Ecology Resources

Multi-year Research Project Updates

Be sure to check out these summaries of findings from longer-term research supported by the Leopold Center. Several projects look at alternative cropping systems or other ways to produce agronomic crops as well as ecosystem services. Check out working group and research team pages (links at left, in brown navigation menu) for more current news and activities.

• Landscape Biomass Experiment
• Comparison of Biofuel Systems
• Diversifying Corn-Soybean Rotations (and the latest Energy and Economic Returns by Crop Rotation)
• The Long-Term Agroecological Research (LTAR) Experiment
• A Landowners Guide to Prairie Conservation Strips (answers to questions about the STRIPs research)
• Practices to Improve Water Quality [summaries of practices/research supported by the Leopold Center)

Life Cycle Assessment

Life cycle assessment is a biophysical accounting framework that has been standardized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). LCA involves

1. Compiling an inventory of the material and energy inputs at each stage of a product life cycle, and
2. Quantifying how these flows contribute to specific resource use and emissions-related environmental impacts.

This research approach can be used to examine energy use, greenhouse gases, and other emissions associated with products, livestock, and crop production systems. The Leopold Center has funded or collaborated on several LCA-related projects.

• Energy Use and Nutrient Cycling in Pig Production Systems is a competitive grant. Findings have been published in several journals:
  • Energy and carbon inventory of Iowa swine production facilities – Agricultural Systems, 2010
  • Nonsolar energy use and one-hundred-year global warming potential of Iowa swine feedstuffs and feeding strategies – Journal of Animal Science, 2010.
  • Construction resource use of two different types and scales of Iowa swine production facilities – Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 2009.
  • Here's a news release about the project findings [October 10, 2010]
     
• Life Cycle Assessment of Commodity and Niche Swine Production Systems in the Upper Midwestern United States – Read a peer-reviewed publication in Agricultural Systems (2010), or read a Leopold Center Q&A about the project.
   
• Comparative Life Cycle Environmental Impacts of Three Beef Production Strategies in the Upper Midwestern United States – Read a peer-reviewed publication in Agricultural Systems (2010), or read a Leopold Center Q&A about the project. 

Conservation Reserve Program

Contracts for more than 230,000 acres of cropland in Iowa enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) are set to expire in 2012. Nationally, CRP contracts expire on about 6.5 million acres. Below are links to publications in an Iowa State University Extension series, “Conservation Reserve Program: Issues and Options series,” designed to help CRP contract holders assess the land-use options available to them when the contracts expire. The series began as a project of the Leopold Center based on research supported by the Center.

• Life After CRP - Decisions, Decisions, CRP-1
• Lease Alternatives for CRP Land CRP-2
• Tillage Options After CRP, CRP-3
• Applying Fertilizer and Lime to CRP Land, CRP-5
• Resource Inventory Guide, CRP-6
• Converting CRP Contract Land to an Active Grazing System on Your Farm - Evaluating Resources and Setting Goals, CRP-9
• Converting to Pasture or Hay - Evaluating Current Vegetation, CRP-10
• Converting CRP Land to Pasture - Managing Weeds and Fertility, CRP-11
• Converting to Pasture or Hay - Repairing, Replanting CRP Land, CRP-12
• Converting to Pasture or Hay - Forage Seeding Mixtures, CRP-13
• Insect Management for Corn and Soybean, CRP-15
• Strip Intercropping: A CRP Conversion Option, CRP-17
• Planting Corn or Soybeans into CRP Sod Ground, CRP-18
• Interseeding Small-Seeded Forages into Sod with Conventional Corn/Soybean Planters, CRP-21
• Maximizing Profitability on Highly Erodible Land in Iowa, CRP-22

Managed Grazing Systems

The Leopold Center has supported research to help operators manage pastures for grazing. These fact sheets summarize some of the findings and how to apply them on the farm.

• A Guide to Managing Pasture Water: Off-Stream Water, Shade and Nutritional Supplementation to Modify Animal Behavior
• A Guide to Managing Pasture Water: Stabilized Stream and Pond Access Sites
• A Guide to Managing Pasture Water: Streamside Buffers
• Cattle Grazing for Healthier Pastures - On the Ground video
• Grazing Native Grasslands at Whiterock - On the Ground video