Profiling Iowa's Conservation Successes 2017-2018
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Widowed Landowner Succeeds with Conservation in Lease Agreements
For nearly 50 years Virginia Reynolds and her late husband Larry worked together to manage their farms to conserve soil and protect water quality. After Larry passed away in 2013, she worked with an attorney to write soil and water conservation practice requirements into the leases for her Clarke County cropland.
Reynolds (PDF) | (html)
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Coffee Table Dreams Becoming Reality for Western Iowa Couple
A Monona County couple's vision for the family farm is becoming reality thanks to a sound plan, a couple years of very hard work, and guidance and assistance from USDA.
Heaps (PDF) | (html) | Storymap
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Munch Family Wetland Easement Trend Setters in Kossuth County
The Munch Family were the first landowners in their small area of Kossuth County to seed down permanent habitat and restore wetlands. Neighbors questioned them at the time, but many changed their tune after seeing the restoration complete.
Munch (PDF) | (html)
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After 20 Years Maas Family Still Enjoying Wetlands
The Maas Family converted three adjacent "wet farmland" properties to wetlands in 1997, and they are still enjoying their easements today, using them for recreational and educational purposes.
Maas (PDF) | (html)
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Wallace Family Continues Conservation Tradition
Craig and Jackie Wallace's Sac County wetland is just the latest in a list of projects the family has adopted to protect and enhance natural resources on their farm.
Wallace (PDF) | (html)
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Poeltler Enrolls Two Properties Into WRP
Charles Poeltler enrolled 271 acres of flood-prone Muscatine County cropland into the Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) in 1998, and a few years later enrolled another 162 acres to help protect the ground long-term.
Poeltler (PDF) | (html)
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Jewell Family Protects Family Farm with Agricultural Land Easement
Five generations of Jewells have watched the family farm transform and grow. If they have their way, a few more generations might do the same.
Jewell Family (PDF) | (html)
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Gabor Flips Roles from Easement Closer to Easement Holder
Kossuth County landowner and attorney Mike Gabor recently switched roles, from closing easements as an attorney to enrolling 147 of his own into a Wetland Reserve Easement.
Mike and Linda Gabor (PDF) | (html)
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Clinton County Landowners Keep Wetland Easement in the Family
Craig and Meghan Black's "little piece of heaven" allows a wildlife escape, and has provided their family enjoyment for more than 20 years.
Craig and Meghan Black (PDF) | (html)
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Improving Soil Biology Makes No-Till Planting Easier
Delaware County farmer Wayne Brunsman tells his story about soil conditions for no-till planting on a field for 14 consecutive years compared to a field for the first time.
Brunsman (PDF) | (html)
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Byrnes Top Dresses Cover Crops with Dairy Manure
Matt Byrnes of Dorchester pumps dairy manure from a pit outside his dairy barn, and top dresses his cereal rye cover crop to promote fall growth.
Byrnes (PDF) | (html)
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Early Maturity Soybeans Improve Fall Cover Crop Growth
Allamakee County's 2016 Cover Crop Grower of the Year Scott Ness has used cover crops to reduce erosion and improve soil health on his cropland for seven years. He is now making adjustments to his crop management system to produce better cover crop growth in the fall.
Ness (PDF) | (html)
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Finding Ways to Make Manure, Cover Crops Work
Ross Weymiller and his family are working with soil and water conservation leaders in Allamakee County to find the best methods for growing cover crops and utilizing manure fertilizer on crop fields, while minimally disturbing the soil with no-till.
Weymiller (PDF) | (html)
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Top Ag Teacher Learning to Farm with Cover Crops
Iowa’s 2017 Ag Education Teacher of the Year is practicing what he teaches while farming his 122 cropland acres in Story County, near Nevada. Kevin Cooper has no-tilled his corn and soybeans for about a decade and this year added cover crops by seeding 30 acres of oats into soybeans in August.
Cooper (PDF) | (html)
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Roller Crimper Key in Organic No-till System
Keota farmer Levi Lyle never thought he would be a go-to person for eastern Iowa farmers to rent a roller crimper. But with his interest in eliminating the use of herbicides on portions of his family’s cropland, he now has two crimpers that he uses and rents to farmers from Waterloo to Bloomfield.
Lyle (PDF) | (html)
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Record Yields from the Bottom Up Using No-till, Cover Crops
A southeast Iowa farm family harvested record average yields in 2016 after managing cropland soils with no-till and cover crops. They attribute the yield bump to a bottoms up approach, by improving returns on typically poor-performing fields.
Prevo (PDF) | (html)
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