Helmers covers evaluating nutrient reduction at delivery scale during webinar

AMES - Iowa Learning Farms will host a webinar discussing the innovative Conservation Learning Lab project that is key to understanding impacts of in-field conservation practices beyond the research plot scale on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 12 p.m.

The webinar is a remote training opportunity for all stakeholders, including watershed coordinators, who are working on watershed improvement projects and implementation of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy.

Matt Helmers, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering and director of the Iowa Nutrient Research Center, will describe the need for research at the scale at which water and nutrients are delivered to the stream, as is being done with the Conservation Learning Lab project. This project is providing the opportunity to examine how in-field conservation practices impact nutrient loss with water. Through one-on-one conservation planning meetings with farmers, the project team has helped the farmers implement cover crops, strip-tillage and CRP on their land. Pre-implementation and preliminary post-implementation water quality data will be shared from ongoing monitoring within the project areas.

'This research is critical to understanding impacts of in-field management beyond the plot scale,” said Helmers. 'Examining the results of large-scale adoption of practices at delivery-scale is critical to meeting the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy goals. It is also important to note the high amount of time and human capital needed to get farmer and landowner adoption of conservation practices at the level of implementation we need.”

The Iowa Learning Farms webinar series takes place on the third Wednesday of the month. To watch, go to www.iowalearningfarms.org/page/webinars and click the link to join the webinar shortly before 12 p.m., Nov. 14 to download the Zoom software and log in option. The webinar will be recorded and archived on the ILF website for watching at any time at https://www.iowalearningfarms.org/page/webinars.