Cover crops like cereal rye provide many benefits for Iowa’s crop land and water quality by reducing erosion and nutrient loss, while and increasing organic matter. As with any crop, nutrient availability is an essential detail that cannot be overlooked. In this week’s webinar, How Can Cereal Rye Affect Nitrogen Cycling and Crop Production, Richard Roth discusses the balance needed between environmental ecosystem services and maximizing production and profit to achieve a sustainably intensified agricultural system.
When considering nutrient use in Iowa, nitrogen is often the first that comes to mind. With cereal rye being a nitrogen scavenger in the soil, it is a key player in reducing nitrate to come closer to meeting EPA standards. Through his work, Roth has seen nearly a 50% reduction in nitrate loads with the addition of cereal rye in a cropping system. This is not to say a cereal rye cover crop doesn’t come without challenges. On average, Roth found a 6% to 6.5% yield reduction when planting cereal rye. With a high C:N ratio, time is also essential to break down cereal rye residue.
Although there are challenges when attempting to strike a balance between ecosystem services and maximizing production, there are steps that can lead to success in meeting both goals. To learn more about the affects of cereal rye on nitrogen cycling and crop production, watch this week’s full webinar. Also, tune in next week as Sheila Backer with Farmers Mutual Hail discuss How Crop Insurance Ties into Relay and Double Cropping Practices, and check out our archives for past webinars.
Agriculture has always been important for Iowa Learning Farms farmer partner Bill Buman. After 30 years as a full-time farmer, Bill has tried a variety of conservation practices ranging from cover crops to strip-cropping. Although he likes conventional row-crop agriculture, Bill wanted to tackle something more interesting. This led him to native seed production. Currently he is just one of four native seed producers in Iowa. By growing dozens of different native species, Bill plays a crucial role in helping return some of Iowa’s land back to native plantings.
Bill Buman in front of a seed separating machine
With a family history in Iowa dating back more than century, Bill is part of a rich farming history. While he considered a career in natural resources, it wasn’t until receiving his degree in Agronomy from Iowa State that Bill decided to become a full-time farmer. By 1993, he had fully taken over his family farm. As the sole decision maker, Bill began implementing no-tillage in 1995 and has been 100% no-till ever since. He has also planted cover crops on and off since 1997. In recent years, Bill has done trials with strip cropping. This practice of alternating 6 rows of corn and 6 rows of soybeans has shown potential despite drought conditions. Bill has also experimented with drone application of cover crop which has resulted in improved consistency across the field, as well as a reduction in seed drifting.
Native seed after the cleaning process
While corn and soybeans were profitable for him, Bill sought something more challenging. He found this in native seed production. Instead of planting just two species, he now plants up to 50 different species each year. The result is two high tunnel greenhouses filled with roughly 100,000 forbs, grasses, legumes, and sedges. As the weather warms each plant is transplanted outdoors where their lifespans can range from one to 15 years. With the increased biodiversity comes increased labor. Labor for 20 acres of land in native seed production can be equivalent to 2,000-3,000 acres in row-crop agriculture. Each day during spring and summer, Bill and his employees can plant as many as 8,000 native plants. This is in addition to the harvesting and weeding of other established native plants. Adding to the difficulty, each species thrives in different conditions. Therefore, if he plants 50 different species, he may only harvest 30. This also leads to a range of prices on certain species. Some seed is hard to sell while others, like Prairie Phlox, can sell for a considerably high price. All this work results in seed that can be utilized for many purposes such as transitioning land into the Conservation Reserve Program or restored prairie.
Bill’s Greenhouse sits empty, waiting for spring
Unfortunately, many challenges face Iowa farmers today. One being the widespread drought conditions. Bill noted that while he did plant some cover crops this year, they likely didn’t germinate due to lack of moisture. In addition to troubling weather patterns, he sees other challenges to the adoption of conservation practices. For example, people trying out cover crops often don’t make another attempt if they see poor results. Bill understands the importance of a learning curve, as he’s had to take many risks in his time doing native seed production. It is through time and trying new things that a farmer can troubleshoot issues and make conservation practices a key part of their operation. As Bill produces native seed, he continues to benefit our state’s soil health and water quality by reintroducing biodiversity into Iowa’s landscape.
With a lifelong involvement in agriculture, I have grown to appreciate seeing weedless, straight-rowed crop fields. However, I tend to find more appreciation for the parts of Iowa that look unchanged from what the state would have been hundreds of years ago. Whether it’s an established timber or a tallgrass prairie, there is something about natural areas that fill me with joy. These areas also give me hope that our state is moving in a direction that focuses less on the expansion of monocrop systems, and more towards the diversification of Iowa’s landscape.
The outdoors have always played a key role in my life. From a young age, I loved being outside. With my dad being an avid hunter and fisherman, I quickly followed suit. During the summer, we spent many Saturdays on the water seeing what we could catch. Later in the year, when the leaves started to turn and the air cooled, we replaced our fishing poles with bows and prepared for deer hunting season. In addition to hunting for deer, we occasionally hunted for something less common – morel mushrooms. No matter what we were seeking or how much success we had, we enjoyed all the new adventures.
As anyone who hunts or fishes knows, there is always the possibility you’ll come home empty handed. My dad instilled this knowledge in me from the first time I went fishing. I’ll admit that fishing wasn’t always fun. Spending a 90-degree day being swarmed by bugs and not even getting a nibble was upsetting. Fortunately, it wasn’t a total loss. Through these long trips with no success, I gained a great deal of patience. It was also during one of these slow-going days that my dad told me a piece of advice that I didn’t fully understand at the time, “It’s not all about catching fish”. As a young child, I was fairly certain the whole reason we were there was to catch fish. Looking back, I understand what he meant. Going home with fish is great, but there was so much more to fishing.
With the hustle and bustle of modern-day life, it’s easy to overlook our natural surroundings. Having nothing except water, trees, and the sounds of wildlife around you is priceless. It gives an opportunity to step away from the stresses of life and take a deep breath. Nowadays, I don’t worry so much about catching fish or filling my deer tag. I sit back and enjoy the rare opportunity to hear nothing but the natural world around me.
Lake Red Rock is known for its scenic views and recreation opportunities, but what about its denitrification potential? Fed by the Des Moines River, the lake’s water comes from both the Des Moines Lobe and the Southern Iowa Drift Plains. While this provides an ample supply of water to keep the lake full, it also aids in the transport of nitrate and sediment. In this week’s webinar, Using Delta Sediments and Pool Levels to Increase Nitrate-Nitrogen Reductions at Lake Red Rock, Matthew Streeter and Keith Schilling share about their project to determine the effect of water levels on water quality.
Understanding how water levels will affect nitrate reduction begins by looking at historical data. Luckily, Lake Red Rock has nitrate load data going back to 1978. Utilizing this data Streeter and Schilling found that a majority of the nitrate load can be attributed to the Des Moines River, with only 3% coming from tributary areas. They also discovered a 12.4% reduction in nitrates as water moved through the lake. In addition to incoming nitrates from the Des Moines River, sediments also play a key role. Using satellite imagery and hand collected soil samples, Streeter and Schilling were able to create a map of the delta that offered insight into the denitrifying abilities of the soil.
With the top 4 feet of sediment accounting for 8% of eroded soil since 1992, the denitrification potential has increased greatly. Find out more about increased nitrate load reduction in Lake Red Rock by watching this week’s full webinar. Also, tune in next week as we hear from Abigail Schulte from Iowa State University discuss Solid-State Anaerobic Digestion of Prairie Biomass and Beef Manure and check out our archive to watch past webinars.
Getting a start in agriculture at ten years old, Iowa Learning Farms farmer partner Devin Davis understands the importance of preserving the land. When he became a key decision maker on his family’s Warren County farm in 2019, Devin pushed to implement practices such as no-tillage, cover crops, and buffer strips. With a goal of expanding conservation practices on his family’s 2,000 acres, Devin does all he can to benefit his land while remaining profitable.
Devin Davis on his farm in Warren County
While his immediate family started farming in 2000, Devin has an agricultural heritage that runs eight generations deep. As a child, and throughout his teenage years, he helped where he could. Following his graduation from high school, Devin earned his degree in political science from the University of Northern Iowa and went on to Drake Law School. After passing the Bar Exam in 2015 and receiving his associate degree at the Culinary Institute of America in 2019, Devin returned to Warren County. Upon his return in 2019, Devin took on a leadership role on his family’s farm. Currently, he farms full time in addition to being a part time lawyer in Des Moines.
Overlooking Devin’s farm
Conservation can be seen in many forms across Devin’s land. As a farmer and a lawyer, he understands the value of time. Because of this, nearly all his acres are no-till. This reduces the time spent making multiple passes in each field. In addition, Devin currently plants roughly 300 acres of cover crops. His hope is to increase the number of acres planted into cover crops through the Conservation Stewardship Program. Nutrient management is another important issue for Devin. By only applying nitrogen in the spring, he hopes to reduce losses and improve the effectiveness of his application. This year, Devin also attempted to double crop winter wheat and soybeans. The wheat was harvested in July and sold as grain, and soybeans were planted immediately after. Due to the lack of rain, he is unsure how well the soybean crop will yield but he hopes this experiment could lead to opportunities in the future. Other practices on Devin’s farm include buffer strips on field edges and controlled traffic patterns to reduce compaction.
Devin talks about his experiences at a field day
Conservation practices don’t come without their challenges. One challenge Devin noted is the tradeoff of short-term and long-term gains. It’s common to focus on the short-term goals such as reaching record yields. In addition to increased yields, Devin’s larger goal is to gain the long-term benefits of his conservation practices through improved soil health and water quality. As time goes on, he hopes to see people hold the idea of maintaining the health of the land as high as maintaining crop production.
Despite challenges, Devin takes great pride in all the pieces that go into being an Iowa farmer. “I don’t think there’s any other job in the world that requires such a broad, diverse set of skills and abilities.” Devin notes a farmer has to be a mechanic, agronomist, weatherman, and a salesman all in one. Being able to constantly learn has motivated Devin to keep looking forward to new opportunities and continue, “to do right by our families, right by our communities, and right by our land.”
May is American Wetlands Month and what better way to celebrate than with a whole webinar on wetlands! Although many think of wetlands as secluded places out in nature, they can actually be found in some of Iowa’s largest cities. In this week’s webinar, Urban Wetlands 101, John Swanson with Polk County Public Works dives into the important role wetlands can play in urban landscapes.
With increased urbanization comes changes in the way water flows across the land. This water can no longer absorb into the ground and is now sent directly to water bodies via underground storm drains. This altered movement of water not only aids in the transport of pollutants, but also allows water to move faster which can result in unstable stream banks. Swanson notes that one solution to the problem is working with individual homeowners to implement practices like rain gardens, permeable pavers, and rain barrels. Another solution to this problem is creating urban wetlands.
Two types of wetlands can be found in urban settings – stormwater wetlands and urban oxbows. These wetlands can have many goals, but as Swanson notes, the major goal is to slow the water to prevent issues downstream. While there are many parts to a successful urban wetland, Swanson breaks it down into 10 lessons learned from their efforts. To learn more about these 10 lessons, watch this week’s full webinar. Also, tune in next week to hear from Wendong Zhang on Decoding Iowa Farmers’ Understanding of Edge-of-Field Practices and check out the archives to watch past webinars.
With a rich family history in rural Harrison County, Iowa Learning Farms farmer partner Brandon McHugh is no stranger to the world of agriculture. With 1,700 acres of crops, 150 head of cattle, and four poultry buildings, he knows the importance of being a steward of the land. No-tillage and cover crops have helped Brandon reduce inputs, but he continues to experiment with new ways to lessen his impact. As a member of Iowa State University’s Master Conservationist Program, Brandon hopes to be a leader in soil and water quality.
Brandon McHugh stands in front of his cover crop seed drill
Born into a farm family, Brandon was immersed in agriculture as a child. After graduating high school, he chose to enlist in the U.S. Army and served in Kuwait for three years. Returning in 1995, Brandon again became an important part of his family’s cattle and row crop operation. It was at this time that he also decided to further his education and earned his degree in farm management from Iowa Western Community College. With his new education and partnership in the farm, Brandon established Two Oaks Red Angus in 2005. Since then, Brandon’s operation has added four poultry buildings that supply broiler chickens to a large supermarket chain. Over his career in agriculture, Brandon has come to see the importance of conservation on Iowa’s landscape. Mainly utilizing cover crops and no-tillage, he is working towards his larger goal of reducing the need for human-made inputs. To help boost the growth of his cover and cash crops, Brandon recently installed subsurface irrigation. This new addition to his farm will also reduce risk during dry years. Brandon’s hope is that combining these practices will lead to more stable soils and cleaner water.
Brandon’s four poultry buildings
In his push towards conservation, Brandon didn’t stop with common practices. His most recent efforts have been looking at the benefits of agricultural biologicals that could help with a crop’s nutrient uptake. Ideally, these products would reduce the need for commercial fertilizer by taking additional nutrients out of the soil and air. Brandon also has interest in utilizing drones for pesticide application. With consistent labor hard to find, his hope is that the new technology could save the need for another employee.
The filter setup for Brandon’s subsurface irrigation system
Brandon’s push for conservation hasn’t come without challenges. His biggest hurdle is the lack of reliable help. He estimates he has had 12 employees since 2006. Brandon also struggled establishing cover crops on his first attempt. Despite being unsuccessful initially, he planted cover crops again. “You can’t always get discouraged when you have a flop, farming is a marathon.” His overarching goal with cover crops is to benefit the soil in the long run, not improve his yield. Cover crops have also helped Brandon grow a more consistent crop over the years. He notes seeing his fields continue to produce fair yields even during seasons of adverse weather. For Brandon, a consistent crop is crucial to a farm. With no guarantee of a crop every year, Brandon thinks farmers should be doing all they can to reduce variability.
As Brandon looks into the future of nutrient management, he can’t help but remember his roots. Being part of a long line of farmers, he sees the benefits of growing up in Iowa. Even with hardships, Brandon finds joy in waking up every day to work with his livestock and surround himself with nature. With the legacy he has built upon, Brandon pushes to better the land so it can someday be passed on the next generation of Iowa farmers.
Cost share programs play an integral role in the adoption of conservation practices. Although cost share programs often ensure a practice is implemented, they don’t always follow-up to assess the performance of the practice. In our most recent webinar, Pay for Performance: Cost Share Alternative to Increase Nonpoint Source Pollution Reduction, Timothy Rosen shares new ways to incentivize conservation practices beyond installation.
Currently, conservation practices often rely heavily on cost-share programs or grants that help farmers and landowners offset expenses. Despite the variety of cost share programs, areas like the Chesapeake Bay are not meeting water quality goals. As director of agriculture and restoration at ShoreRivers, Rosen understands the need for alternatives to the traditional cost share format. Through a study, it was found that incentive and voluntary programs are unlikely to result in meeting nutrient reduction goals.
Instead of a traditional cost share programs which would result in a single payment to the landowner to put a practice into place, organizations like ShoreRivers have been pushing for performance-based incentives. By monitoring for things like pounds of nitrogen reduced, acres implemented, or carbon sequestered, farmers can be further rewarded for the performance of their practices. To learn more about alternatives to cost share, watch this week’s full webinar. Also, tune in next as Sarah Castle discusses Social-Ecological Suitability of Agroforestry in the U.S. Midwest and check out archives for past webinars.
Why do farmers implement conservation practices? With a wide array of voluntary conservation practices available, it’s becoming more important to understand why farmers and landowners are doing these things. In our most recent webinar, Motivating Conservation in the Upper Midwest: Linking Attention, Communications, and Land Management Decisions, Dr. Dara Wald and Ph.D. student Miguel Diaz explore the factors that guide decision makers towards conservation.
Although conservation practices are currently voluntary, support for them has gone up considerably over the years. The adoption of new practices can often be associated with three factors: extension trainings, connections to conservation organizations, and financial incentives. All three of the factors are connected because they all facilitate learning, which is a key part to making decisions on the farm. Media also plays a critical role in a farmer’s or landowner’s ideas on a practice.
To grow their understanding for the adoption of conservation practices, Dr. Wald and Diaz created a study. By sending out surveys to farmers and landowners across the state of Iowa, they hoped to gather data to help determine who was concerned about the issues, what issues stood out, how information moved, and more. To learn about the results of this study, check out this week’s full webinar. Also, tune in next week to hear from Denise Schwab as she discusses Pasture Management Following a Drought, and explore our archives for past webinars.
Agriculture is ever-changing. Whether you’re a small scale organic farmer or a large row crop farmer, innovation continues to push production to new limits. While some focus on the newest way to boost yield or cutdown on inputs, others are finding interest in the newest ways to reduce their impact on the environment. As our impacts as humans continue to cause stress on the land and water, it is crucial to continue to look towards the future of conservation to improve Iowa down the line.
In less than a year with Iowa Learning Farms, I have had the opportunity to learn about a variety of new ideas to benefit Iowa’s water. One that stands out is the idea of drainage water recycling. This concept would divert water from drainage tile into a retention pond. This water, now containing nitrate from the field, would then be utilized to irrigate crops. This would keep the nitrate cycling in the field and prevent it from entering water bodies. Prairie strips strategically placed throughout a field are another, less drastic, method for helping with water quality that I had never been introduced to. These strips greatly reduce sediment transport and allow for greater water infiltration. In addition, these prairie strips are extremely beneficial to pollinators.
Honey bees thriving in a prairie strip
Keeping Iowa’s water clean is only part of bettering Iowa’s natural resources. Soil health is another key factor that I continue to see great ideas and innovations occurring. One idea I have just recently been introduced to is wide row planted corn. This practice involves planting twin rows of corn spaced widely apart, often 60 inches. In between these twin rows, a farmer can then plant a cover crop or grazing crop. Therefore, the corn can be harvested for grain, and the field has the possibility to be grazed after harvest, the soil is covered year-round. The year-round cover can benefit soil organisms, while also increasing infiltration and soil holding ability.
A wide row corn test plot grown by an ILF farmer partner planted in 60″ rows
I am happy to say that these practices are just some of the many being researched. Seeing these up incoming ideas gives me great hope that conservation agriculture is moving in the right direction. With continued research, I look forward to seeing where each of these practices will be in 10 years. These practices also get me excited for the opportunities and innovations we have to look forward to. As I continue to move though my career, I cannot wait to see where conservation agriculture is headed and how it will benefit the next generation of Iowan’s.
Iowa Learning Farms 