Farmers talk soil health at Floyd County area conservation event

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Farmers from around the area gathered at the Floyd County Fairgrounds to learn about cover crops and no-till planting during a special Soil Health and Planter Setup on Thursday, March 7.

“We’re trying to give farmers an opportunity to learn and socialize with each other,” said Josh Heims, district conservationist with the Natural Resource Conservation Service.

Organized by the NRCS and the Soil and Water Conservation districts covering the four-county area of Floyd, Mitchell, Howard and Chickasaw, the central theme of the event was education about how cover crops and no-till planting can improve and sustain Iowa’s supply of rich topsoil.

“The reason Iowa is known globally for our soil is because of the high organic matter,” said Heims. “No-till reduces erosion and maintains soil’s organic matter.”

Featuring four morning presenters, the day-long event started with a soil health demonstration from Alisha Sedlmayr, a soil health specialist with the Northeast Iowa NRCS.

Paul Jasa, an Extension engineer with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, followed with a presentation about no-till systems, complimented by Josh Sponheim, an Osage farmer who discussed no-till planters.

Generations of farming practices have taken a toll on Iowa’s topsoil, leading to issues with erosion and water pollution. The presenters said they hope to reverse this trend by getting farmers to think more about maintaining the quality of the land they grow crops on.

“We are concerned about the condition of soil health,” said Jasa. “The thing with farmers is, they never thought of soil as their factory.”

The last speaker of the morning was Matt Swason, a member of the Iowa Soybean Association, who updated the audience on the latest news from that group.

After breaking for lunch, supplied by S&S Meats & Spirits out of Osage and prepared by the Floyd County Cattleman, the audience split up into breakout sessions with a variety of both local and international experts for more in-depth discussions on cover crops and planter setups.

From the benefits that different cover crops can have on topsoil, to the pros and cons of different seeding methods, the event was used as a way to demystify these more eco-friendly agriculture practices for farmers who may be hesitant about changing how they do things.

“Hopefully farmers leave here more comfortable with no-till on their farms,” said Heims.

This is the first year that Heims has organized such a gathering, but he said he hopes to see it become an annual event to encourage long-term sustainability in agriculture.