Ag secretary announces federal money to reduce Iowa soil erosion

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced two federal grants aimed at helping farmers reduce soil erosion in Iowa and other Midwest states.

In addition to benefiting the land, farmers could see another revenue stream from adding a crop which has not been profitable in the past.

Jacqueline Comito, research manager for Iowa Learning Farms, said the state will get $540,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to experiment with what is known as relay intercropping, and plant a rye or cereal crop rather than grasses, which means an additional revenue stream.

“Having something green out there in the months when nothing is growing,” Comito explained. “Getting something out there with roots in the ground making Iowa a little greener longer is really important environmentally for so many reasons. And so this particular practice is important because it’s suddenly making that cover crop into a cash crop. “

In addition to creating an additional revenue source, Comito pointed out researchers hope relay intercropping is successful enough to have it listed in Iowa’s official soil nutrient reduction strategy, a sort of master plan for protecting the state’s soil from erosion.

Vilsack noted the grants are important because they will show farmers the benefit of relay intercropping before they invest their own money in it. Comito added Iowa Learning Farms will be testing the practice in a half dozen communities statewide.

“And then we’re also going to understand the social elements of this so that we can get greater adoption,” Comito emphasized. “This is a unique moment where a practice is really in early adoption, and we can work in their communities to really see how are people thinking about this.”

The Iowa Learning Farms project is part of a larger, $40 million series of USDA grants set to fund 31 projects in several states. The Iowa Soybean Association received a $910,000 grant to study crop health and other soil erosion prevention methods.