This year Iowa turkey farmers are on track to raise a record 10.5 million birds. Overall, Iowa is ninth in turkey production and fifth in processing nationwide. Iowa State University has been a partner with the industry from the beginning, according to Gretta Irwin, Iowa Turkey Federation executive director and home economist. In 1941, W.R. Whitfield, an Iowa State poultry extension faculty member, wrote an article titled "WHY ORGANIZE? Growers Benefit by Group Action" in a publication of the Iowa Turkey Grower's Association, the precursor of the Iowa Turkey Federation which was founded in 1948.