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

Posts in Water Conservation

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

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 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

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

September 4, 2024: What 100 Years of Climate Data Means for Water Resources Practitioners

September 4, 2024: What 100 Years of Climate Data Means for Water Resources Practitioners

With Sushant Mehan

Conservation, Webinars, Water ConservationAnn StaudtSeptember 6, 2024drainage, water infiltration, irrigation, climate, water stress, nitrogen use

August 28, 2024: The Impact of Water Stress and Genetics on Seed Selection and Nitrogen Use

August 28, 2024: The Impact of Water Stress and Genetics on Seed Selection and Nitrogen Use

With Chad Poole

Conservation, Webinars, Water ConservationAlena WhitakerAugust 29, 2024drainage, water infiltration, irrigation, climate, water stress, nitrogen use

August 14, 2024: Phosphorus Exchanges Between a River and Its Floodplain

August 14, 2024: Phosphorus Exchanges Between a River and Its Floodplain

With Pete Moore

Conservation, Webinars, Water ConservationAlena WhitakerAugust 15, 2024water quality, floodplain, phosphorus, river

August 7, 2024: Visualizing Drainage Needs Under a Potential Future Climate

August 7, 2024: Visualizing Drainage Needs Under a Potential Future Climate

With Elizabeth Schwab

Conservation, Webinars, Soil Conservation, Water ConservationLiz RipleyAugust 7, 2024climate, drainage, water quality

July 24, 2024: Conservation Practices through the Lens of Weather Extremes and Climate Adaptation

July 24, 2024: Conservation Practices through the Lens of Weather Extremes and Climate Adaptation

With Justin Glisan

Conservation, Webinars, Soil Conservation, Water ConservationLiz RipleyJuly 24, 2024conservation, weather, climate, cover crops

July 17, 2024: Motivational Barriers to Implementing Conservation

July 17, 2024: Motivational Barriers to Implementing Conservation

With Robyn Wilson

Conservation, Webinars, Soil Conservation, Water ConservationLiz RipleyJuly 17, 2024conservation, adoption, barriers, behavioral science

July 10, 2024: Overlooked Non-Point and Non-Ag Sources of Nutrient Losses: The Case of Streambank Erosion

July 10, 2024: Overlooked Non-Point and Non-Ag Sources of Nutrient Losses: The Case of Streambank Erosion

With Andrew Margenot

Conservation, Webinars, Soil Conservation, Water ConservationAlena WhitakerJuly 10, 2024nonpoint source, streambank stability, streambank erosion, nutrient loss

May 15, 2024: Using Delta Sediments and Pool Levels to Increase Nitrate-Nitrogen Load Reductions at Lake Red Rock

May 15, 2024: Using Delta Sediments and Pool Levels to Increase Nitrate-Nitrogen Load Reductions at Lake Red Rock

With Matthew T. Streeter and Keith E. Schilling

Conservation, Webinars, Water ConservationAlena WhitakerMay 15, 2024nitrate reduction, sediment, nitrate

A Closer Look: Beavers as Superheroes of Water Quality

A Closer Look: Beavers as Superheroes of Water Quality

Learn about how humans and beavers can work together to coexist on our landscapes in both rural and urban settings.

Conservation, Water ConservationLiz RipleyMay 3, 2024beavers, beaver dams, water quality