IQ Hub Mission

by Stephanie Zelinko

Field Agronomy Research Manager

Last Friday a couple of us researchers (Tim D and myself) took a cross country airplane ride to make some visits to some places that would help us in the layout of some of the displays in the IQ Hub. As always I took a bunch of pictures of our adventure, so Jerry asked me to again be a guest blogger to share some of the highlights of our day.

For those that don’t know, the IQ Hub is an agricultural education center that is part of our new office facilities.  A few displays have been developed but there is a lot more work to be done before the grand opening next summer.  IQ Hub Manager Burt Henry joined us on the trip.  

We had far to go and much to see in one day.  So we did the logical thing and took a private airplane.  Here is Burt ready for takeoff.

Our first stop was in Moline, IL at the John Deere Pavilion.  They have their own educational center that we wanted to check out.  Here is the multiscreen display that welcomes guests.  It's quite an attention getter.

  Tim had to try out their simulator.  Here he is digging a hole with the back hoe.

 Next stop was Omaha, NE.  Here is a picture shortly before landing.  Are these signals to aliens?

We were met at the airport by Troy Bancroft who just happened to be in the area.  He took us over to the main focus of this trip, a visit with Midwest Labs.  They do the majority of our soil test analysis and we there to discuss a collaborative effort in developing some soil test displays for the IQ Hub. While we were there we also took a tour of the soil testing lab.  Here  is their IT Manager John DeBoer.  He showed us some of the thousands of soil samples that were received that day. This is their busy season and there were people everywhere processing samples. 

It is a small world after all!  During the tour Tim found a friend.  Actually, it's his cousin Tara.  She works in the soil analysis part of the lab.  After catching up on their families, it was back to work.

At the end of the day we established a good plan on how to set up the soil testing displays in the IQ Hub with the help of Midwest Labs.   By 4:30, we loaded back in the plane and headed home.

Now the work begins, putting all of our ideas into reality.  We will keep you updated on the progress.  Be sure to come visit the IQ Hub when it opens next year!