Webinar Recap: Dan Jaynes Provides Updates on Saturated Buffers

Dan Jaynes, Research Soil Scientist with the National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment (USDA-ARS), hit the high points on saturated buffers last week in the latest Iowa Learning Farms webinar. Watch the archived version now.

Saturated Buffer Effectiveness and Price Per Pound of N Removed
Saturated buffers can divert about half of the water coming out of a tile outlet (red bars). From this diverted water, the practice can remove between 8-84% of N (blue bars). Saturated buffers costs about $1 per pound of N removed. The practice ranks similarly to other nitrate reduction edge-of-field practices. A comparison table is shown below.

Recent Updates to the Conservation Practice Standard
See the most recent conservation practice standard for a saturated buffer here. Watch the presentation to hear the discussion on specific changes.

Saturated Buffer Design
Saturated buffers should be designed to treat 5% of the drainage system capacity, or as much as is practical based on the available length of the vegetated buffer. To determine the drainage system capacity, use this excellent tool from the Illinois NRCS. Option 1 (determining capacity using slope and diameter) is the most common option used if limited information is available on the drainage system.

Frequently Asked Questions You Should Know
If you field questions from producers about saturated buffers, make sure you know the answers to these commonly asked questions. Dan covered his list of FAQs:

• Are we trading a water quality problem for an air quality problem?
• Does denitrification account for all of the nitrate lost?
• How wide should the buffer be?
• What should the buffer vegetation be?
• What about multiple distribution pipes?
• What about roots plugging distribution pipes?

Roots Plugging Distribution Pipes
On the issue of whether roots plug distribution pipes, Jaynes says that, generally, the answer is no. For a more in-depth look, here is a great video of a look inside a saturated buffer distribution pipe.

To learn more about site suitability for saturated buffers in your local area, explore the ACPF Saturated Buffer Viewing Tool. The suitability of an area in central Iowa is included below. This can be a great tool to determine potential saturated buffer sites (followed by a trip to ground-truth site conditions).

If you want to learn the latest information about saturated buffers, tune in to the archived webinar!

–Julie Winter

New online tool helps farmers assess value of cover crops

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, in partnership with Practical Farmers of Iowa, has launched a new Ag Decision Maker tool on their website to help crop and livestock farmers assess the economics of cover crops in their operations.

The Economics of Cover Crops tool consists of three in-depth budgeting worksheets designed to help farmers analyze the costs and benefits of cover crops – and paths to profitability – in their row crop operations with or without the integration of livestock:

• Cover Crops Budget looks at the economics of cover crops in systems without grazing or harvesting
• Grazing Cover Crops Budget estimates the costs and benefits with grazing or harvesting for feed
• Grazing Cover Crops Results uses farmers’ farm data to calculate the actual economic value of grazing or harvesting cover crops from the prior year

The unique three-in-one tool was developed to let farmers see the potential added value they could gain when cover crops are used for forage. Recent Practical Farmers of Iowa on farm research has found that, when properly managed, grazing cover crops can result in sizeable profits within the first year.

The worksheets are available online and were created with funding by Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s Water Quality Initiative.

Help available to use the tool

To ensure farmers feel confident using the new tool, Meghan Filbert, Livestock Coordinator with Practical Farmers of Iowa, is available to help farmers gets started. Contact her at (515) 232-5661 or meghan@practicalfarmers.org with questions or to request assistance working with the tool.

–Liz Juchems

 

Grass species most popular cover crops among Iowa farmers

Grasses, brassicas, legumes – oh my! With so many cover crop species to choose from, how does one decide?

One way is to look at what the producers in your area are using and observe how well those species will help reach the goals you have for your land. Here are some examples of cover crops by group:

• Grasses = cereal rye, oats, wheat, triticale, barley
• Brassicas (plants producing a tap root) = radishes, rapeseed, mustards
• Legumes = red clover, crimson clover, hairy vetch, peas

To help identify what cover crop species are being used across the state, we asked our 2017 field day attendees.  Responses to our 2017 Field Day Evaluation Report are similar to our conclusions of what works best in our cover crop species research projects. Grasses are the best choice of cover crops for a corn/soybean system. Cereal rye was the mostly widely used species, with 85% respondents listing it as what they seeded in 2017. Reported brassica and legume usage is down overall compared to 2016 data.

For those looking to get started with cover crops, we recommend the following:

Oats Before Corn & Cereal Rye Before Soybeans

These cover crop species are relatively inexpensive, readily available and easy to establish. Oats will winter kill whereas cereal rye is winter hardy and requires spring termination. That is why we recommend using it before soybeans to provide the best opportunity for first time cover croppers to learn how to manage the cereal rye and minimize negative yield impacts.

–Liz Juchems

Evaluation key to effective field days

You planned your event – lined up the space, speakers, meal – and had a great turnout. Congratulations! You’re done now right?

Not quite…

How do you know if your event was effective in meeting your outreach goals? What could have been done differently to improve the effectiveness? Asking for attendee feedback is a useful evaluation tool that can be used to make decisions on what worked well and what doesn’t. In addition to self-reflection on the event, asking for attendee feedback is one of Iowa Learning Farms’ key tools for planning and holding well attended and effective events.

Through our two-week follow up evaluation we gather feedback on the effectiveness of the field day to help us improve future events. Using a five point scale, attendees are asked to rate the overall quality of the field day, effectiveness of expert presentations (ILF, ISU Extension and Outreach, NRCS, PFI, etc.), and effectiveness of farmer presentations.

All three categories saw improvement over 2016 numbers. The effectiveness of expert presentations saw a 10% increase over last year in the people who considered it excellent and the overall quality of the field day or workshop metric saw an 8% increase over last year in the people who considered it excellent.

In addition to the information above in our Year End Evaluation Report, we also compiled our Individual Field Day Report. This report breaks out the evaluation responses by event, as well as how far attendees traveled to attend the event to help with field day promotion efforts – see map below.

An example two-week evaluation is available in our Field Day Marketing Toolkit and we encourage you to modify it and use it for your own event.  We are currently revising the evaluation to add more specific questions aimed at improving program content and format. This will be included in the Toolkit update later this spring.

Stayed tuned for more highlights from our 2017 Evaluation Report and be sure to click subscribe and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

–Liz Juchems

Update on Saturated Buffer Research and Installation Standards

Watch the Iowa Learning Farms webinar on April 18 at 12:00 p.m. to learn more about the latest research, installation standards and best management practices for saturated buffers. Dan Jaynes, Research Soil Scientist with the National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment (USDA-ARS), will share research results from several saturated buffers and will cover some of the recent changes in the practice standard. Don’t miss it!

DATE: Wednesday, April 18, 2018
TIME: 12:00 p.m.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE: Log on as a guest shortly before 12:00 p.m.:
https://connect.extension.iastate.edu/ilf/

More information about this webinar is available at our website. If you can’t watch the webinar live, an archived version will be available on our website: https://www.iowalearningfarms.org/page/webinars

–Julie Winter

Now accepting applications for Emerging Farmer Forum

The Emerging Farmers Forum is an all expenses paid two-day workshop/cabin stay with:

• Tours of Pinhook Farm, owned and operated by innovative + entrepreneurial farmer Seth Watkins
• Networking with fellow Emerging Farmers
• Exchanging ideas for financial planning, marketing, and diversification for the development of a sustainable business plan
• Hands-on activities and thought-provoking discussions on conservation practices
• Tips for facilitating crucial conversations with parents and family members as you transition into the farming operation

Who are emerging farmers?
Emerging farmers include anyone who has recently started farming, would like to farm or would like to have a voice in the management of their family’s farm.

To Apply: Application for August 2018 Emerging Farmer Forum

Application Deadline: Wednesday, May 16 – space is limited so apply today!
All applicants will be notified of their application status by June 1, 2018.

For more information click here.

Partners Include: Iowa Learning Farms, Seth Watkins, Nathan Anderson, Iowa Beef Center, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Community and Economic Development, Beginning Farmer Center and Practical Farmers of Iowa.

–Liz Juchems

 

Gathering everyone together to increase conservation efforts

Landowners have a great opportunity to shape how their land is managed. In Iowa, about 40% of agricultural land is owned by women.  It is crucial to have women represented at field days and workshops so they can make informed decisions in their operations and/or with their tenants.

For the past two years, 27% of Iowa Learning Farms attendees were women. From the 2017 demographic cards, 17% of all attendees who identified as farmers/operators or landowners were women; 40% of those who identified as “other” were women (government employees, agribusiness, students or educators). Since ILF first started hosting field days in 2004, the number of women attending field days has increased. More women are now serving as Extension Specialists, agronomists, and government employees and this is reflected in our data.

Women continue to play an active role in the farming operation with 43% of women attendees describing themselves as active farmers/operators and 64% describe themselves as landowners. Nearly 60% reported owning more than three-quarters of their land. This finding is consistent with the trend of increasing numbers of acres owned by female landowners. It is encouraging to see these women taking an active role in the management of their land as both farmer/operator and/or landowner.

In 2018, ILF will continue to seek new ways to increase female attendance, especially female farmers/operators and landowners, at field days and workshops. Women indicated to us that they would prefer to attend events on Tuesday-Thursday either in the morning (41%) or afternoon (57%). This year we are planning to offer events at these times to see if we can increase the number of women attending our events. We also plan to partner with organizations that focus on women farmers/operators and landowners.

Stayed tuned for more highlights from our 2017 Evaluation Report and be sure to click subscribe and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

–Liz Juchems