7 Iowa Nice Rules Iowans Expect Newcomers to Pick Up Fast
When a farmer gets sick or loses a loved one, Iowa neighbors have been known to finish the harvest for them.
Iowa Nice comes with expectations, and newcomers are expected to follow suit.
Here are the Iowa Nice rules Iowans expect newcomers to pick up fast.
1. Farmer Wave
A 2016 blog post from Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) News quoted a Des Moines Register columnist who called the farmer wave woven into the very fabric of Iowa Nice.
So if a driver lifts a hand as you pass on a county road, you wave back.
A small lift of your hand is enough.
2. Hawkeye Wave
When the first quarter ends at a Hawkeye home game, fans, players, coaches and staff at Kinnick Stadium turn toward the Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City.
The hospital sits next to the stadium, and young patients and their parents watch from its top floor.
The children wave back, and many hold up handmade signs.
The idea was suggested on an internet message board, The Associated Press reported.
If you’re in the stands, you’ll want to turn and wave with the people around you, and that’s one way Iowa Nice shows up at Kinnick.
3. Finishing a Neighbor’s Harvest
If you live near farmland, you may see neighbors finish a sick or grieving farmer’s harvest, which is Iowa Nice at its plainest.
In October 2022, neighbors of a Humeston farmer kept inside by a cancer diagnosis showed up with combines, semis and grain trucks to bring in his crop.
Reports from the TV stations KCRG and KDSM also describe communities finishing a harvest after a farmer died of cancer.
In October 2024, KTIV reported more than 70 farmers helped a Kingsley family with harvest after the father died in a farm accident.
In October 2025, KCRG covered a Washington County community helping harvest crops after a farmer died.
4. Waiting Behind the Tractor
Farmers say they let drivers pass when they can, the Iowa Farm Bureau reports, so courtesy runs both ways.
Your part is patience, and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach tells drivers to wait and pass farm equipment only when it’s safe.
Its 2016 guidance puts farm equipment at roughly 15 to 20 miles an hour.
On turns, give a tractor room, since wide equipment can leave you little space and you may have to edge toward the other side of the road.
It’s a trade of room for patience, and that’s Iowa Nice at harvest time.
When a Tractor Pulls Over
Iowa Nice on rural roads comes with a caveat: A tractor that pulls over may be preparing to enter a field across the road.
So a tractor drifting right isn’t always an invitation to pass.
Rear-end crashes and left-hand turns are among the most frequent types of collisions with farm equipment, the same source says.
5. Asking Before You Hunt
If you’re new to pheasant country, ask before you hunt.
The pheasant hunting guide from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) tells hunters to always ask permission on private land.
It also points hunters to the Iowa Habitat Access Program, which allows hunter access to private land in exchange for habitat improvement on the site.
Once you have permission, the DNR’s 2025 season release says to keep other hunters in sight while walking in line through the fields.
6. Sheltering a Stranded Stranger
In 2019, a Politico reporter ran into a snowdrift during a blizzard.
A Buckingham couple took him in for the day while the roads cleared.
He wrote about the stay afterward at the family’s urging, and the Business Record, a Des Moines business publication, shared the story in February 2019.
A stranger at the door in bad weather puts Iowa Nice to the test.
If you spot a stranded driver in a drift, you can stop, if it’s safe, and ask what they need.
7. Bringing a Dish
A Welcome Home Des Moines story from 2023 followed a couple who left an older home on Long Island for a freestanding home in Clive.
They learned what a potluck was, and one of them bought a Crockpot to make dishes for potluck gatherings.
The story ran under a headline about Iowa Nice.
If someone invites you to a potluck, you plan to bring a dish.
Farmer Wave Week Origins
The MPR post ran in November 2016, during Farmer Wave Week.
The Farm Bureau reported that the fourth annual week would run Nov. 6 to 12, 2017.
AgDaily reported in 2016 that the week was the brainchild of a radio general manager whose first YouTube wave video debuted in 2014.
The latest dates we found were from 2017, so you may want to check your local news for this year’s dates.
A wave back is welcome any time.
Psst! How much do you know about country roads, harvest season and pheasant hunting? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
Country Road Smarts
Answer these questions on harvest, tractors, Hawkeye game days and pheasant season. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
In what year did the Hawkeye Wave begin?
A Wingman for Newcomers
Iowa Nice can come with a local guide in the Iowa City and Cedar Rapids area.
In 2019, ICR Iowa, a regional development group, ran the Wingman Program, which matched newcomers with a local volunteer.
Volunteers offered an insider's view of housing, schools, clubs and city services.
A 2019 Iowa City Press-Citizen story, reprinted by ICR Iowa, said the program had made 56 matches.
In 2019, you could ask for a wingman directly or be referred by your employer's human resources department.
The program's page on the ICR Iowa website describes it in present tense and has an apply link, but the page is undated.
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