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The real story of cover crop acres in Iowa
Larry Stone
Jul. 15, 2023 10:00 pm
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, June 18). 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 3 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 percent of Iowa ag land in cover crops. Another Journal of Soil and Water Conservation paper put Iowa’s acreage at about 5 percent 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.
Larry A. Stone
Elkader
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