REAL cover crop acres
IDALS exaggerates extent of cover crops
Defenders of Iowa’s industrial agriculture model of corn, soybeans, and CAFOs have tried to highlight the conservation practices of a few farmers to declare that the state’s voluntary nutrient reduction strategy (NRS) is slowing the flow of pollution into the Gulf of Mexico’s “Dead Zone.” But there’s much data to suggest otherwise. Here’s an example, taken from my recent exchange in The Gazette.
Real story of cover crop acres
The Iowa Science Board noted the failures of Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy to improve Iowa’s water. (Numbers Matter for Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy, The Gazette, 6-18-23) Sadly, the reality is even worse.
The Science Board said we should measure actual reduction of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) reaching streams, rather than statistics about farmers’ conservation practices. When Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig claimed that farmers have planted three million acres of cover crops, he failed to admit that’s only 13 per cent of Iowa’s corn and soybean acreage.
And cover crop acres may be fewer than half that. Naig cited a survey of agricultural retailers’ estimates of customers’ use of cover crops. The Iowa Nutrient Research and Education Council, an agribusiness group, touted that survey. Wishful thinking?
A report in the online journal Global Change Biology said satellite data from 2000 to 2020, as well as data from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, never found a year with as much as 5% of Iowa ag land in cover crops. Another Journal of Soil and Water Conservation paper put Iowa’s acreage at about 5% or less.
A windshield survey during spring travels in Iowa confirmed that cover crops still are rare. Yes, some of my northeast Iowa neighbors seed cover crops. But in most other parts of the state, it’s unusual to see a field of rye or other cover crop.
We can – we MUST – do better if Iowans and our downstream neighbors hope to see cleaner water!
So how did I get here, given my overflowing “to-do” list? Well, the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative has reconnected me with several old friends from my 25 years as outdoor water/photographer with the Des Moines Register from 1972 to 1997. Plus the group has helped me discover the talents and insights of a new (to me) set of writers. I‘m looking forward to sharing my Iowa roots, memories, observations, frustrations, and joys with those folks - and with readers.
I come at this endeavor as an Iowa farm kid who has never outgrown playing in the “crick.” I believe that every kid should have that same opportunity to go outside and get muddy. And I can easily wax nostalgic about the wild places we have lost in my seven-plus decades on this planet. For more about where those times, people, and adventures have led me, here’s a link to my website.
If you’re interested in commentary by some of Iowa’s best writers, please follow your choice of Iowa Writers’ Collaborative members: