Dave Walton checks on expectant ewes on his Iowa farm. Photo courtesy of Dave Walton's Facebook

An Iowa soybean grower is ready to get real about agriculture, science and life on the farm.

Dave Walton operates Walton Farms in Wilton, Iowa, where he grows soybeans, corn, alfalfa, grass hay and raises beef – cow/calf with a small feedlot, sheep, along with custom work, mainly hay, planting native grass and harvesting.

He recently started the blog Welcome to the Intersection of Agriculture, Science, and Real Life, where he plans to pen an honest take on farm-life—including the good and the bad days.

Read his first post Farm life isn't always sunshine and roses here.

Walton is a member of the American Soybean Associations Advocacy Communications Team (ACT), a second-tier of first responders who engage with the public, reporters and social media followers on matters of modern agriculture. He is also a 2003 graduate of the ASA DuPont Young Leader Program.

Walton feels most comfortable talking about GMO’s, farming practices such as no-till, herbicide use and farmer-to-consumer communication.  He enjoys the challenge of speaking to groups who may not know much about farming or may not be friendly toward modern production agriculture.

Walton is a guest columnist for the Genetic Literacy Project, who has advocated for agriculture in a variety of ways, from local radio station round-table discussions, to presenting a farmer’s perspective on GE crops to a public forum in Davis California for the Institute for Food and Ag Literacy. Last year, he participated in an online news show, The Stream on Al-Jezeera via Skype.