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Iowa State University scientists, including Raj Raman, agricultural and biosystems engineering, are leading a multi-institutional effort to reimagine cover crops by using perennial groundcovers to protect the environment and benefit crop production. The researchers recently received a $10 million grant to support their work. The Iowa Nutrient Research is proud to have funded some of the preliminary work that set the stage for this exciting project.

USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA), Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) have announced new policies within crop insurance that will provide added flexibility for managing cover crops, beginning with the 2020 crop year.

More landowners are interested in planting strips of deep-rooted prairie within crop fields or on marginal land as an effective soil conservation and water quality practice. But they need reliable answers about the costs and benefits. Practical answers are coming out of projects led by University of Northern Iowa researchers, funded by the Iowa Nutrient Research Center at Iowa State University.

New research shows that “multi-purpose oxbows” can effectively reduce nitrate-nitrogen, earning them a spot in the Iowa Nutrient Research Strategy’s menu of conservation options. Keith Schilling, State Geologist and Director of the Iowa Geological Survey, is lead investigator for Iowa Nutrient Research Center- sponsored research to better understand the benefits of oxbow restoration for water quality. Partners in the research include the Iowa Soybean Association, The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Geological Survey's Iowa Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Iowa State.

Kay Stefanik, Assistant Director, Iowa Nutrient Research Center, discusses the ecological services wetlands provide in the Iowa agricultural landscape, in a blog post for the Iowa Learning Farms/Conservation Learning Group.