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 Conservation Crops

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 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

April 24, 2024: Social-ecological Suitability of Agroforestry in the Midwest

April 24, 2024: Social-ecological Suitability of Agroforestry in the Midwest

With Sarah Castle

Conservation, Webinars, Conservation CropsAlena WhitakerApril 29, 2024silvopasture, windbreak, agroforestry, alley cropping

Field Day Archive: Relay Intercropping: Exploring Sustainable Intensification on Iowa's Landscape through Relay Intercropping

Field Day Archive: Relay Intercropping: Exploring Sustainable Intensification on Iowa's Landscape through Relay Intercropping

Field Day Archive, Conservation, Conservation CropsAlena WhitakerMarch 7, 2024relay intercropping, cereal rye

February 21, 2024: A Virtuous Cycle of Soil Organic Matter in Diversified Cropping Systems

February 21, 2024: A Virtuous Cycle of Soil Organic Matter in Diversified Cropping Systems

With Steven Hall

Conservation, Conservation Crops, Soil Conservation, WebinarsAnn StaudtFebruary 21, 2024

January 3, 2024: How do we Best Define and Promote Soil Health?

January 3, 2024: How do we Best Define and Promote Soil Health?

With Mike Castellano

Webinars, Conservation, Conservation Crops, Soil ConservationAlena WhitakerJanuary 3, 2024whole farm conservation, soil health, carbon, carbon sequestration, nitrogen

December 20, 2023: Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program: Certifying that Minnesota's Farms and Waters can Prosper Together

December 20, 2023: Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program: Certifying that Minnesota's Farms and Waters can Prosper Together

With Brad J. Jordahl Redlin

Webinars, Conservation, Conservation Crops, Soil Conservation, Water ConservationAlena WhitakerDecember 21, 2023water quality, whole farm conservation, Minnesota Dept of Agriculture, soil health

December 13, 2023: Planning and Planting Prairie: Research and On-farm Experience

December 13, 2023: Planning and Planting Prairie: Research and On-farm Experience

With Laura Jackson

Webinars, Conservation, Conservation Crops, Cover Crops, Soil ConservationAlena WhitakerDecember 13, 2023prairie, prairie strips, diversity

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

November 29, 2023: ManureDB: The creation and launch of the largest manure nutrient database in the US

November 29, 2023: ManureDB: The creation and launch of the largest manure nutrient database in the US

With Nancy Bohl Bormann

Webinars, Conservation, Conservation Crops, LivestockLiz RipleyNovember 29, 2023manure, nutrient management, database

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

October 4, 2023: Drainage for the Long-Haul: Impacts on Crop Yields, Soil Health and Water Quality

October 4, 2023: Drainage for the Long-Haul: Impacts on Crop Yields, Soil Health and Water Quality

With Eileen Kladivko

Webinars, Conservation, Water Conservation, Conservation CropsLiz RipleyOctober 5, 2023water, water quality, soil health, tile drainage

September 20, 2023: Using Data to Understand the Connections in the Iowa Food-Energy-Water Nexus

September 20, 2023: Using Data to Understand the Connections in the Iowa Food-Energy-Water Nexus

With Júlia Brittes Tuthill

Webinars, Conservation, Conservation Crops, Water ConservationLiz RipleySeptember 21, 2023water, water quality, nutrient loss

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