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

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

December 18, 2024: On-Farm Soil Assessments Results: Lessons Learned

December 18, 2024: On-Farm Soil Assessments Results: Lessons Learned

With DeAnn Presley

Conservation, Webinars, Soil ConservationLiz RipleyDecember 18, 2024tillage, soil health

December 11, 2024: Tillage Management for Soil Conservation in Row Crop Systems

December 11, 2024: Tillage Management for Soil Conservation in Row Crop Systems

With Francisco Arriaga

Conservation, Webinars, Soil ConservationAlena WhitakerDecember 12, 2024tillage, row crop, soil health, soil conservation

December 4, 2024: Cropping Systems that Reduce Tile Nitrate Loss

December 4, 2024: Cropping Systems that Reduce Tile Nitrate Loss

With Lowell Gentry

Conservation, Webinars, Cover CropsAlena WhitakerDecember 4, 2024cover crops, tile drainage, nitrate, diversified crop rotation, extended rotations

November 20, 2024: Trees and Tiles: 4 Years of Nitrate Removal and Root Intrusion Monitoring in a Saturated Riparian FOREST Buffer

November 20, 2024: Trees and Tiles: 4 Years of Nitrate Removal and Root Intrusion Monitoring in a Saturated Riparian FOREST Buffer

With Billy Beck

Conservation, Webinars, Edge of FieldAlena WhitakerNovember 20, 2024forestry, windbreak, saturated buffers, riparian forest saturated buffers, riparian buffer, buffer strip

Iowa Wetlands

Iowa Wetlands

Iowa is home to a diverse array of wetland ecosystems that provide multiple benefits to humans and the natural world. These wetlands are essential for the survival of plants and animals adapted to life in a wet environment, including many rare and endangered species.

Conservation, Water Conservation, Edge of FieldLiz RipleyNovember 14, 2024water quality, wetlands

November 13, 2024: Can Diversified Cropping Systems Help Increase Soil Carbon Storage?

November 13, 2024: Can Diversified Cropping Systems Help Increase Soil Carbon Storage?

With Wenjuan Huang

Conservation, Webinars, Conservation CropsAnn StaudtNovember 13, 2024soil, carbon, soil carbon, nitrogen, diversified agricultural system

November 6, 2024: Are We Losing A Lot of Nitrogen During Denitrification Hot Moments in Agricultural Soils?

November 6, 2024: Are We Losing A Lot of Nitrogen During Denitrification Hot Moments in Agricultural Soils?

With Francois Birgand

Conservation, Webinars, Water Conservation, Conservation CropsLiz RipleyNovember 6, 2024nitrate reduction, soil, nitrate loss, woodchip bioreactor

October 30, 2024: Improving Water Quality Outcomes with More Strategic Floodplain Restoration

October 30, 2024: Improving Water Quality Outcomes with More Strategic Floodplain Restoration

With Dani Winter Lay

Conservation, Webinars, Water ConservationAlena WhitakerOctober 30, 2024floodplain, floodplain restoration, wetlands, river, nitrate reduction

October 23, 2024: Cattle, Conservation, and Community

October 23, 2024: Cattle, Conservation, and Community

With Erin Ogle

Conservation, WebinarsLiz RipleyOctober 23, 2024conservation, cover crops, grazing

October 16, 2024: Conservation Easements: Protecting Iowa’s Private Lands and Investments in Conservation

October 16, 2024: Conservation Easements: Protecting Iowa’s Private Lands and Investments in Conservation

With Anna Gray

Conservation, WebinarsLiz RipleyOctober 16, 2024conservation, conservation easement

October 9, 2024: Waterhemp Is Killing Us, but Can Cover Crops Save Us?

October 9, 2024: Waterhemp Is Killing Us, but Can Cover Crops Save Us?

With Meaghan Anderson

Conservation, Webinars, Cover CropsAlena WhitakerOctober 9, 2024cover crops, cereal rye, waterhemp, weeds, herbicide

October 2, 2024: Using Advanced Biomass Crops as Regenerative Ag Tools to Diversify the Corn Belt

October 2, 2024: Using Advanced Biomass Crops as Regenerative Ag Tools to Diversify the Corn Belt

With Emily Heaton

Conservation, Webinars, Conservation CropsAlena WhitakerOctober 2, 2024agriculture, conservation planning, biomass, feedstock, miscanthus, sorghum

September 25, 2024: Conservation Planning and Erosivity: A Brief Review and a Forecast of What is to Come

September 25, 2024: Conservation Planning and Erosivity: A Brief Review and a Forecast of What is to Come

With Ryan McGehee

Conservation, Webinars, Water ConservationLiz RipleySeptember 25, 2024agriculture, soil, erosion, conservation planning

September 18, 2024: Agriculture and Solar Farms: Preferences for Utility-Scale Solar Energy in Local Communities

September 18, 2024: Agriculture and Solar Farms: Preferences for Utility-Scale Solar Energy in Local Communities

With Hongli Feng

Conservation, Webinars, Water ConservationLiz RipleySeptember 18, 2024solar, agriculture, land use

September 11, 2024: Nitrate Leaching: Impacts of Rain after Dry Conditions

September 11, 2024: Nitrate Leaching: Impacts of Rain after Dry Conditions

With Matt Helmers

Conservation, Webinars, Water ConservationAnn StaudtSeptember 11, 2024drainage, water infiltration, climate, nitrogen use, water quality, nitrate, nitrogen cycling, drought