Iowa’s expanding Latino population patronizes tiendas (groceries) that offer products specially chosen for their cultural and culinary needs. This project explored how Iowa’s increasing local food production potentially could become a part of the produce offerings at these specialty stores.

Much of the available soil organic carbon (SOC) is in subsoil, yet few studies have evaluated how crop rotation affects SOC below the plow layer. This project looks at whether crop rotations with greater belowground C inputs would increase SOC stocks by delivering C to subsoil with relatively low SOC levels.

This is an evaluation of seven one-year food system projects funded by the Local Food & Farm Initiative (LFFI). The initiative is funded by an annual appropriation from the Iowa Legislature and administered from the Leopold Center. For ever dollar of LFFI investment in these projects, another $17.92 was leveraged by project leaders and their partners.

This is a working document of the Regional Food Systems Working Group that outlines some of the best practices for developing a local food system in the areas of coalition building, fundraising, promotion of local food, events and celebrations, producer training and workshops, sales to institutions, farm-to-school and fulfilling the facilitation/connector role. It was compiled from information submitted by regional coordinators of the RFSWG.

Investigators conducted experiments on the viability of new, quicker tests for the presence of E.Coli in water supplies. their preliminary data suggested that bacteriophages (viruses infecting bacteria) offer potential for detection of bacteria if the right medium can be found for testing.

Cover crops are valued by a growing number of Midwest corn and soybean growers for their ability to improve soil quality, combat soil compaction, minimize soil erosion, maximize soil nutrient capture, and protect water quality. This project allowed Iowa Learning Farms to collect significant additional data on Iowa cover crop production.

Leopold Center support over three years has helped Ajay Nair, assistant professor in Horticulture, set up the ISU Sustainable Vegetable Production Lab, a research and education program to help small producers in Iowa.

Inclusion of perennial vegetation filter strips (PFSs) in the toeslope of annual cropland watersheds can decrease NO₃⁻–N losses to ground and surface waters. Although PFSs are similar to riparian buffers, the processes responsible for NO₃⁻–N removal from PFSs are not well understood. Our objectives were to (i) determine the importance of denitrification as a sink for NO₃⁻–N loss from PFSs and (ii) evaluate how PFSs alter the biophysical processes that affect the relative importance of N₂O and N₂ emissions. To address our objectives, we used a coupled field laboratory approach with experimental watersheds that included the following treatments: (i) PFSs covering the bottom 10% of the watershed and an annual corn–soybean crop rotation covering the remaining upslope 90% (PFS); (ii) 100% corn–soybean rotation (CORN); and (iii) 19-yr-old 100% restored native grassland (RNG). In situ N₂O flux rates and laboratory N₂O/(N₂ + N₂O) ratios were highest in CORN watersheds followed by PFS and RNG watersheds. In contrast, potentially mineralizable C and denitrification enzyme activity (DEA) were highest in PFS and RNG watersheds and lowest in CORN watersheds. Furthermore, there was a negative correlation between N₂O/(N₂ + N₂O) ratio and DEA. In the laboratory, N₂ fluxes were highest in PFS followed by RNG and CORN. These results indicate that PFS watersheds support greater total denitrification while emitting less N₂O than croplands. Greater potentially mineralizable C in PFS and RNG suggest C availability is an important factor affecting more complete denitrification. These results suggest PFSs function similar to riparian buffers and have potential to reduce NO₃⁻–N losses from annual croplands by denitrification to N₂.

Everyone agrees that soil erosion is detrimental to Iowa agriculture. This study attempts to quantify the effects of erosion on contemporary crop yields and gauge the longer term impact on the agricultural economy in the state.

Farmers have a number of tools to use in managing agricultural risk. This summary examines the relationship between one of those tools—crop insurance—and extreme weather. The paper focuses on how non-operating landowners (NOLs) might consider the relationship between crop insurance and conservation practices on their farms.