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 tagged cover crops

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 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

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

June 19, 2024: How Can Cereal Rye Affect Nitrogen Cycling and Crop Production?

June 19, 2024: How Can Cereal Rye Affect Nitrogen Cycling and Crop Production?

With Richard Roth

Conservation, Webinars, Cover CropsAlena WhitakerJune 19, 2024cover crops, kentucky bluegrass, nitrogen cycling, cereal rye

June 12, 2024: DNR Cover Crop Seed Production Project

June 12, 2024: DNR Cover Crop Seed Production Project

With Adam Schnieders and Justin Clark

Conservation, Webinars, Cover CropsLiz RipleyJune 12, 2024cover crops, wildlife

June 5, 2024: Assessing the Impact of Perennial Groundcover and Interseeded Annual Cover Crops on Corn Yield and Drainage Water Quality

June 5, 2024: Assessing the Impact of Perennial Groundcover and Interseeded Annual Cover Crops on Corn Yield and Drainage Water Quality

With Gabrielle Myers

Conservation, Webinars, Cover CropsAlena WhitakerJune 5, 2024perennial cover, cover crops, kentucky bluegrass

Field Day Archive: A New Direction in Cover Crops: Developing Perennial Ground Cover for Corn Systems in the Midwest

Field Day Archive: A New Direction in Cover Crops: Developing Perennial Ground Cover for Corn Systems in the Midwest

Field Day Archive, Conservation, Cover CropsAlena WhitakerMarch 22, 2024RegenPGC, perennial cover, cover crops

March 20, 2024: Grazing Cattle on Covers

March 20, 2024: Grazing Cattle on Covers

With Patrick Wall

Conservation, Webinars, Cover Crops, LivestockAlena WhitakerMarch 20, 2024cover crops, winter cover crop, livestock

March 13, 2024: Winter Cover Crop Effects on the Optimum N Rate of Corn Across Multi-state Field Experiments

March 13, 2024: Winter Cover Crop Effects on the Optimum N Rate of Corn Across Multi-state Field Experiments

With Hanna Poffenbarger

Conservation, Webinars, Water Conservation, Cover CropsAlena WhitakerMarch 14, 2024cover crops, N rate, nitrogen, winter cover crop

December 6, 2023: What Lies Beneath: The Impact of a Cereal Rye Cover Crop on Corn Seedling Disease Severity

December 6, 2023: What Lies Beneath: The Impact of a Cereal Rye Cover Crop on Corn Seedling Disease Severity

With Rashelle Matthiesen

Webinars, Conservation, Conservation Crops, Cover Crops, Soil ConservationAlena WhitakerDecember 7, 2023cover crops, seedling disease, cereal rye

September 13, 2023: Cover Crop Impacts on Surface Runoff, Sediment and Phosphorus Losses

September 13, 2023: Cover Crop Impacts on Surface Runoff, Sediment and Phosphorus Losses

With Nathan Nelson

Webinars, Conservation, Conservation Crops, Water Conservation, Cover CropsLiz RipleySeptember 13, 2023water, cover crops, erosion, phosphorus, water quality

August 9, 2023: How do Cover Crops Impact Residual Herbicides in Corn and Soybean?

August 9, 2023: How do Cover Crops Impact Residual Herbicides in Corn and Soybean?

With Bill Johnson

Webinars, Conservation, Conservation Crops, Cover CropsLiz RipleyAugust 9, 2023conservation, cover crop, cover crops, herbicide, weeds

July 19, 2023: Designing Cropping Systems for Efficiency, Environmental Performance and More Profit

July 19, 2023: Designing Cropping Systems for Efficiency, Environmental Performance and More Profit

With Book Wilke

Webinars, Conservation, Conservation Crops, Cover Crops, Soil ConservationLiz RipleyJuly 20, 2023conservation, cover crops, extended rotations, soil, grazing