Farmers urge Iowa legisators to consider more incentives for conservation

PRAIRIEBURG - Linn County farmer Jim Greif has taken cover crops to their logical conclusion.

For the past five years, after harvesting corn and soybeans, Greif has planted cereal rye - a non-cash crop - to protect his soil from erosion, to improve its health and fertility and to prevent the loss of nutrients into surface water.

This year Greif is engaged in an experiment to determine if he can achieve the same benefits while also harvesting two cash crops.

'If it works, I will be doing a lot more double cropping next year,” Greif said Saturday during a conservation tour sponsored by Linn County Farm Bureau and the Linn Soil & Water Conservation District.

Greif planted double rows of hard red winter wheat on 55 acres on Sept. 24. On April 23 he planted soybeans between the rows of winter wheat. This week he expects to harvest the wheat, without disturbing the soybeans, which he will harvest this fall.

'If I can get 100 bushels of wheat and 40 bushels of soybeans, I will be expanding the practice next year,” said Greif, a fifth generation Eastern Iowa farmer who raises corn and soybeans on 900 acres.

Greif, who considers cover crops an investment rather than an expense, said they are paying off in improved yields and healthier soil.

Greif urged the state legislators participating in the tour to consider expanding cover crop cost-share incentives from a single year to multiple years.

'It takes about three or four years to see the benefits of cover crops, and a lot of farmers drop out when the incentives are gone,” he said.

That proposal has some merit, said State Sen. Dan Zumbach, R-Ryan.

Zumbach, himself a farmer, said he would prefer to increase incentives for grass waterways, another conservation practice demonstrated on Saturday's tour.

'They save soil and filter runoff. Farmers can install them without taking land out of production. They provide the greatest value for both farmers and taxpayers,” Zumbach said.

Both State Rep. Ken Rizer, R-Cedar Rapids, and State Sen. Liz Mathis, D-Cedar Rapids, said support for increasing state funding for soil and water conservation remains at a high level.

Proposals for providing a consistent and substantial funding stream for conservation practices came up late in the last session, 'and we ran out of time,” said Rizer.

'Hopefully we can find a way forward in the next session. It's a priority for Gov. Branstad and a lot of us in the House,” Rizer said.

Mathis said she thinks the Legislature will provide long-term stable funding for increased conservation practices in the next session.

The tour also featured a state-of-the-art cattle finishing barn built earlier this year by brothers Mike, John and Pat Ryan, who farm near Ryan.

The 80-foot by 480-foot barn, which covers almost an acre and houses 999 cattle, was built at a cost of $1.5 million, the brothers said.

Beneath it, a 12-foot-deep reinforced concrete pit with 12-inch walls can store up to 2.7 million gallons of manure. The manure enters the pit through a concrete slat floor covered with rubber pads to enhance the traction and comfort of the cattle.

A year's accumulation of manure can fertilize more than 300 acres of corn, according to Mike Ryan.

Pat Ryan said the cattle housed in the barn have been gaining more than 4 pounds per day - a substantial increase over the gain rates recorded in their open feedlots.

The facility's pits and ventilation design minimize odor problems, the brothers said.

'It's a cattle odor, not a manure odor. It's like being in the cattle barn at the fair,” Mike Ryan said.

Because of the building's design and location, 'You hardly notice it's here. You don't see it. You don't smell it,” he said.