Kristi Heffelmeier began her agricultural journey in 2013 after several years teaching in Texas. As the fifth generation to farm the land, she began working her way into the farming operation with her father, Chris Foss. The opportunity to farm also opened doors to further implement conservation practices across the family operation as Kristi hopes to pass the agricultural legacy on to her son.
Conservation has been a part of Kristi’s family farm for decades. Her father began using no-till and strip-till practices in the late 1990s. He also began utilizing cover crops in 2011 to help prevent soil loss after the harvest of seed corn.
During her recent field day, Kristi highlighted the more recent addition to their conservation plan – a woodchip bioreactor. “We were excited to work with the Miller Creek Watershed Project to install the bioreactor. While still working great, we will need to make a decision about recharging the woodchips in the coming years,” noted Kristi. “Based on the location, we are considering the installation of a saturated buffer instead to get the same impact without needing to recharge the woodchips over time.”
“Strip-till is as it sounds, strips of tillage. You can easily plant green into cereal rye – even with corn,” noted Tama County farmer and field day speaker Pete Youngblut. “An added benefit is you are able to put fertilizer in the tillage area to allow easy access to the corn plants.”
Pete noted the many ways he is able to increase efficiency, and save money, through the utilization of strip-till in combination with variable rate applications based on soil sampling results.
“Not only am I saving money by reducing costs, it [strip-till] also provides water quality benefits by reducing soil erosion from my land today for the future,” commented Pete. “It’s fast and simple!”
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