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TOUR DE IOWA AGRICULTURE ISA SHOWCASI N G T H E “AG ” I N RAG BRA I BY LAUREN HOUSKA
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hether it’s fuel or food, the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) is celebrating the “ag” in RAGBRAI® this year. The one thing everyone sees along the route is agriculture, through soybean and corn fields, pig and poultry barns, cattle lots and more! RAGBRAI, or the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, is the nation’s largest and best-known bicycle ride. While Iowa may not have beaches or mountains to see, the beautiful countryside and Iowa hospitality has made the event immensely popular amongst cyclists, attracting riders from all 50 states and many countries. Officials are
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expecting more than 35,000 riders this year. Every year since 1973, bicyclists have started at the western side of the state and pedaled across Iowa to the Mississippi River over a seven-day period. Towns along the route make riders feel welcome when RAGBRAI rolls through town and ISA and Iowa soybean farmers are no exception!
Building on past success ISA Director Robb Ewoldt was excited about the success of the unique, out-of-the box marketing opportunity RAGBRAI provided ISA last year. His family also hosted an
“open farm day” on their farm outside of Davenport on the Sunday after RAGBRAI — many riders stuck around to attend the event. “I thought it was a wonderful way for ISA to reach out to farmers and non-farmers across the state by riding and wearing the ISA jerseys,” Ewoldt says. “These riders were seeing soybean fields across Iowa for seven days. Having them out to our farm was a great way to continue to engage with them and showcase the importance of Iowa agriculture.” Even in Iowa, there's is a tremendous portion of the population with no personal connection to
