Conservation Compass

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  • Rooted in Stewardship: How Iowa Corn Growers Can Stay the Course on Conservation

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    By Greg Wandrey, Ph.D., Director of Sustainability, Iowa Corn Growers Association As an Iowa row-crop farmer, you know that cover crop season doesn’t start after harvest—it starts during the growing season. Although most cover crops are planted after harvest, some of you are already seeding cover crop seed into the standing crop before harvest. It’s…

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  • Momentum and Mission: Why I Believe in Iowa’s Conservation Future

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    By Jeff Lucas As a kid who grew up in Southeast Iowa where the Skunk and Des Moines rivers pour into the Mississippi, I developed an early respect for farmers and their role in improving the water we use every day. Now, I’m grateful to mark my one-year anniversary as executive director of Iowa Agriculture…

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  • Farmer leadership shines in NW Iowa

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    Farmer leadership shines in NW Iowa By Rebekah Jones In Northwest Iowa, a small but mighty movement is reshaping the way communities approach conservation. The Northwest Iowa Ag Stewardship Alliance, a grassroots coalition of local producers, is working to expand cover crops and no-till by putting farmers in the driver’s seat of sustainable agriculture. What…

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  • Motherhood on the farm: Easy? No. Worth it? Yes.

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    Motherhood on the farm: Easy? No. Worth it? Yes. Guest Mother’s Day post by Paula Ellis Being a mom is not an easy job. Being a farmer is not an easy job. Being a mom and farmer is definitely not an easy job. But we’re all the same; We just face different obstacles and challenges…

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  • A Sensible Trio: Farming, Conservation, and Motherhood

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    A Sensible Trio: Farming, Conservation, and Motherhood Guest Mother’s Day post by Kate Edwards, Wild Woods Farm You can find Wild Woods Farm on Instagram, their website, and Facebook. Our farm is a pocket-sized farm, like the corner grocery you love, because you know where every item is and don’t have to wander far. I…

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  •  What’s a bioreactor? New video reveals underground flow of water 

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      DES MOINES, Iowa (IAWA) — The Iowa Ag Water Alliance and several partners are releasing a new animated video that shows how bioreactors and saturated buffers clean tile drainage. It will be a critical tool in helping agronomists and water quality professionals promote these practices on farms.  What happens underground in a bioreactor or…

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  • IAWA wins top honors for costsharecompare.com 

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    MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (IAWA) – The Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance proudly received recognition for its website to help farmers demystify the many cover crop cost share options available to them.  The website, costsharecompare.com, allows Iowa farmers to filter cover crop payment programs by important factors like contract length, rates, and funding source. They can then compare details…

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  • Taking control of water management on Iowa’s flat, fertile cropland

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    Drainage Water Management practices support crop success, soil health, water quality  ADAIR, Iowa (IAWA) – Underground drainage tile has long been the go-to answer for handling water in northern and central Iowa’s flat, fertile, slow-draining cropland – but a newer approach is letting farmers choose how much water leaves their field and when. That approach,…

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  • Imagine a day without water 2024

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    ANKENY, Iowa (IAWA) – Water’s essential role in life on earth, everywhere and every day, is common knowledge. Despite its importance to everyday life (or maybe because of it), water can also be easy to take for granted.  That’s true even for folks whose day jobs revolve around Iowa water quality – and it’s why the…

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  • Beyond cost share – more bang for your cover crop buck

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    Cover crop seeding, equipment options can help save time, money By Adam Sodders ANKENY, Iowa (IAWA) – As cover crop acres have spread across Iowa in the last 10 years, Iowa farmers are ever more aware of their powerful water quality and soil benefits – and of the public and private cost share programs helping…

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