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Tour examines Iowa farmers’ efforts to improve environment
The Iowa Soybean Association’s Environmental Discovery Tour Thursday was, in some cases, a first exposure to what farmers do to reduce nutrients on the land.
“We’d like to make sure that Iowa can actually stay an agriculture state for many, many generation’s to come, so we’re concerned about the soil,” said State Democratic Representative Marti Anderson, who represents 30,000 Des Moines residents in the district with the smallest land mass of any in the state. “I hear this from my constituents a lot.”
“Today I learned about what some farmers are doing in the Boone Watershed to make a difference, and I’ll be able to take that back and tell my constituents about that,” she said.
One of those farmers, Arlo Van Diest of Webster City, employs a bio-reactor, which he says is much simpler than it sounds. The apparatus, comprised of wood chip filtration, converts significant amounts of nutrients, which may otherwise contaminate ground water, into gas.
But at the same time, Van Diest uses fewer nutrients, and tells Brownfield Ag News it does not affect corn performance.
“We’re able to cut back on the amount of nitrogen that we’re applying and still getting the same yields,” he said.
Even though many on the tour Wednesday may have had little to no previous exposure to farmers’ efforts to improve water and the environment, Harry Ahrenholtz, president of Agriculture’s Clean Water Alliance, who helped organize the tour, told Brownfield Ag News that there’s common ground in the need for clean water.
“The biggest thing that we can take away from this is an understanding that we’re all interested in primarily the same thing,” he said, between tour stops Thursday. “I think the biggest question is how do we get there.”
The impetus for the tour, including stops to individual farms on the Boone Watershed north and west of Des Moines, was the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy initiative.
“It’s a catalyst for bringing the urban and rural community and agriculture interests together to apply science, information and monitoring, and really helping agriculture continue to be productive,” said Roger Wolf, director of environmental programs and services for the Iowa Soybean Association, describing the initiative.
“Collectively, how are we going to improve our water resources?” asked Wolf. “We share concern about that, and I think we’re really launching a framework for how we can do better.”
AUDIO: Marti Anderson (3 min. MP3)
AUDIO: Arlo Van Diest (6 min. MP3)
AUDIO: Harry Ahrenholtz (5 min. MP3)
AUDIO: Roger Wolf (7 min. MP3)
Photos (top down):
- Wright County, Iowa farmer Tim Smith shows how cover crops reduce nitrate levels in ground water, Eagle Grove, Iowa, Oct. 24, 2013.
- Cereal rye, seeded by airplane, will overwinter on Tim Smith’s farm, reducing nitrate levels in ground water, Eagle Grove, Iowa, Oct. 24, 2013.
- Arlo Van Diest of Webster City
- Harry Ahrenholtz, president of Agriculture’s Clean Water Alliance
- Roger Wolf, director of environmental programs and services for the Iowa Soybean Association
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