The Iowa Nice Guy lived up to his moniker Thursday evening at the second annual ISU Corn Crowers Association barbecue at the Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center.

This year, the ISU Corn Growers Association expected 250 to 300 students to attend. In order to draw a larger crowd, the club recruited Scott Siepker, better know as the Iowa Nice Guy, to speak.

“We wanted it to be someone fun and energetic,” said Alyssa Schwarck, junior in public service and administration in agriculture and president of the ISU Corn Growers Association. “He had just posted a video, Farmer Nice, and we figured that would be a really good way [to] create buzz around the video and we could incorporate it into our event.”

Schwarck was instrumental in putting on the event.

“We came up with the idea to hold a barbecue and it just kind of spiraled out from there,” Schwarck said. “Even though not everyone is a part of our club, it’s a good way for people to meet each other and create a buzz around the event.”

The ISU Corn Growers Association began three years ago. Their membership grew from 35 to over 75 members this year. The barbecue was a unique way to promote their club and involve students across campus.

“It seems like a lot of the big clubs have their big traditions they’re known for on campus and hopefully this will become ours,” said Natalina Sents, junior in agricultural business and secretary of ISU Corn Growers.

Carrie Dodds, district field manager with Iowa Corn Growers, serves as a liaison between the ISU Corn Growers Association and Iowa Corn Growers, and she was proud of the students’ hard work.

“I think that it’s neat that they’ve kind of expanded that speaker base to not be your typical ag speaker,” Dodds said. “He brings a nice little twist into the ag promotion of things.”

Siepker, who has been featured on CNN, BBC and ESPN, is known in the agricultural community for his “Farmer Strong” video.

His video begins: “So you think you know something about farmers? There’s a word for what you know, and farmers use it as fertilizer.”

Many agriculturalists reached out to Siepker to express their gratitude for his advocacy work.

“That’s what we set out to do was thank farmers,” Siepker said. “I don’t think you can have knowledge of agriculture without an appreciation for it.”

The Iowa Nice Guy was well received, entertaining a room full of laughter while discussing the agricultural industry with the audience.

Aside from their annual barbecue, the ISU Corn Growers Association will host a Farmland movie night in three weeks.

“Our focus is people that are not specifically in agriculture, so that we can open up communication and just have a conversation about what’s going on in agriculture,” Schwarck said. 

Agriculture means a lot to students across campus and the ISU Corn Growers members are reaching out beyond just the College of Agriculture and Life Science.

“It’s just a really neat way to enjoy food, fun and agriculture,” Shwarck said. “It’s a great way for people who aren’t just interested in agronomy to come and get together and celebrate agriculture.”