Tying Soil Conservation To Nutrient Management

By: WallacesFarmer

Farming in Wright County in north-central Iowa, Tim Smith wants to be part of the solution. In 2011, he began adding practices that kept soil in place and held nutrients to improve soil health and water quality.

Smith says he’s thankful for the assistance and guidance he receives from his local Natural Resources Conservation Service office. “In my watershed, there are three funding sources for planting cover crops. Many farmers say they want to leave the farm in better shape for the next generation, but the reality is we are losing soil. If we put an economic cost on that soil loss, we realize we need to do a better job and take advantage of the programs that are available.”

Matt Lechtenberg, water quality initiative coordinator for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, attributes some of the success of cost-share programs to landowners realizing the value of keeping the soil in place. “As a public agency, we want to build a program that helps a farmer implement a new practice even though there isn’t an immediate return on their investment,” he says.