Resources

All of our resources are available from this page. You can also visit the specific pages for individual topics to get focused information on those areas.

Conservation

Conservation encompasses many areas - soil, water, and crop considerations all play a part. We offer a variety of practical resources to help you find the answers to your questions.

"How resilient are our lands here in the Midwest? What is our ability to retain productivity if we have another long drought or continual flooding? Will people still be farming in Iowa 1,500 years from now? Or even 200 years from now? The decisions we make today about our natural resources will affect agricultural production 50 years from now."
--from the video "The Work of Our Hands"

Conservation Resources

Cover Crops

Cover crops are a great way to improve soil health. Many Iowa farmers are adding cover crops to their crop rotations so soil stays covered when the fields are not growing other crops. Cover crops also improve soil organic matter and slow water runoff.

Farmers have many questions about incorporating cover crops. Most asked questions include: what kinds of plants can be used, when and how to seed and when and how to terminate. With field days and workshops, Iowa Learning Farms strives to help farmers, and other interested people, find the answers to these questions and more.

Cover Crop Resources

Edge of Field

Edge-of-field practices play a crucial role in meeting the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy goals of improving water quality through reducing nitrogen and phosphorus in Iowa's water bodies. Edge-of-field practices involve drainage water management, bioreactors, buffers, saturated buffers, denitrifying wetlands, terraces and sediment control.

Edge of Field Resources

Relay Intercropping

Relay intercropping is a multi-year, multi-species cropping system that allows for 3 harvestable crops (small grain, soybean, corn) in 2 years.

View recent webinars, blogs and publications from ongoing research farm and on-farm demonstrations.

Relay Intercropping

Field Day Toolkit

This Field Day Toolkit is the product of Iowa Learning Farms’ many years of planning and hosting field day events across the state of Iowa. While ILF utilizes many different outreach approaches, the importance of farmer-to-farmer interactions cannot be overstated. Field days do matter!

Field Day Toolkit

Recent Resources

March 19, 2025: The Bats of Iowa: Updates and Suggestions for Landowners

March 19, 2025: The Bats of Iowa: Updates and Suggestions for Landowners

With Russ Benedict

Conservation, WebinarsLiz RipleyMarch 19, 2025bats, wildlife, habitat, pollinators

Decoding Iowa Farmers’ Understanding of Edge-of-Field Conservation Practices

Decoding Iowa Farmers’ Understanding of Edge-of-Field Conservation Practices

Widespread adoption of edge-of-field (EOF) practices—such as saturated buffers, bioreactors, and water quality enhancement wetlands—is vital to achieving the goal of 45% nutrient reduction outlined in the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy. However, few farmers in the state have embraced EOF practices on their land—this project investigates why.

Edge of FieldAnn StaudtMarch 18, 2025water quality

Field Day Archive: Evaluating Rotations of Cover Crops and Summer Annual Forages

Field Day Archive: Evaluating Rotations of Cover Crops and Summer Annual Forages

Field Day Archive, Conservation, Water ConservationLiz RipleyMarch 13, 2025water quality, cover crops, cereal rye, grazing, forage, cattle

March 12, 2025: N-FACT: A New Decision Support System for N Fertilizer Management from the Iowa Nitrogen Initiative

March 12, 2025: N-FACT: A New Decision Support System for N Fertilizer Management from the Iowa Nitrogen Initiative

With Mike Castellano

Conservation, Webinars, Conservation CropsAlena WhitakerMarch 12, 2025nitrogen, nitrogen rate, fertilizer, fertilizer rate, N-FACT, MRTN

March 5, 2025: Our Agricultural Microbial Neighbors

March 5, 2025: Our Agricultural Microbial Neighbors

With Adina Howe

Conservation, Webinars, LivestockAlena WhitakerMarch 5, 2025manure, microbes, bioenergy

February 26, 2025: From the Top of the Watershed to the Bottom of the Lake: Lake Restoration in Iowa

February 26, 2025: From the Top of the Watershed to the Bottom of the Lake: Lake Restoration in Iowa

With Michelle Balmer

Conservation, Webinars, Water ConservationAlena WhitakerFebruary 26, 2025water quality, lakes, lake restoration, watershed

February 19, 2025: What Can Beneficial Nematodes Tell Us About Soil Health?

February 19, 2025: What Can Beneficial Nematodes Tell Us About Soil Health?

With Christine Sprunger

Conservation, Webinars, Soil ConservationAlena WhitakerFebruary 19, 2025soil health, nematodes, soil carbon, cropping systems

Field Day Archive: Can Precision Planting of Cereal Rye Mitigate Corn Seedling Disease and Yield Drag?

Field Day Archive: Can Precision Planting of Cereal Rye Mitigate Corn Seedling Disease and Yield Drag?

Field Day Archive, Conservation, Water ConservationLiz RipleyFebruary 13, 2025water quality, cover crops, cereal rye, corn

February 12, 2025: From Ruts to Roots: Strategies to Protect and Rebuild Compacted Soils

February 12, 2025: From Ruts to Roots: Strategies to Protect and Rebuild Compacted Soils

With Aaron Daigh

Conservation, Webinars, Cover Crops, Soil ConservationAlena WhitakerFebruary 12, 2025compaction, cover crops, soil health, soil conservation, compacted soils

February 5, 2025: Expanding the Value of Ag Conservation Programs for Monarch Butterfly Recovery in Iowa

February 5, 2025: Expanding the Value of Ag Conservation Programs for Monarch Butterfly Recovery in Iowa

With Justin Meissen

Conservation, Webinars, Edge of FieldAlena WhitakerFebruary 5, 2025monarch butterfly, butterfly, CRP, prairie, milkweed, conservation programs

January 29, 2025: Practical Robots in Conservation

January 29, 2025: Practical Robots in Conservation

With Joshua Peschel

Conservation, WebinarsAlena WhitakerJanuary 29, 2025drone, robot, robotics

Field Day Archive: Unlocking the Potential of Saturated Grassed Waterways for Nutrient Reduction

Field Day Archive: Unlocking the Potential of Saturated Grassed Waterways for Nutrient Reduction

Field Day Archive, Conservation, Water ConservationLiz RipleyJanuary 23, 2025water quality, tile drainage, waterway, saturated waterway

January 22, 2025: Iowa's Oxbows Reborn: Bringing Life Back to One of Iowa's Vital Ecosystems

January 22, 2025: Iowa's Oxbows Reborn: Bringing Life Back to One of Iowa's Vital Ecosystems

With Andrew Rust

Conservation, Webinars, Edge of Field, Water ConservationAlena WhitakerJanuary 22, 2025oxbow, wetlands, ecosystems, topeka shiner, fish, habitat

January 15, 2025: 2024 Relay Cropping Management & Results

January 15, 2025: 2024 Relay Cropping Management & Results

With Alex Schaffer

Conservation, Webinars, Conservation CropsAlena WhitakerJanuary 15, 2025relay intercropping, relay cropping, soybeans, cereal rye, wheat

January 8, 2025: Exploring the Ecology of Water Quality Wetlands in Iowa

January 8, 2025: Exploring the Ecology of Water Quality Wetlands in Iowa

With Adam Janke

Conservation, Webinars, Edge of Field, Water ConservationAlena WhitakerJanuary 9, 2025wetlands, wildlife, birds, waterfowl, marsh birds, marsh, nitrate

Field Day Archive: Smart Agricultural Drainage: Tools to sense tile health and nitrate hot spots

Field Day Archive: Smart Agricultural Drainage: Tools to sense tile health and nitrate hot spots

Field Day Archive, Conservation, Water ConservationLiz RipleyDecember 19, 2024water quality, tile drainage, smart ag drainage