Soil Conservation

"Soil is one of our most precious natural resources. It is the foundation of our whole ecosystem. It is the basis of all plant growth providing us food, clothing and other materials. Soil filters water, decomposes waste, stores heat and exchanges gases."

                                                                                --"Don't Call it Dirt: A Passion for Soil"

View the ILF video, Don’t Call it Dirt: A Passion for Soil (7:55). In the video, viewers are asked to think about soil and how it is used. It also provides ideas so that everyone can improve soil quality and keep it where it belongs.

Read the Iowa Learning Farms' publication series "It Begins With You" 

Economics of Residue
The Cost of Soil Erosion 
Transition to No-Till
Strip-tillage Crop Management
A Whole Farm Approach
Cover Crops

Other publications in this series include:
Cellulosic Biofuels and Your Farm
Language of Conservation
Urban Conservation Practices
Iowa Watersheds
Water Quality and Conservation Practices
and eight supplement sheets (by soil region). See the "Water" section on this web site for the supplements.

To receive printed copies of these handouts, email Iowa Learning Farms: ilf@iastate.edu

Cover Crops

Watch ILF's video "Adding a Cover Crop to a Corn-Soybean System"

Part I: Planting a Cover Crop

Part II: Terminating a Cover Crop

To receive a copy of the cover crop video on DVD, email Iowa Learning Farms: ilf@iastate.edu

Small Grain Cover Crops for Corn and Soybean (PDF)
Iowa State University Extension publication

Midwest Cover Crops Council web site offers excellent resources for cover crops education as well as networking opportunities for cover crop users.  

Iowa Learning Farms/Practical Farmers of Iowa
Cover Crop Study
"Several studies have been conducted but few have involved planting the cover crop in the same location in consecutive years. This five-year study will measure the yield of corn and soybeans in cover and no cover treatments to determine if the cover crop has a negative effect on the cash grain yield."

Practical Farmers of Iowa web site has several reports on various aspects of cover crops.

Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture houses the Iowa Cover Crops Working Group page that lists several additional resources.

Plant Cover Crops website contains information from Midwest cover crop expert Dave Robison

Strip-tillage

Check out the NEW ILF video "Strip-Tillage Crop Management" in six chapters.
(Note the playlist at the bottom of the window,)