The Iowa Nutrient Research Center was established by the Iowa Board of Regents in response to legislation passed by the Iowa Legislature in 2013. The center pursues science-based approaches to areas that include evaluating the performance of current and emerging nutrient management practices, and providing recommendations on implementing the practices and developing new practices.
As directed by legislation: The purpose of the center shall be to pursue a science‐based approach to nutrient management research that may include but is not limited to evaluating the performance of current and emerging nutrient management practices, and using an adaptive management framework for providing recommendations for the implementation of nutrient management practices and the development of new nutrient management practices.
INRC Legislative Language (PDF)
INRC is headquartered at Iowa State University. The INRC director, appointed by the Iowa State Dean of the College of Agriculture and LIfe Sciences, receives input from an eight-member advisory council mandated by authorizing legislation.
Since its establishment in 2013, the center has received approximately $16.4 million in state appropriations and supported 136 water quality projects. More than 95 percent of INRC funding has gone directly for research in the following categories: Edge-of-field, Nutrient management, Land management and Multi-Objective. Significant additional leveraging of center-supported projects comes through federal, state and NGO funding. Find more detail about projects at https://www.cals.iastate.edu/nutrientcenter/project.