of our beef.”

Younger consumers are trending toward more health-conscious eating, so American beef producers are using social media and digital advertisements to get out the message that beef is part of a healthy diet. One serving of beef, which is 3 ounces or about the size of an iPhone, provides our bodies with nearly half of its needed protein plus 10 essential nutrients including zinc, iron, protein (ZIP) and B vitamins.

Consumers want to know the food on grocery store shelves is safe and nutritious. Today’s shoppers look for food labels to help them feel better about their food choices. That’s why Scott, who was recently appointed to the National Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) Task Force, believes more beef producers will become certified than ever before in the 25-year history of BQA. New beef harvesting facilities will only buy from BQA-certified producers. Plus, QR codes could allow cattle to be traced back to the farm of origin.

“So many consumers have lost sight that food on the grocery store shelves comes from a farm,” explains Scott, past chairman and currently federation director for the Iowa Beef Industry Council. “BQA can help them connect the food on their table right back to the farm where it was raised.”

This fourth generation Iowa farmer is so passionate about connecting the farm gate to the dinner plate that he’s spent time in the classroom each year for the past 10 years, teaching history to 11^th graders taking an Iowa Studies class at the Nashua-Plainfield High School. Scott makes beef production relate-able to each student in the class by giving samples of beef sticks or jerky and delivering a presentation entitled, “My Cheeseburger Came from the Farm.”

Is it any surprise that a tenderized ground round patty made from Certified Angus Beef® like he raises is one of Scott’s favorite quick meals? You can create a similar sandwich by asking the person behind your local meat counter to run ground round through the tenderizer before making it into patties.

Make a stop at the store, and fire up that grill!

We become what we practice… Some children pretend to fly a spaceship to the moon or treat their tricycles like they’re fire trucks. Others, like Andy Edson, practice becoming a business owner.

“A part of me has always thought like an entrepreneur,” says Edson, who farms with his parents Dave and Connie near Nashua in Northeast Iowa. “One of my favorite toys as a kid was a cash register. I’d take my sisters things and charge them to get it back,” he says as he gives a dimpled smile.

It wasn’t long before Andy’s interests moved into farming and raising cattle. He purchased his first heifer calf when he was 14 years old and a member of the Bradford Eager Beavers 4-H Club. He showed “Girl” in the 4-H Beef Show at the Chickasaw County Fair, and she became the foundation for his beef herd.

When Andy became old enough to join the Nashua-Plainfield FFA Chapter, beef became his Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE). He put so much time and effort into recordkeeping that he earned both the Iowa and the American FFA Degrees. Andy also had the honor of being named an American Star Farmer Finalist at the 2012 National FFA Convention in Indianapolis.

“Andy is an outstanding leader and has developed one of the most extensive SAE programs I have had the opportunity to work with in my 29 years of teaching agricultural education,” said FFA advisor Ron Zelle in a 2012 interview.

“I grew up around cattle. Dad always had about 50 Holstein steers, and I have great memories of helping him do chores from the time I was barely big enough to carry a bucket,” says Andy. “I started my own beef herd with one 4-H heifer and had 20 cows when I went to college. I didn’t think it was fair that my dad had to do so much of my work during the week, so I thinned down my herd. Girl is still a part of it, and she’s expecting her 10^th calf any day.”

The first calf drops on the Edson farm during March Madness and, if everything goes according to plan, they’re done calving before corn planting begins in April. Andy’s original plan was to sell club calves, but those plans changed when he had the opportunity to farm more ground.

Andy began renting farmland his freshman year of college. When an opportunity to rent a neighbor’s farm was presented during Andy’s senior year of college, he arranged his schedule so he didn’t have classes on Fridays or Mondays. That allowed him to make the two-hour drive home from college on Thursday night, so he could spend four days straight on his farm.

“I knew there was a future here for me. My dad is a good mentor, and I enjoy being my own boss. It just felt right for me to pursue farming fulltime,” says Andy. An internship through Iowa State’s Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative also helped confirm his decision because he missed the farm when he way away.

As a student in Iowa State University’s College of Agriculture & Life Sciences (CALS), Andy majored in Agricultural Business with a minor in Agronomy. Iowa State CALS pairs incoming freshmen with upper classmen mentors, and Andy was partnered with Carly Cummings and Elizabeth Burns-Thompson. Both Carly and Elizabeth were Ag Business majors, who were active in the student NAMA (National Agri-Marketing Association). They recruited Andy to the ISU NAMA marketing team. He was on the team for four years and was a member of one team that won the national competition!

“To prepare for the competition, we spent a lot of time finding research to help us make decisions. It was fun to see the marketing – not commodity marketing – side of agriculture. It helped me understand how different companies place products and why they’re targeting certain audiences,” says Andy.

“So much work goes into those marketing plans,” Andy goes onto explain. “Just learning the ‘whys’ behind the marketing decisions that a company makes can be applicable to any business. It really taught us a decision-making process.”

Andy puts those decision-making skills to use daily in his farming operation. His future plans include his family’s farming legacy.

“I hope to contribute to our operation and strengthen it while staying sustainable through the adoption of new technologies and exploring new business ventures,” says Andy. “Though my operation’s focus will continue to be on growing corn and soybeans, I’ll always keep a few cows around. They’ve always been a part of my life and there’s something about calving that never fails to give me a renewed appreciation for nature and the way of life that God has blessed me with.”

After working hard all day, Andy enjoys a home-cooked meal. Today he’s sharing two of his favorite recipes with us.

“I like recipes that are simple and delicious and both of these fit the bill,” says Andy. “This pot roast comes out tender and full of flavor while the bars provide a perfect end to the meal with a sneaky-good balance of sweet and salty.”

“Amplify: Boost your impact” is the theme of the 88^th annual Iowa FFA Leadership Conference, which will be held April 17-19, at Hilton Coliseum in Ames. Not only does that conference theme serve as a rally cry for the more than 5,000 FFA members who will gather from across the state, but it’s the mantra of Sam Sturgeon of Dows.

“I first decided to join FFA because I love helping on our farm,” says Sam, whose grandfather raises seed beans for Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds. Her father, Eric, is a Latham® seed dealer. The family also grows corn and runs a cow-calf operation. “FFA is becoming an important way for me to develop leadership skills. I’ve been reporter the past year. Chapter officers lead events and activities throughout the year, plus COLT (Chapter Officer Leadership) Training allowed us to meet officers from all chapters in our area.”

A junior at Belmond-Klemme High School in Belmond, Sam has been active in FFA since seventh grade. Sam’s younger brother, Caleb, also joined the chapter in seventh grade. Both of them are carrying on the tradition set by their father and grandfather.

And just like her Grandpa Ron and Great Grandpa Gene Sturgeon, Sam will receive the Iowa FFA Degree. Next week when Belmond-Klemme FFA members travel to Ames for the state leadership conference, Sam will be awarded the highest rank a state association can bestow upon a member.

Qualifications for the Iowa FFA Degree include:

1. Recipient of the Chapter FFA Degree and having been an active FFA member for at least two years.
2. Participation in at least 25 unduplicated hours of community service. Sam’s community service projects included: working the concession stand and cleaning up after sporting events at school, (coordinating or participating in?) a food drive for the food pantry and the Summer Backpack food program, as well as providing a calf and working at the petting zoo during Klemme Ag Days.
3. Achieving a satisfactory scholastic record as certified by the local agricultural education instructor, the principal or superintendent.
4. Demonstrated leadership ability:
   1. Performing 10 procedures of parliamentary law.
   2. Giving a six-minute speech on a topic related to agriculture or the FFA.
   3. Serve as an officer, committee chairperson or participating member of a chapter committee.
5. Completion of at least two years (360 hours) of systematic school instruction in Agriculture Education of above the ninth grade level, including a Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) program. Through the SAE program, a student must have earned and productively invested at least $1,000 or worked at least 300 hours in addition to the class time or a combination thereof.

For her Beef Production Placement SAE project, Sam helps her grandparents with 43 Maine Anjou-Angus cow-calf pairs. Calving begins in February and wrap up as planting season begins.

“This year was especially exciting,” says Sam. “We did a lot of embroyo implants, so I stayed busy watching heat cycles. I enjoyed helping select semen from the bull we wanted. I was so excited to see what the calves would look like this year! I’m pretty excited about what we’ll have to work with.”

At the 2015 Wright County Fair ,Sam and Caleb won Champion Cow-Calf Pair. They show cow-calf pairs for FFA and market beef through the Pleasant Progressors 4-H Club.

While Caleb likes showing beef cattle, he really enjoys helping with crop production. His lifelong dream is be the fourth generation on his family’s North Central Iowa farm.  Sam prefers livestock production and plans to become a veterinarian. She volunteers nearly every Saturday, as well as on days when there isn’t school, at the Hampton Veterinary Clinic. She assists with surgeries and goes on farm calls. She helps spay and neuter pets, too.

The Sturgeons stay busy outside of school and farming. Sam also works part-time at Fareway. Caleb is a member of the football and basketball teams. In the off-season, he lifts weights.

Every cattle producer knows the way to boost your energy levels and fuel your body is by eating beef! One serving of beef, provides our bodies with nearly half of its needed protein plus 10 essential nutrients including zinc, iron, protein and B vitamins.

In anticipation of May Beef Month – and in celebration of Sam earning the Iowa FFA Degree – today the Sturgeon is sharing with us of one of their family’s favorite beef recipes.

The gleaming silver motor coach pulled into the guitar-shaped lane and rolled to a stop in front of a side entrance just for VIPs. Luggage was attended to by a group of attentive bellmen. As Latham® dealers and special guests walked through the doors of the Hard Rock Cancun on January 30, they were greeted with a smile and a cold drink.

A one-man band played popular cover tunes. A buffet of chips with guacamole and pico de gallo, beef skewers and a variety of Mexican appetizers was provided. Fender guitars were available for anyone wishing to get into the rock ‘n roll spirit. (Did you know guests at the Hard Rock can check out a guitar and then turn to a TV channel to learn how to play? This is just one of the cool amenities offered at this all-inclusive resort.)

What more does a rock star need… How about unlimited food and drinks? Complimentary room service? Multiple swimming pools, white sand beaches and turquoise waters? Some of our guests enjoyed the Rock Spa for a massage on the beach. Others treated themselves to facials, pedicure and manicures. The more adventurous went ziplining, snorkeling, four-wheeling or horseback riding.

One especially notable excursion provided by Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds was a day trip to Chichén Itza (pronounced chee-chehn eet-sah), located on the Yucatan Peninsula. While visiting this wonder of the modern world, we learned many fascinating facts:

• The sun and the moon were significant in the daily lives of Mayans, so there is symbolism throughout their architecture. El Castillo pyramid has four sides containing: 365 steps, or one for each day of the solar year; 52 panels, or one for each year in the Mayan century as well as for each week in the solar year; and 18 terraces, one for each month in the religious year. During the fall and spring equinoxes, the sun’s shadow forms an enormous snake’s body, which aligns with the carved stone snake head at the bottom of this pyramid.

• Ball games, featuring a soccer-sized ball with a set of intricate rules, drew huge crowds of spectators. Carvings around the courtyard display rules of this sacred game. One carving even shows the captain of the losing game being beheaded, which was thought to be a way of dying with honor as a sacrifice to the gods.

• Corn (teosinte) was developed at least 7,000 years ago in Central Mexico. Early cultures literally depended on this staple for life, so corn greatly influenced religion and mythology. The Maya believed that gods mixed their own blood with corn flour to create humankind, and the elite members of society shaped their babies’ heads to resemble a tamale to honor the corn god.

While my family enjoyed visiting Chichén Itza and experiencing the Mexican countryside, we also loved every minute we spent at the Hard Rock Hotel. Honestly, our favorite restaurant at the Hard Rock Cancun was wherever we were dining that night! We tried them all: Zen hibachi grill, Ciao Italian, Ipanema Brazilian grill, Frida Mexican restaurant, The Market for International cuisine and Pizetto.

In honor of our fabulous sales incentive trip to Cancun, today on TheFieldPosition we’re featuring a Tex-Mex recipe courtesy of the Iowa Beef Industry Council. Click on the posts below for a recap of some of our past company trips, including recipes from those regions. NOTE: If you’re interested in learning how you can earn your own trip to another tropical destination next February, call 1-877-GO-LATHAM (1.877.465.2842).

Related Posts:

• Hanging Loose in Hawaii
• San Diego, a Cure for the Winter Blues
• Cheeseburger in Paradise

One of my friends commented how she wished she had the knack for throwing parties. She said she finds hosting people in her home intimidating because she’s not the world’s best cook and she doesn’t own any fancy serving dishes. So… her comment inspired this blog post!

Why do we put so much pressure on ourselves to set a table that looks like it’s straight from the pages of Better Homes and Gardens or create meals that are Pinterest-worthy? When someone invites me over, I couldn’t care less if they serve me a frozen pizza or bake a calzone from scratch. I’m just thrilled with any invitation to get together with friends. Plus, it’s a bonus when I don’t have to fix a meal or do any dishes. What about you?

That’s why this Super Bowl I’m keeping the menu simple. I’m going to focus more on being a hostess rather than being a caterer. I hope “5 Fast Foods to Feed Football Fans” grabs your attention and inspires you, too.

Here are five recipes that can literally be made in minutes:

1. Bacon Wrapped Smokies Blanketed in Brown Sugar & Butter – put a new twist on a tried and true crowd favorite with three variations of the same recipe. One version is spicy; one is sweet; and one is traditional.
2. Buffalo Chicken Dip
3. Queso and Chips
4. Toffee Apple Dip and Apples
5. Jalapeno Meatballs – see recipe below

These recipes are all about minimizing your time in the kitchen and maximizing your time in front of the big screen with family or friends. Enjoy the game!

P.S. If you do enjoy taking the time to prepare a feast and set fancy table, check out our Pinterest page for ideas. The following #vintage posts also provide you with more menu options from appetizers and entrees to desserts.

Related Posts:

• Scrambling to Prep for Super Bowl Sunday?
• Keeping it Simple on Super Bowl Sunday
• Super Foods for a Super Weekend

Right after the first of the year, headlines in major magazines and newspapers are filled with tips for losing weight and eating healthy. Truth is, many of those headlines are either vague or misleading.

The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggest lean meat as part of a healthy, balanced diet. Did you know that beef is a small package with beef nutrition? One serving of beef, which is 3 ounces or about the size of an iPhone, provides our bodies with nearly half of its needed protein plus 10 essential nutrients including zinc, iron, protein and B vitamins.

Eating beef also can help stimulate muscle growth in older Americans, and that protein can play a key role in weight management. According to research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, eating four ounces of lean-beef protein each day can help enhance muscle development by 50 percent.

Evidence from a second study published in the Journal suggests that a moderate increase in dietary protein combined with physical activity can help a person manage weight by increasing heat produced in the body, which helps a person feel full longer, prolongs energy expenditure, helping maintain lean muscle mass and improves metabolism.

“Being able to educate consumers about agriculture and their food choices is vitally important. Iowa’s beef farmers are dedicated to raising safe and wholesome beef – and that is a promise from their families to yours,” says Chris Freland, who graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Kinesiology and Public Health. She has a nursing degree and experience in the health care community.

Before being selected recently as the executive director of the Iowa Beef Industry Council, Freland owned and operated a dairy for 20 years. She also served as Industry Relations Manager for the Midwest Dairy Association, as well as Associate Director for the Iowa State Dairy Association.

“Iowa’s beef farmers do an incredible job every day caring for their land and their animals. It is our job at the Iowa Beef Industry Council to be their eyes, ears and voice to market their great products,” adds Freland. “We want consumers to understand with confidence where their beef comes from, and we want to help Americans continue to choose lean beef more often as a part of their diet.”

Beef is the perfect partner to fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy and whole grains. Today the beef industry council is sharing a recipe that pairs skillet steak with bright colored vegetables. It’s not yet officially grilling weather in the Midwest, so this quick and easy recipe will let you serve up a meal that will take your taste buds on Spring Break!

guest blog post by Mary Lovstad of Farm Girl Cook’n

I grew up in the quintessential big farm family.  As the first girl after eight boys, I kind of ruled the roost, at least for a short time, until a baby brother and twin sisters came along and spoiled that gig.  Farm life needed all of those helping hands in those days because no one had huge tractors or gargantuan combines. We had little red Farmalls – As and Cs – to help do the work on our Century farm.  And after all of the farm work, my mom had some starving boys on her hands.

My mom was really not the greatest cook in the world; she just didn’t have time to fuss with fancy foods. She did, however, have some classic dishes that were wonderful.  Her big challenge every day was to put a lot of food on the table, fast.  Those boys could eat a lot of food and you’d better guard what was on your plate or it would be gone, too!  To help keep up with the volume, my dad had a potato truck and a bread truck deliver to our farm.

Thus when I get out one of my mom’s recipes to make something, I almost always have to brush up on my fifth grade fractions to bring them down to  “normal” serving sizes.  One recipe I looked at recently was for “icebox” sugar cookies. (Side note: She almost never made cookies as they were gone almost before she was done baking. Her recipe calls for 8 cups of flour and 4 cups of sugar – this will be a blog for another day!)

One of those wonderful recipes I remember was Swedish Meatballs.  She only made them once a year – at Christmas – because it takes a lot of meatballs to fill up a dozen kids.  I hope you enjoy my version of her recipe.

About Mary:

Growing up on a family farm near Forest City, Iowa, her eight older brothers, prepared Mary for life in ways she couldn’t imagine.  She has spent most of her career in a male dominated career field of technology and is currently working as a software quality engineer in Clear Lake, Iowa.  You aren’t really intimidated by much when you have all those brothers making you tough.

A few years ago, Mary decided to finally taking some time to express her passions for cooking, gardening, and all things vintage in her blog, Farm Girl Cook’n.

Mary lives on her family’s Century farm established in 1873, with her husband, Eric, where they have been restoring the farm, building by building.  She is also attempting to write a cookbook sharing vintage and family recipes.

You can find her blog, Farm Girl Cook’n, at http:// farmgirlcookn.com.