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 soil

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

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

July 31, 2024: Integrating Anaerobic Digestion with Agriculture for Improved Carbon Management

July 31, 2024: Integrating Anaerobic Digestion with Agriculture for Improved Carbon Management

With Sebastian Villarino

Conservation, Webinars, Soil ConservationLiz RipleyJuly 31, 2024anaerobic digestion, soil, soil carbon, carbon

November 22, 2023: Impact of 100 Years of Agricultural Practice Changes on Sediment and Nutrient Loss from One Farm in Osceola County, IA

November 22, 2023: Impact of 100 Years of Agricultural Practice Changes on Sediment and Nutrient Loss from One Farm in Osceola County, IA

With Matt Helmers

Webinars, Conservation, Conservation Crops, Water Conservation, Soil ConservationLiz RipleyNovember 22, 2023soil, soil erosion, water quality, nutrient loss

November 15, 2023: Perennial and Winter Annual Crops for Economic and Environmental Benefit

November 15, 2023: Perennial and Winter Annual Crops for Economic and Environmental Benefit

With Matt Leavitt

Webinars, Conservation, Conservation Crops, Water Conservation, Soil ConservationLiz RipleyNovember 15, 2023soil, soil erosion, water quality, perennial, perennial cover, Kernza, small grain

November 1, 2023: Movement of Soil in Corn and Soybean Fields Managed with Prairie Strips

November 1, 2023: Movement of Soil in Corn and Soybean Fields Managed with Prairie Strips

With Jessica Nelson

Webinars, ConservationLiz RipleyNovember 1, 2023soil, soil erosion, prairie strips

August 30, 2023: Corn Stover Harvest Impacts in Central Iowa

August 30, 2023: Corn Stover Harvest Impacts in Central Iowa

With Rob Malone, Claire Phillips, Peter O’Brien, Doug Karlen

Webinars, Conservation, Conservation Crops, Soil ConservationLiz RipleyAugust 30, 2023corn stover, stover, soil, soil health, carbon, nutrients

August 16, 2023: Comparing Infiltration Between Prairie Strips and Row Crop Fields Across Iowa

August 16, 2023: Comparing Infiltration Between Prairie Strips and Row Crop Fields Across Iowa

With Eric Henning

Webinars, Conservation, Conservation CropsLiz RipleyAugust 17, 2023conservation, prairie strips, prairie, infiltration, soil, water quality

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