Science

Farm conservation leaders describe trials and solutions

Photo courtesy Soil Health Partnership

KALONA, Iowa — Returns from conservation practices may be hard to quantify, and management challenges difficult to overcome, but Southeast Iowa farmers Steve Berger and Francis Thicke see viable solutions to preserve Iowa’s topsoil and reduce nutrient loss.

Berger and Thicke spoke at an event hosted by the Sierra Club of Southeast Iowa and the Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development at the Kalona Library May 16. A former USDA soil scientist, Thicke runs an 80-cow certified organic dairy on his farm near Fairfield, Iowa. Berger farms 2,200 acres and operates a 15,000-head hog operation near Wellman. Thicke discussed how the EPA’s Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan 2008, which was created to address excess nitrogen and phosphorus loads in the Mississippi River Basin, led to the creation of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy. But he said only 2 to 3 percent of Iowa acreage is now in cover crops, and nutrient levels in Iowa streams have yet to reverse their gradual uptrend. “Not enough farmers are participating,” Thicke said. He supports a “flexible regulatory approach” to address nutrient loss on the federal level, describing how regulators could use an equation to set a nutrient loss […]

More about no-till farming:

No-till farming can help save water, proponents say

Farmers’ efforts to help environment benefit Lancaster County farms

Cover Crops Look to be Changing Runoff Dynamics in Kansas

USDA: study finds no-till farming alone not sufficient to prevent water pollution from nitrate

Summary
Article Name
Farm conservation leaders describe trials and solutions
Description
Iowa farmers fighting to preserve topsoil and prevent nutrient loss say only 2-3% of farms are following best-practice guidelines.
Author
Publisher Name
Iowa Farmer Today
Publisher Logo

Recent Posts

LA River restoration connects us back to ‘the life force of our city’

Los Angeles residents at a section of the Los Angeles River cleanup in Los Angeles,…

2 days ago

LAist: New study raises questions about heavy metals in fire retardants

Over the past decade, about 67 million gallons of fire retardant have been dropped on…

2 days ago

Meadow and watershed restoration in the Golden Trout Wilderness

Photo: Golden Trout Wilderness Seeking blue, seeing gold The Kern Plateau features a chain of…

3 days ago

First sighting of salmon in 100 years marks key milestone for California dam removal

For the first time in more than a century, a salmon was observed swimming through Klamath…

1 week ago

Developing state water roadmaps is essential

New turnout facility from the California Aqueduct on Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. Officials say the…

2 weeks ago

Migration Matters: Breaking Down Barriers to Migration

Over the past century, humans have constructed major transportation infrastructure like highways, bridges, railroads, and…

3 weeks ago