116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Collaboration, not lawsuits, will improve water quality
Throughout my 39 year career in production agriculture, experience has taught me that solutions to the biggest challenges facing our industry come from a mutual point of respect between those farming the land and our policy makers.
Agriculture plays an important role in our state, and the progress of agriculture in Iowa has always hinged on positive relationships and collaboration between our farmers, stakeholders and policy makers. Unfortunately, a scenario is currently playing out in Des Moines that seems to undermine other positive efforts around the state.
The Des Moines Water Works decision to sue the drainage districts of three counties upstream does shed light on the fact that more should be done to reduce nutrient runoff. However, I fail to see how adversarial lawsuits will solve the issues of Iowa's 88,000 farms when those farms have different soils and cropping circumstances.
More producers than ever are now implementing practices such as cover crops, precision fertilizer application, stream buffers, and reducing or eliminating tillage. This is happening because farmers and land owners are investing time and money into figuring out what methods actually produce measurable results for reducing nutrient runoff on their land.
On my own farm, I'm creating a demonstration plot that can be used by the Indian Creek Watershed Authority to promote nutrient conservation. One side of a field will highlight a cover crop and the other side will use a stream buffer featuring a nitrate reducing bioreactor with feedstock from felled ash trees. This will be a four year long project that measures and compares the effectiveness of each conservation practice on nutrient runoff. The Indian Creek Watershed Authority Director, Jennifer Fencl, is anxious to work with me to document the progress and then show farmers and landowners the conservation that works in our area.
I'm encouraged to know that we have other strong leadership, like Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey, who have made water quality a priority for years. Expensive litigation and a wrong size fits all regulation on subsurface drainage tile will not improve our water quality. Collaborative efforts that engage more producers to practice new nutrient management strategies are what will yield the best results for both our natural resources and Iowa's economy.
' Curt Zingula is a Linn County grain farmer and Iowa Farm Environmental Leader Award recipient. Comments: czingula@aol.com
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Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett answers questions during a planting of Miscanthus at a field at The Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids on Friday, May 15, 2015. Miscanthus, a deep-rooted perennial grass is being planted on 65 acres of farmland at the airport to be harvested and used as a biofuel for the University of Iowa's power plant. (Adam Wesley/The Gazette)
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