Three years of experiments were conducted to help increase profit margins for apple growers, cope with new regulations on pesticide use, and deal with increased pesticide resistance by major apple pests and diseases.

Surveys were used to examine landowner attitudes, perceptions and knowledge of fire as a management tool for controlling invasive species and enhancing conditions for native plants and animals on recreational and productive agricultural lands.

This project carried out an assessment of the appropriate ecological, economic, technological, and social scaling factors of Iowa woody biomass resources to inform public policy initiatives as well as public and private investments in this valuable resource.

The challenges and opportunities, including financial returns, were studied for six different perennial crops that can be used in agroforestry practices. Crops investigated were aronia berry, black walnut, chestnut, Christmas trees, elderberry and hazelnut.

Project investigators tested the potential for production and utilization of the pawpaw as an alternative crop for Iowa fruit growers. Fruit from an ongoing trial was processed and preserved for future marketing.

Increased corn production to fuel Iowa's ethanol plants leads to diversion of cattle pasture land to cropland. This project looked at the value of using distillers' grain (an ethanol by-product) as a supplement for beef cattle feeding in a forage system.

Researchers studied the behavior of soybean aphids in fields and prairies, and the implications for biological control of these pests