Agriculturists from across the globe can turn to one of Iowa State’s hidden resources for assistance.

MidWest Plan Service (MWPS), 122 Davidson Hall, is a nonprofit organization that produces and provides agricultural publications for the nation and the world.

Jack Moore, manager of MWPS, said the service is part of ISU Extension and 11 other university extensions in the Midwest. The ISU office is the MWPS headquarters.

“MWPS is one of the oldest regional cooperative efforts of land-grant universities in the United States,” according to the MWPS Web site.

Moore said MWPS was established in 1929 as a cooperative effort to publish publications for the 12 represented states’ needs.

“It came together out of a common need to fix common problems,” Moore said.

Two or three faculty members represent each university extension to form the MWPS committee, Moore said. He said about half of MWPS’s funds come from the 12 extension services, and the other half comes from sales and publishing services. He said the extension members receive discounts on publications because they help provide financial support for the organization.

Moore said MWPS has been on ISU’s campus since the organization began 69 years ago, and it published its first publication in 1933. He said MWPS was started with the intent to provide building plans and other educational information to farmers at affordable rates.

“It started with plans. That’s why it’s called MidWest Plan Service,” Moore said.

He said authors from the other MWPS extension universities write the material for the publications, but all of the other publications production procedures are completed at the ISU office. Moore said publications are revised anywhere between three to five years to eight to 10 years.

“A support staff at MWPS headquarters, located at Iowa State University, provides organizational, design, graphics, editing, publication distribution and marketing services,” according to the MWPS Web site.

Moore said students and faculty could use MWPS publications to help provide practical applications of research, use in classes as textbooks, help continue their educations, use for general information about agricultural topics and to support their general program needs.

“Somebody interested in agriculture could benefit from finding out about us. We put out a lot of information — real current information,” said Bill Beach, MWPS graphic designer.

Bill Koenig, MWPS headquarters engineer, said MWPS also provides publications and plans in areas other than agriculture.

“We cover a lot of areas — particularly in agriculture. We have other [areas that cover] house planning and concrete,” Koenig said.

Amy Gruber, MWPS office assistant and junior in elementary education, said the publications are not limited to agriculturists.

“We do have stuff that is for people who aren’t farmers and aren’t in agriculture or are engineers,” Gruber said.

Koenig said the plans in MWPS’s publications are “conceptual” plans. He said the plans provide basic concepts or ideas about how to develop plans, and they can be modified to fit the builders’ needs.

Koenig said since the plans are not stamped by an engineer, he recommends getting a registered engineer for large projects. He said