Iowa Soybean Association Agronomic & Environmental Programs

COOPERATIVE CONSERVATION CASE STUDY

Advancing Agricultural Performance ^TM

Location: Midwest/Northern High Plains Region: Iowa

Project Summary: To empower farmers to compare new crop production practices and inputs with current management practices to improve their economic returns and lessen their environmental impact.

Resource Challenge

Row crop producers use commercial nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers and livestock manure, which contains these nutrients, to produce corn and soybeans economically. Water resource uses - recreation, drinking and aquatic life - may be negatively impacted due to nutrient losses from agricultural watersheds. Past attempts to address environmental issues in agriculture have made it seem that farmers had to choose between profitability and the environment. These programs are designed to demonstrate that crop production can be both profitable and environmentally sound.

Examples of Key Partners

Primary Partners are the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship - Division of Soil Conservation, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Other participants in this program are the Iowa farmers we work with, including 200+ conducting replicated strip trials, another 150 or so who participated in watershed programming through guided stalk sampling, and about 100 who are undergoing a management evaluation through CEMSA.

With initial funding from Iowa farmers through their soybean checkoff, additional matching funds and in-kind support have been provided by the following:

Iowa Independent Crop Consultants
Environmental Defense
Iowa Soil and Water Conservation Districts
Texas Institute for Applied Environmental Research
The Nature Conservancy
USDA Agricultural Research Service - National Soil Tilth Laboratory
Des Moines Water Works
Altria - Shared SolutionsSM Agricultural Initiative of the Altria family of companies

Results and Accomplishments

The number of farmers participating in these programs continues to expand because they work. These programs have improved economic returns for most farmers by allowing them to see that, in most cases, they can reduce fertilizer use without losing yield. Data collected in agronomic and watershed programming is helping farmers and others to better understand what's going on in Iowa with respect to agriculture's impact on the environment.

Innovation/Highlight

Growing public scrutiny of environmental impacts, and an increasingly competitive business climate led the farmer-directors of the Iowa Soybean Association to initiate these programs. The use of data and continuous improvement principles are now the foundation of three positive, proactive, and voluntary programs: The On-Farm Network™ helps farmers conduct replicated, side-by-side, field-scale strip trials to compare current and alternative management practices. Soil tests, guided cornstalk sampling, lab analysis, GPS, yield monitors, aerial imagery and other technologies are used to determine what works best in each field. CEMSA (Certified Environmental Management Systems for Agriculture) helps farmers develop an Environmental Management System (EMS) for their farming operation. Watershed programming provides resources to develop local leadership, technical assistance, management evaluation, communication and outreach, and applied environmental research.

Project Contact

Roger Wolf
Director, Environmental Programs
Iowa Soybean Association

800 383 1423
rwolf@iasoybeans.com

Tracy Blackmer
Director of Research
Iowa Soybean Association

800 383 1423
tblackmer@iasoybeans.com

Website: www.isafarmnet.com

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