Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Current Competitive Grant

Machinery management for small- and medium-sized horticultural farms

Project ID: M2012-11

This 2-year grant for $46,311 was awarded in 2012.

Location: Statewide

The investigators will design and implement a survey of Iowa fruit and vegetable growers and develop a set of case study interviews with growers who have expanded their operations. The knowledge gained will be used to develop a user-friendly decision tool and educational materials to help growers who face a variety of machinery-related challenges.

Georgeanne Artz

Georgeanne Artz Georgeanne Artz is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Economics Department at Iowa State University, where she earned her Ph.D. in agricultural economics. She holds a B.A. in Economics from Yale University and an M.S. in Resource Economics and Policy from the University of Maine at Orono. Georgeanne previously worked as an Extension Program Specialist at Iowa State, researching and providing outreach programming on retail trade analysis, community economic development, agribusiness management, and cooperatives, and as a faculty member at the University of Missouri. Georgeanne’s current research focuses on rural economic development, farm business management and the role of cooperatives, including a project to study the feasibility of machinery and labor sharing among fruit and vegetable growers in Iowa and the Midwestern United States. [Contact lead investigator]

Co-Investigator(s):

William Edwards, ISU Economics; and Darren Jarboe, Center for Crops Utilization Research and BioCentury Research Farm


This competitive grant project is part of the Leopold Center's Marketing Initiative.

Topics: Business management, distribution and marketing