Research suggests that 5-15% of an average farm field in Iowa regularly has low yields due to soil properties and landscape position, resulting in lower profitability than the surrounding field area, often to the point of net financial loss. While these unprofitable areas may make economic sense for conversion to conservation practices, it remains unclear if these locations are also the best opportunities to address resource concerns or enhance environmental benefits, such as reduced soil erosion and nutrient loss.
Join the Iowa Farmers Union in today's Lunch and Learn webinar. From 12:30 to 1 p.m. Central, Summers will discuss "Examining the Potential of Conservation Practices to Maximize Field Profitability and Environmental Benefits."
Haleigh Summers, a graduate student studying conservation adoption, joins us to discuss the answer to this question. Researchers examined how often the least profitable areas of fields overlap with areas where a water quality-focused conservation practice could be placed to maximize spatially-determined environmental benefits.
Haleigh Summers is a graduate student studying conservation practice adoption in Iowa. Her B.S. was in Agronomy and Seed Science, and her Master's was in Agronomy studying non-chemical ways to control herbicide-resistant weeds. Her current research focuses on geospatial modeling of conservation practices across the state of Iowa to make water quality improvement effective and efficient.
Categories: Iowa, Crops