ISACD
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Farmer Demand far exceeds NRCS funding in Iowa; Is new funding on the horizon?
Posted onBy Rebekah Jones STATEWIDE, Iowa – March 28, 2026 – Only about one in five Iowa NRCS applications received conservation funding in 2025, according to NRCS data for three of the most popular farmer programs. Those programs pay for conservation practices like cover crops, prairie, and grazing infrastructure. Why it matters Demand grows, funding shrinks…
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Drainage water recycling improves crop yields and water quality
Posted onEmerging Farm Resiliency Practice Provides Significant Farm-Level and Public Benefits, New Report from EDF New economic analysis of drainage water recycling shows the practice can increase crop yields and improve water quality, highlighting the opportunity for public and private co-investment strategies October 21, 2025 – In the face of increasingly volatile and extreme weather across…
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What’s a bioreactor? New video reveals underground flow of water
Posted onDES 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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Taking control of water management on Iowa’s flat, fertile cropland
Posted onDrainage 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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Reap the rewards of better drainage practices with free land upgrades on your farm
Posted onIowa farmers face ag drainage problems. There are solutions. When farm field runoff flows through traditional tile drainage structures, water doesn’t have a chance to slow down and infiltrate the soil. This is not good for drought resiliency – which is becoming even more important as we face more dry summers. It also leads to…
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Agri Drain, ESE founder Charlie Schafer earns IAWA Private Impact award, honored at Iowa Watershed Awards
Posted onADAIR, Iowa (IAWA) – Agri Drain Corporation and Ecosystems Services Exchange (ESE) founder and leader Charlie Schafer has been named the winner of the 2023 Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance (IAWA) Private Impact Award, which will be presented at the Iowa Water Conference next week in Altoona. Schafer’s leadership at Agri Drain, ESE, and numerous ag…
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Relationships, trust key to a sustainable future in Iowa agriculture
Posted onAg retailers join forces with farmers, local officials to scale up conservation practices in the Cedar River Source Water Partnership By Adam Sodders, IAWA NEWHALL, Iowa (IAWA) – In the rolling hills of eastern Iowa’s Cedar River watershed, an exciting new kind of soil and water conservation partnership is finding success. As interest in improving…
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Walking in water
Posted onWatershed coordinators’ hands-on work improves NE Iowa streams By Dan Looker The Turkey River winds and ripples past limestone bluffs in Northeast Iowa and is a favorite of paddlers and anglers. But where the river starts, at a gently sloping corn field in Howard County, it looks more like an easily jumped ditch. Hunter Slifka,…