A clear sky, calm winds, and teamwork are needed to make the perfect tailgate party. But, how much do you know about the Iowa men and women who really `get the party started'?

Read on to learn more about today's farming and the men and women who `go long' every day, to grow safer, healthier food.

• Agriculture (and its related industries) is Iowa's economic MVP; scoring $72 billion a year for our economy and creating 1 out of every 6 jobs.
  
• Iowa is the `leading scorer' in the nation when it comes to growing corn, soybeans, pork and eggs, and is a `Top 10 Draft Pick' in virtually every other commodity, including oats, cattle, turkeys, sheep and goats.
  

  If one acre is about the size of a football field ...then the state of Iowa has 30.7 million football fields of farmland.

• Each Iowa farmer produces enough food to feed about 155 people. During the 80's, it was about 80 people.
  
• Iowa also scores big when it comes to growing renewable energy, such as renewable fuels, biomass and wind energy. We're doing our part to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil.
  
• By the time a steer is ready for market, it weighs about as much as four average NFL linemen & could certainly feed a lot of them: hamburger from a single steer will make about 720 quarter-pound hamburgers!
  
• The average size of an Iowa farm is around 333 acres (as of 2008).
  
• One acre is about the size of a football field without its end zones. That means Iowa has about 30.7 million football fields of farmland!
  

• The green fields of corn you see growing all across Iowa isn't sweet corn! More than 13-million acres of corn is grown in Iowa, and while most is used for livestock feed, once it's processed, it's used for many, many other things.
  
• Corn is a real `team player'; did you know more than 2,500 items on your grocery store shelves are made from corn? Even yogurt, mayonnaise, batteries, adhesives and cosmetics are made from some form of by-product of corn.
  

Click HERE to meet corn farmer, Pam Johnson, and see why farming is a calling that's been in her family for years.

• There are more than 9.7 million acres of soybeans grown in Iowa this year and nearly all are processed for oil and protein and fed to livestock. Soybeans are processed into food for people and used as vegetable oil, baked into breads, or even made into tofu.
  

Click HERE to meet soybean farmer, Jim Brown, and learn how today's farmers embrace technology to not only grow more food, but to protect the land.

• Talk about `going long'; did you know one cowhide can produce enough leather to make 20 footballs, 18 soccer balls, 18 volleyballs or 12 basketballs?
  
• It takes about 3,000 cowhides to make footballs for one NFL season.
  
• You won't find Iowa's nearly 4 million cattle grazing on Astroturf! They're either raised on pastures where they eat real grass or in barns where they eat cut and fermented grasses called silage.
  
• Nothing goes to waste in a cow; did you know their by-products are also in marshmallows, mayonnaise, gelatin, pet food, shoes, luggage, furniture, automobiles, shampoo, soaps, detergents, insecticides, paints and perfumes?
  

Click HERE to meet beef farmer, Tim Kaldenberg, and see why producing safe, wholesome food is his top priority.

• A `First Round Draft Pick' hog is ready for the market when he weighs around 240 pounds, that's the same weight of your average NFL quarterback!
  
• The pork industry has gained significant yardage in recent years; pork is 31% lower in fat today than it was 20 years ago.
  
• One hog provides approximately 355 pieces of bacon; therefore, Iowa's 19 million hogs and pigs produce nearly 6.8 billion slices of bacon.
  
• In the 1950s, most pigs were raised on outdoor lots. Today, pigs have the home field advantage if they are raised in weather-protected, climate-controlled barns, safe from pests and the threat of disease.
  

Click HERE to meet hog farmer, Matt Schuiteman, and learn about his philosophy on raising healthy livestock and a healthy family.