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Farmers in Scott County will have access to $8 million in grant money from the United States Department of Agriculture to implement conservation practices aimed at improving water quality and soil health, preventing erosion and creating wildlife habitat.
The five-year grant was awarded last fall through collaborative efforts of Partners of Scott County Watersheds, a nonprofit dedicated to improving water quality and reducing flooding, and Ducks Unlimited, a Memphis-based nonprofit that operates nationwide to conserve habitats for waterfowl — habitats that also benefit other wildlife and people.
Mike Paustian shows off a field in which a cover crop, primarily cereal rye, is growing green among stalks of corn that was harvested last fall.
Because both groups promote conservation, the pairing isn’t so unlikely it might seem at first, said Mike Paustian, a sixth-generation Scott County farmer and board president of the Partners group.
“We’ve talked with them in the past,” he said. “We’ve had some interactions, as our interests have overlapped. We already had a working relationship. This was the latest.”
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For its part, Ducks Unlimited is “getting more involved in the agricultural side of things because it affects water quality so heavily,” said Joe Genzel, communications coordinator of the Great Lakes and Atlantic Region of Ducks Unlimited.
Staffers at Ducks Unlimited wrote the grant proposal and will help oversee its implementation. Farmers will have to apply for funding, and the organization will provide assistance with paperwork, engineering expertise, arranging for contractors and testing for results.
Details of how the process will work have yet to be decided, but members of the Partners group couldn’t be more excited.
“Before, all we could do is talk about it — we didn’t have the funds,” Paustian said, referring to meetings he has hosted around the county, encouraging farmers to adopt various conservation practices. In every meeting, money was the obstacle to adopting new methods and techniques, he said.
“I’m super excited the grant got funded. Hopefully we’ll be able to implement a lot of new practices.
“Based on some modeling we did, we think this project could reduce nitrogen runoff by 7%, phosphorous runoff by 10% and total suspended solids by 11%,” he said. “Surface runoff during peak floods is estimated to be reduced by 8%.”
How far will $8 million go?
The project hopes to enroll 11,500 acres involving about 50 producers/farmers. In total, Scott County has about 219,935 acres in farm ground (corn and soybeans), and 414 producers/farmers, Paustian said, citing the 2017 USDA Census of Agriculture.
Examples of conservation practices include cover crops, buffer strips, saturated buffer strips, bioreactors and wetland restoration.
Cover crops, such as cereal rye, are planted in corn and soybean fields after harvest. The seeds germinate before winter and the emerging plants hold soil that otherwise would be subject to erosion. The roots contribute organic matter that sequesters carbon. Healthier soil also is able to hold more moisture than that which is depleted, lessening the effects of both flooding and drought.
Buffer strips are swaths of vegetation that catch water runoff and hold it in place.
Saturated buffers are those planted alongside streams in which a perforated tile is buried parallel to the stream. This parallel tile is hooked up to the end of a field’s drainage tile line so that the water in the drainage tile — instead of going straight into the stream — goes into the parallel line that lets it slowly percolate through the soil, thereby filtering pollutants, including nitrogen.
Bioreactors are large underground pits filled with wood chips. Water from drainage tiles flows in, and as it moves through the pit, it is filtered.
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has been promoting these practices as part of the state’s voluntary Nutrient Reduction Strategy, adopted in 2013 after an Environmental Protection Agency study found that excessive nutrients — largely from agriculture — are causing a “Dead Zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. Excessive nutrients feed algae blooms that deplete oxygen levels when they decompose.
But because Scott County does not have as much agricultural pollution as other parts of the state, grants to fund these practices have gone elsewhere, Paustian said. That is, Scott County is not ‘bad’ enough, which is a good thing. Still, Paustian and Partners want to do work here, too.
The grant was awarded under the USDA’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program that provides incentives for a voluntary, partnership-driven approach to conservation. It was one of four separate grants that will be used in Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin, according to a Ducks Unlimited news release.
While some critics argue that Iowa’s voluntary strategy is not enough to address water quality problems and that regulation is needed, Steve Gustafson, vice chair of the Partners board, said his focus is on what is possible.
One reason the application from Scott County was approved amid stiff competition likely was the 20-years’ worth of water quality data that has been collected through annual water “snapshot” testing, Paustian said. During these exercises, volunteers fan out across the county collecting water samples that are tested for various factors including nitrate, phosphorous, transparency, pH, dissolved oxygen and chloride.
“We have really good records for 20 years,” Paustian said. “Because of that, Scott County is a really good test case. I think that was one of the things that made our grant proposal attractive.”
Paustian and other members of the Partners group intend to get the word out to farmers soon, with the idea that some practices, such as the planting of cover crops, could begin as soon as fall 2024.
For more information
Producers interested in participating should contact Paustian at mike.paustian@gmail.com.
US Makes , Promise to Conserve , Old-Growth Forests . On December 19, the Biden administration committed to conserving old-growth trees in national forests across the United States as the impact of climate change intensifies. On December 19, the Biden administration committed to conserving old-growth trees in national forests across the United States as the impact of climate change intensifies. ABC reports that those threats include more frequent and intense wildfires, invasive insects and succumbing to disease. According to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the agency would adopt an “ecologically-driven” approach to old forests. . According to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the agency would adopt an “ecologically-driven” approach to old forests. . That approach will reportedly include the first nationwide amendment to U.S. Forest Service plans since the agency was founded 118 years ago. The announcement comes following longstanding calls from environmentalists to preserve old forests that provide critical habitat for wildlife. . Their efforts have been opposed by the timber industry which has fought against restrictions placed on logging rights in government-owned lands. ABC reports that the Biden administration’s latest efforts appear to aim for a middle ground between the two sides. ABC reports that the Biden administration’s latest efforts appear to aim for a middle ground between the two sides. The new plan significantly limits commercial timber harvests in old-growth forests, while still allowing logging in “mature forests” that are not yet at the old-growth stage. The new plan significantly limits commercial timber harvests in old-growth forests, while still allowing logging in “mature forests” that are not yet at the old-growth stage. This creates a commitment to resiliency, a commitment to restore and protect the existing old growth that we have from the threats that we see, Tom Vilsack, United States Agriculture Secretary, via ABC. A series of wildfires over recent years have highlighted the urgency of the issue, destroying thousands of old-growth sequoia trees. . A series of wildfires over recent years have highlighted the urgency of the issue, destroying thousands of old-growth sequoia trees.
Participation is down 40% in this agricultural program that protects wildlife, water, and soil
Participation is down 40% in this agricultural program that protects wildlife, water, and soil
Paying farmers to fallow their fields for conservation only works if the price is right, no matter how noble the cause. In some regions of the United States, farmers can net higher returns by continuing to harvest crops like corn and soybeans than they would if they leased their land for conservation efforts.
In 2021, the Biden administration set a “30 by 30 goal” by which the U.S. would conserve 30% of all land and waterways by 2030. Achieving this goal requires leveraging existing programs like the Conservation Reserve Program.
Under the CRP, established in the 1985 Farm Bill, the government pays farmers to take portions of their eligible farmland—typically marginal, less productive acres—and temporarily grow grasses, trees, and native plants instead of crops. The voluntary program is primarily utilized for climate change mitigation purposes such as carbon dioxide sequestration, land erosion reduction, water quality improvement, and wildlife habitat creation. There are 22 million acres of farmland currently enrolled in the program, representing a $1.77 billion government investment—or about $80 per acre on average.
While beneficial in the short term, this system is far from perfect. When the 10-year land lease period expires, farmers can choose to go back to using their land for agriculture, potentially undoing conservation gains.
The Environmental Working Group estimates that if all the land enrolled in the CRP over the last three years were plowed, it would release more than 2 million tons of soil carbon back into the atmosphere—just one example of the drawbacks of these temporary incentives. Similarly, the USDA estimates the total acreage currently devoted to the program is keeping 12 million tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
Thistle compiled data from the Farm Service Agency to look at how enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program has changed over time. Contract expirations and variable soil rental rates across the country have, in part, contributed to declining enrollment over the last 15 years. Soil rental rates vary by region and agricultural use and are tied to local land rental market prices. While some parts of the U.S. are experiencing an increase, others have experienced a decrease in pastureland and cropland values in recent years.
There is less land in the Conservation Reserve Program than there used to be
Some of the CRP enrollment declines can be attributed to expiring contracts. The drops may also be related to the complex economics of enrollment—or the comparatively uncomplicated fact that some enrollees are simply getting lower soil rental rates for their acres based on the market value in their region.
When facing a 4-million-acre enrollment shortage in 2021, the USDA calculated the environmental impact this would have. The agency estimated, among other effects, the loss of 4 million game and grassland birds, the addition of 90 million pounds of nitrogen entering waterways, 30 million tons of soil erosion leading to water pollution, and 3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide unsequestered by vegetation.
Most counties have seen declines in participation over the past 10 years
Counties that have seen growing enrollment have likely benefitted from expanded CRP eligibility and offerings such as establishing grassland minimum rental rates—a change helping more than 1,300 counties across the country.
Enrollment has been most heavily concentrated in the Upper Midwest and Great Plains regions of the U.S., with enrollment in the East being the lowest. The CRP caps enrollment at 25% of a county’s total cropland.
Grassland establishment and habitat expansion are among the most common programs
Planting and maintaining grass are the most common CRP practices because of grass’ wide array of benefits and low cost relative to other conservation practices. Grass can prevent soil loss from wind and water erosion, create habitats for bird species, improve water quality by filtering sediments and retaining nutrients, and store carbon.
Riparian buffers, referred to here as vegetation along waterways, are less commonly implemented due to their scale but are essential for their role in preventing bank erosion and protecting waterways from agricultural runoff.
New changes from the USDA seek to improve participation
To increase enrollment, the USDA made several significant program changes over the past two years, including rate flexibility, more contract options, increased incentives, increased payments for certain practices like those that improve water quality, and greater technical assistance.
Additionally, the USDA enrolled the first three tribal nations in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, an offshoot of the CRP, in 2021. Together, the Cheyenne River Sioux, Oglala Sioux, and Rosebud Sioux tribes will allot up to 3 million acres of tribal land for conservation.
This story originally appeared on Thistle and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
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