Practices
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Rooted in Stewardship: How Iowa Corn Growers Can Stay the Course on Conservation
Posted onBy 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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Farmer leadership shines in NW Iowa
Posted onFarmer 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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Taylor County’s Erin Ogle named 2024 Watershed Coordinator of the Year
Posted onTAYLOR COUNTY, IA (IAWA) — Erin Ogle, Project Coordinator for the Taylor Soil and Water Conservation District, has been named the 2024 Watershed Coordinator of the Year for her programs that not only improve water quality, but also support local businesses in Southwest Iowa. Ogle’s work revolves around livestock-friendly conservation. Through the Iowa Working Lands…
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Iowa’s Oxbow Stewards’ water quality work earns Team Impact Award
Posted onTeam’s collaboration, expertise fuels surge in restored oxbows statewide ANKENY, Iowa (IAWA) – A statewide team of water quality and habitat experts is breathing new life into old, cut off river segments – known as oxbows – and their work is being recognized with the 2024 IAWA Team Impact Award. Oxbows form when a…
Posted in Central Iowa, New, NRSWO, Oxbows, Public-Private Partnerships, Spotlight Stories, Watershed Awards -
NE Iowa farmer leads the way in profitable conservation
Posted onBy Dan Looker The word, genius, brings to mind researchers in lab coats. Or Einstein’s shock of unruly white hair. As Loran Steinlage’s pickup truck bounces past a cornfield, genius isn’t how he describes himself. Yet each field on his farm near West Union, Iowa, is an experiment with an operator that fits…
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IAWA launches guide to compare Iowa cover crop payment programs
Posted onNews Release FOR RELEASE ON: June 25, 2024 CONTACT: Rebekah Jones, Cell: 515- 901-3147 | rjones@iaagwater.org IAWA launches guide to compare Iowa cover crop payment programs ANKENY, IA (IAWA) — By stacking incentives, some farmers could get paid $100 or more per acre for planting new cover crops, but it’s not always easy to keep…
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Water quality efforts blossom in the Cedar Valley
Posted onEastern Iowa farmers, landowners add more “Batch and Build” projects, cover crops By Dan Looker CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (IAWA) – In 2008, the Cedar River – namesake of the city of Cedar Rapids – surged from its banks to leave more than a tenth of the city in muck and destruction. That disaster, among the…
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From prairie meadows to renewable fuel: how one man’s vision could reshape the Midwest
Posted onBy Dan Looker Rudi Roeslein was born in Salzburg, Austria, not far from mountain meadows where the movie, The Sound of Music, was filmed. His family emigrated to St Louis when he was a boy and today Roeslein has a vision of spreading different flowering fields–30 million acres of native tallgrass prairies–in his adopted country,…
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From deadly dams to revitalized recreation: Iowa initiatives transform waterways
Posted onBy Dan Looker ICON Water Trails continues building momentum for 150 miles of waterway recreation while the Wetland Wave supports water quality to improve the recreation experience. DES MOINES, Iowa (IAWA) – Not far from Hannah Inman’s office south of downtown Des Moines, the Des Moines River below the Scott Street Dam is a jumble…
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Here to help – farmers support farmers in adding regenerative practices
Posted onIowa farmer, Dean Sponheim, nears 100,000 acres of cover crops with his entrepreneurial endeavors, after seeing successful cover crops on his own farm in 2012. By Dan Looker OSAGE, Iowa (IAWA) It’s a warm, sunny February day in Osage, Iowa, where about 100 farmers are gathered inside a meeting hall at the Mitchell County Fairgrounds.…