Iowa Corn News

This month’s Stewardship Advocate features denitrifying bioreactors, a relatively new edge-of-field water treatment technology used to reduce nitrate-nitrogen in tile water coming from crop fields. Bioreactors are below-ground chambers, where tile water mixes with a high-carbon material like woodchips in a low-oxygen environment. Naturally occurring microorganisms on the wood chips consume the nitrates in the water and release it as nitrogen gas. The average bioreactor can handle up to 100 acres of upstream tile drained land. Installed bioreactors have shown up to a 54% nitrate load reduction, with an average nitrate removal of 43%.

This month’s Stewardship Advocate focuses on Carbon Intensity (CI) scores, including how they are calculated and what farmers can do to improve their scores. CI is defined as carbon dioxide emissions per unit of energy and is recorded as grams of greenhouse gases (GHG) per mega-jewel (MJ). Carbon dioxide makes up the majority of greenhouse...

This month’s Stewardship Advocate focuses on saturated buffers, an edge of field practice that cleanses the water draining from tiled fields. This article describes the design of this practice, the effect on water quality and cost-share options that can defray most or all of the installation costs. While saturated buffers are less than a 10-12...

Happy New Years and best wishes for a successful 2024! This month’s Stewardship Advocate focuses on farm data protection. It poses a series of questions for farmers to consider before sharing their data. Iowa Corn has a strong interest in supporting and advocating for the protection of data generated by farmers. We believe farm data...

NATIONAL COLLABORATION AIMS TO CATALYZE COVER CROP ADOPTION, IOWA TAKES CENTER STAGE In a united front, three Iowa ag partners are leading a statewide effort to increase the adoption of cover crops, an erosion-prevention and water quality practice, as part of a national program called Farmers for Soil Health. The Iowa Corn Promotion Board (ICPB),...

THE IOWA NUTRIENT RESEARCH AND EDUCATION COUNCIL, NEW REPORT A new report from the Iowa Nutrient Research and Education Council (INREC) shows that some good progress is being made in some areas of conservation adoption that can provide increased productivity and profitability and there is plenty of room for growth to maximize efforts to lead...

MICROBIAL PRODUCTS FOR CROP PRODUCTION Agricultural microbials refer to the microorganisms used in agriculture to enhance crop productivity and yield quality. During the last few years, there has been a significant increase in the development and availability of microbial products that claim to improve crop production. These products are alternatives or partners to chemical inputs....

AG CARBON MARKETS Ag carbon markets are in their relative infancy but are expected to grow significantly over time. The ag carbon market size in the United States is around $5 billion currently and some estimates push the value to $250 billion by 2050. The desire to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has existed for...

PRE-HARVEST CONSIDERATIONS FOR CORN Corn harvest is right around the corner and although this season’s crop is nearly finished developing, corn growers are making plans for harvest but also beginning to prepare for the next growing season. In this Stewardship Advocate, we preview some pre-harvest considerations for Iowa corn growers. Pre-harvest Losses: Before harvest begins, check...

Practices that improve water quality and soil health in Iowa Ever feel overwhelmed by the options and don’t know where to start? In this edition of Stewardship Advocate, we look at several practices that can be employed across Iowa to improve water quality and soil health. Many factors go into the decision about what practices...