Rural & Urban Partnerships
What makes IAWA’s work so powerful is that its benefits go far beyond the farm. Cover crops don’t just protect fields—they also improve water quality for communities downstream. Wetlands and native prairie transform underused land into natural flood buffers and wildlife havens.
Conservation isn’t just about sustainability on the farm—it’s about creating benefits for everyone.
Urban and rural working together
A mission rooted in the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy
IAWA’s mission is rooted in the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy, created by these three organizations to impact both local communities, and downstream water all the way to the Gulf off the coast of Louisiana. The Iowa NRS outlines science-based practices like wetlands, cover crops, prairie, and more that can make a real difference downstream when implemented in quantity. The NRS’s agriculture goal is a 45 percent reduction in nitrogen and phosphorus losses.
Cedar River Source Water Partnership
Urban-rural Collaboration
IAWA is proud to be a partner in the Cedar River Source Water Partnership, a project that aims to treat more than 37,000 acres upstream of Cedar Rapids’ drinking water sources. It’s an excellent example of cities and farms collaborating for progress. Cedar Rapids has formed strong partnerships with farmers, coops, and other agri-businesses to work together. IAWA is providing $175,000 toward a Conservation Agronomist at Linn Coop and providing additional communications support.
Clean Water = Good Beer
Water quality from grain to glass
You can’t have good beer without clean water! It’s that simple. IAWA partners with two local breweries to spread that message to both urban and rural communities. In 2022, we created a beer with Exile, called “Born Here, Brewed Here” that was made with Iowa made ingredients. And in 2023, we began a partnership with West O, where every beer poured through a blue tap across the state benefits water quality projects.
The Defining Decade
Inspiring success with stories of progress
In May 2023, the Iowa NRS turned 10 years old. IAWA led a statewide communications effort to let both urban and rural citizens know about agriculture’s efforts to improve water quality – from increasing cover crop acres, to expanding the state’s nation-leading adoption of bioreactors and saturated buffers, and establishing hundreds of new wetlands. We are far from finished, and will keep pushing toward progress in the next decade.
Hockey for good
Celebrating downstream success with upstream stakeholders
IAWA works with the Des Moines Buccaneers and the Cedar Rapids Rough Riders to collect donations for water quality improvements. We also sponsor free tickets for farmers who champion. It’s a gift to say “thank you” for all the water quality improvements they make directly and inspire in others!
