Dr. Matt Helmers, Director of the Iowa Nutrient Research Center, grew up in Osceola County where his family has been farming for over 100 years. A lot has changed in this time including cropping rotation, equipment, and fertilizer application. Tune into the most recent ILF webinar, Impact of 100 Years of Agricultural Practice Changes on Sediment and Nutrient Loss from One Farm in Osceola County, IA, to see the history, find out progress that has been made, and Dr. Helmers’ recommendations for further progress.
Land use in the 1930s in Osceola County was a diverse cropping system with row crops, small grains, pasture, and hay. Today, over 80% of the land is used in a corn-soybean rotation. In the 1950s-70s tillage increased with the field cultivator and chisel plow, but now most of the county uses conservation tillage (30% of residue is left on the field). These changes have resulted in sediment loss increases and then decreases.
The area is seeing higher amounts of precipitation, especially in the spring with an average 3-inch increase, a yearly 4 to 5-inch increase. This in turn has resulted in the need for more drainage. As a result, runoff amounts have increased. Nitrate-N losses and concentration have also increased in the past 100 years.
There are solutions (shown in image above) and I encourage you all to tune into the webinar to hear Dr. Helmers explain them more in depth and to keep listening during the Q & A. Tune in to any previous webinars found in our archives.
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