With wide-ranging impacts at the interface of farm management policy and practices, carbon is the new black these days. In the most recent episode of the Iowa Learning Farms Conservation Webinar Series, Dr. Steven Hall addressed the complexities and realities of carbon cycling in his talk A Virtuous Cycle of Soil Organic Matter in Diversified Cropping Systems.
Focused on carbon and nitrogen cycling dynamics in agricultural soils, Hall is an assistant professor and extension specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In this webinar presentation, Hall shared findings and insights from two different studies featuring long-term diversified cropping systems in central Iowa.
3 key take-home points that jumped out at me from Hall’s webinar:
1. Soils are not buckets when it comes to storing carbon. Soils are complex, adaptive, ever-changing systems.
2. Long-term diversified cropping systems and perennial vegetation systems led to little observable change in soil organic carbon.
3. HOWEVER, these diversified systems have the potential to offer substantial water quality and climate benefits—increased water infiltration, improved water quality through reduced nitrate leaching, and reduced nitrous oxide emissions.
Check out Hall’s full presentation, A Virtuous Cycle of Soil Organic Matter in Diversified Cropping Systems, for further details on this fascinating work addressing numerous facets of carbon and nitrogen cycling in agricultural soils. And to catch up on any other webinars in the ILF Conservation Webinar series, all past presentations are archived on the ILF Webinars page for your viewing pleasure.
On behalf of the Iowa Learning Farms team, thank you to all of our hosts, speakers, and partners for a great return to a full field day season. This year, we hosted 30 in-person events and 3 virtual field days! The topics included cover crops, grazing, relay intercropping, diversified agricultural systems, soil health, strip-till/no-till, saturated buffers, bioreactors, wetlands, water quality, perennial vegetation, modified blind inlets, and beaver impacts on water quality. The combinations of these practices implemented on our landscape are key to helping reach our Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategygoals.
Keep an eye out this January! We will be sending a brief survey to all farmers and landowners who attended an ILF-sponsored field day or workshop.
As we look to celebrate 20 years of the Iowa Learning Farms in 2024, be sure to check out our events page on our website and subscribe to our e-newsto attend an event near you or online!
The year is almost over, but fantastic webinars are still happening weekly. Here is a quick recap of Novembers webinars in case you missed any!
Movement of Soil in Corn and Soybean Fields Managed with Prairie Strips: Do prairie strips stop erosion? Does their location in the field matter for erosion reduction? Jessica Nelson, Iowa State University graduate student, discussed results from a 12-field study analyzing prairie strips effectiveness with different tillage managements.
Perennial and Winter Annual Crops for Economic and Environmental Benefit: Tune into this webinar to learn about University of Minnesota’s Forever Green Initiative, which is studying continuous living cover ability with 16 different crops. Matt Leavitt discussed how a continuous living cover can reduce soil erosion and impact water quality. Check out the webinar to learn more about the 4 crops Matt says are best for integrating into a corn-soybean rotation system.
ManureDB: The Creation and Launch of the Largest Manure Nutrient Database in the US: Learn about the new manure database created to update manure book values. In the webinar, Nancy Bohl Bormann, University of Minnesota PhD candidate, discusses how the samples are analyzed by different labs across the country and added to the database.
Blast from the Past: November 25, 2020 – Can Moments of Awe and Gratitude Improve the Environment?: Tune into Dr. Jacqueline Comito’s webinar to learn what science says about how experiences of awe and expressions of gratitude can impact environmental attitudes and behaviors.
This week’s webinar featured Matt Leavitt, agronomist with the Forever Green Initiativeat the University of Minnesota, sharing the program’s efforts to have living roots in the ground year-round. For most of the Midwest, there is a large portion of the year where precipitation and solar radiation are underutilized. These ‘brown months’ have a significant impact on water quality and soil erosion as the soil is left exposed to rain events and nitrate is not being used by living roots.
The Forever Green Initiative’s goal is to have continuous living cover, and is working on 16 different crops to help achieve these goals. In the webinar, Leavitt focused on four of the crops that can be most easily integrated into current corn/soybean systems: winter barley, hybrid winter rye, camelina, and intermediate wheatgrass (Kernza). He discusses the benefits and challenges of each of these crops, including the current marketability of the grains.
While winter barley, hybrid winter rye, and camelina are winter annual crops, Kernza is a perennial crop that can be easily blended with wheat for most products, including the brewing and distilling industry products. Not only does Kernza have favorable end-use food options, but it also provides excellent forage and grazing potential while leaching nearly no nitrate from the system.
Please join us for the Iowa Learning Farms webinar at noon CST, Wednesday, Nov. 15, featuring Matt Leavitt, perennial grains and winter annuals agronomy specialist, University of Minnesota. Leavitt provides agronomic assistance to growers in Minnesota, supporting the incorporation of winter annual grains and oilseed crops on their farms. He also supports the Environmental & Economic Cluster of Opportunity (EECO) grant from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
In the webinar, “Perennial and Winter Annual Crops for Economic and Environmental Benefit,” Leavitt will showcase the Forever Green Initiative at the University of Minnesota and offer insights into this unique breeding and commercialization platform that develops continuous living cover crops. He will share the goals of the program and highlight the ecosystem benefits the crops provide to agricultural landscapes while also delivering economic returns to farmers and landowners.
“Winter annual grains and oilseeds offer farmers and landowners a tangible way to diversify their income stream,” said Leavitt. “These options also protect and enhance soil health and stability through erosion prevention and reduction of nutrient loading.”
Webinar participants are encouraged to ask questions of the presenters. People from all backgrounds and areas of interest are encouraged to join.
Webinar Access Instructions
To participate in the live webinar, shortly before noon CST Nov. 15:
A Certified Crop Adviser board-approved continuing education unit (CEU) has been applied for. Those who participate in the live webinar are eligible. Information about how to apply to receive the credit will be provided at the end of the live webinar.
Did you miss any of our webinars this last month? Have no fear! They can all be found in our archives to watch at any time. Join us live for webinars in November using our NEW LINK.
Does Climate Change Change Our Water Quality Challenges and Design of Drainage Systems?:Dr. Matt Helmers discussed changing precipitation amounts in Iowa due to climate change. As a result drainage amounts increase and so do nitrate loads. Dr. Helmers discussed various in-field and edge-of-field practices as well as early results from pilot drainage water recycling projects.
Water Issues in Iowa: The Urban-Rural Divide Revisited: Dr. Jacqueline Comito showcased the new Water Issues in Iowa report. Dr. Comito delved deep into the findings of what rural and urban residents think about water quality in Iowa. Read the full report to hear what college students think as well.
Blast from the Past: October 2017 – Management-Intensive Grazing and Grasslands: Joe Sellers, a long time ISU Extension Beef Field Specialist, shared results from long-term grazing studies. Sellers also discussed how pasture helps store carbon, why water placement is critical, how to manage the grass throughout the growing season, and improving efficiency.
Earlier this month, we had the opportunity to host a field day with Wendy Johnson and Johnny Rafkin’s farm near Charles City to explore how they use diversified agricultural systems to enhance their farm’s climate resiliency and financial sustainability.
Wendy and John started Jóia Food & Fiber Farm in 2010 with a mission to farm holistically. While farming organic row crops, they decided to keep some of the land to pasture for soil health, water quality, and drainage concerns. The farm is now certified organic, with some acres in transition to organic using Kernza. Sheep and lambs are certified Animal Welfare Approved and they also raise pigs, broiler chickens, layer chickens, turkeys, a few cows of their own and custom graze a 25 cow/calf herd. With growing interest in agroforestry, they are utilizing silvopasture by integrating trees and shrubs, including fruit and nut types, in their pastures.
The field day featured four stops around their farm to take a closer look at how they have integrated perennial vegetation, agroforestry, and livestock on their farm. The first two stops focused on agroforestry with Jenn Ripp, agroforestry educator with the Savanna Institute, and Omar de Kok-Mercado, Mad Agriculture Midwest regional manager, discussing the integration of enhanced windbreaks and silvopasture.
Wendy and Johnny are utilizing a combination of alley cropping and silvopasture that allows them to hay the areas between the rows, which they intend to begin grazing with sheep in the next three years as the trees mature. As Omar noted, “This type of silvopasture can be viewed as a long-term rotation where the trees can be harvested and the area seeded back to pasture, hay or row crops. They aim to mimic the savanna that was once present on Iowa’s landscape with 10-15% canopy cover and have a more productive system than prairie or forest on their own.”
The third stop was a discussion of adaptive grazing with Johnny describing their rotational grazing system for the cow/calf and sheep herd. They have been able to graze 50 acres with 50 animal units all summer without supplementing feed, despite only having 8 inches of rain since May.
“We use adaptive grazing to set up paddocks to rotate them daily to help allow for rest and regrowth with an ideal 60 days of rest and a minimum of 45 days,” noted Jonny. “I also highly encourage you to map your pastures and track your paddocks to ensure proper rest is provided for regrowth.”
Using adaptive management has also significantly reduced their need to treat their sheep herd for worms. Prior to adopting their current system, they would treat every animal three times annually. In the past four years, they noted they have had to treat only 5 animals total which has saved time and expenses, as well as reduced the treatment resistance potential in their herd.
Our final stop was the recently harvested Kernza field with Matt Leavitt, perennial grains and winter annuals agronomy specialist at the University of Minnesota Forever Green. Kernza, an intermediate wheatgrass (scientific name: Thinopyrum intermedium) was selected our of nearly 300 screened species because it had many desirable traits and was already being used in the United States as a pasture and rangeland grass.
Wendy and Johnny are harvesting and marketing the Kernza grain through the Perennial Promise Growers Cooperative. With the harvest completed about 3 weeks prior and the need for additional forage for the cattle, they are now having their herd graze the field. They anticipate having three years of grain harvest before a noticeable yield decline and will seed the next portion of their rotation. As a food grain, Kernza made an appearance in the bread and dessert provided for lunch and beer samples from BANG Brewing that featured Kernza in the brewing process.
Be sure to save the date for a virtual field day with Wendy and their farm on Thursday, December 7th at 1pm CT.
Make plans to join us at one of our upcoming field days! Each includes a great program and a complimentary meal. Please RSVP to ilf@iastate.edu or 515-294-5429 to help ensure space and food!
August 22, 2023 | 5:00-7:00pm Prairie and Forestry Field Day Eric Boehm Farm 12663 D Ave Wadena, IA 52169
August 24, 2023 | 10:30am-12:30pm Establishing and Managing Perennial Vegetation and CRP Wade Dooley Farm 1/2 mile north of Timmons Grove County Park 1755 Marsh Ave Albion, IA 50005
August 29, 2023 | 5:00-7:00pm Honoring Leopold’s Legacy Garrison House 106 N 16th St Clarinda, IA 51632
August 30, 2023 | 10:30-12:30pm Grazing Field Day Calvin Van Genderen’s Farm and Reclaimed Abandoned Mine Land 19572 165th St. Eddyville, IA 52553
August 31, 2023 | 6:00-7:00pm Conservation On Tap Kinship Brewing Co. 255 NW Sunrise Dr Waukee, IA 50263
September 6, 2023 | 12:00-2:00pm Diversified Agriculture Systems: Grazing, Agroforestry and Kernza Jóia Food & Fiber Farm 2038 March Avenue Charles City, IA 50616
As I have told many people the favorite part of my week is when I get to host the Iowa Learning Farms Webinars. Why you might ask? Well I have a tough time staying focused on one task but when I host the webinars it is my 30-45 minutes of focusing on what the presenter is saying and learning something new. Too often my schedule is filled with meetings of one kind or another but in hosting the webinars I get to hear about new science, Extension work, or implementation on the ground. It reminds me why I enjoy this work and that it is fun to constantly learn something new. So, while I know Alena Whitaker did her top 10 webinars for this year, I thought I would list 5 that I hosted that were memorable. I will say I did not list those from my ILF colleagues as of course I thought those were important and memorable contributions. So, here are my top 5 in no particular order:
Laura Alt – From Rump to Runoff. I mean the title got me from the start. This webinar touched on an important topic of Anti-Microbial Resistance which is a critical topic as we think of manure applied to Midwestern soils.
Raj Raman – Perennial Ground Cover. Raj is always an engaging speaker but the concept of perennial ground cover is very intriguing and I am very excited to see the progress they make over the next few years with this large interdisciplinary project.
Mike Burchell from North Carolina State University is another in my top 5. It was interesting to learn about carbon sequestration potential in other parts of the U.S. specifically some of the tidal marshes.
Dan Andersen discussed Manure: Ancient Fertilizer in a Digital Age. I remember this one as it held my attention while driving to Iowa City. No, I did not see any of the graphics but the discussion of the importance of manure and appropriate management for supplying our nutrient needs was interesting and important.
Ann Johanns webinar on Farmland Leasing Considerations in Conservation Systems Adoption is the last in my top 5. With so much rented land in Iowa it is important to consider the many dynamics at play in leasing arrangements. She highlighted the importance of open conversations in working through these issues is critical. A comment she made that I think was insightful was that discussions that help the land thrive are often the ones that need to be kept off the table at Thanksgiving.
I said I would list five but I had to add one last one and it was the last one for 2022 by Etienne (Herrick) Sutton. I thought this one was quite important in describing a project where they examined cover crop growth through a citizen science program.
It was another great year for webinars and I hope those that tuned in live or via archive view enjoyed them and got as much out of them as I did, and if you have some extra time have a look through the archive of past webinars as there may be something there that might be informative. I will also put a plug in that if you have topics you would like to hear. Send us a note. We are always up for requests!!
On behalf of the Iowa Learning Farms team, thank you to all of our hosts, speakers, and partners for a great return to a full field day season. This year we hosted 26 in-person events and 7 virtual field days! The topics included: cover crops, grazing, soil health, strip-till/no-till, saturated buffers, bioreactors, wetlands, water quality, and perennial vegetation. The combinations of these practices implemented on our landscape are key to helping reach our Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategygoals.
Keep an eye out this January! We will be sending a brief survey to all farmers and landowners who attended an ILF-sponsored field day or workshop.
Iowa Learning Farms 