Stewardship Stressed in Iowa

Iowa water quality is in the spotlight for various reasons, most notably a federal lawsuit by the Des Moines Water Works against upstream drainage districts and counties over high nutrient loads, mainly nitrogen. Iowa's nutrient reduction strategy calls for the state to cut nitrogen and phosphorus in water by 45% using various methods. Farmers are about halfway toward the no-till practices goal, but fall short in areas such as cover crops, wetlands and bioreactors at the end of tiling lines to lower those nutrient loads.   A forum highlighted actions farmers have already taken, while stressing that more needs to be done. Northey pointed out an array of groups are now championing soil health practices across Iowa. He specifically mentioned the Soil Health Partnership developed by the National Corn Growers Association, which is working to measure how much organic matter in soil can be affected by changes in cropping practices.  "We certainly see improvements when we use cover crops and when we do no-till," Northey said. "Yet, we always struggle to try to measure those. That effort (the Soil Health Partnership) is really to try to figure out how we can measure those improvements." These practices and strategies need to be quantified for farmers and the public, Northey said. Farmers need to be shown that implementing conservation practices can provide economic benefits while the public needs to know that voluntary conservation is translating into better water quality. Annette Sweeney, a former state representative who farms in north-central Iowa, noted more technology is being brought to bear toward understanding water flow and movement off fields. Earlier this year, Sweeney hosted a team from NASA and several universities that calibrated satellite imagery to see how much moisture is moving through the soil and how much evaporates after rain events. The emphasis was more on water quantity than quality, she said.