Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

LC Logo Iowa Learning Farms August Webinar: Losing Ground

Date: Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

Start: 12:00 pm

Location: Online webinar

Contact: John Lundvall, ILF field coordinator, 515-294-5429

The Iowa Learning Farms August webinar will feature Rick Cruse, who will discuss the report “Losing Ground.” The webinar is part of a series, hosted by ILF, held on the third Wednesday of each month. The webinars are held over the noon hour through Adobe Connect. All that is needed to participate is a computer with Internet access.

The “Losing Ground” report is based on research by Iowa State University (ISU) scientists and the Environmental Working Group (EWG). The report shows that Iowa farms are losing topsoil up to 12 times faster than government estimates. But, aerial surveys conducted by EWG, indicate that soil erosion and runoff are worse than the research numbers suggest. Many fields are scarred by gullies that channel soil and chemicals into streams, which is not accounted for in ISU’s erosion estimates. Cruse is one of the ISU scientists who aided in the report, working with the Iowa Daily Erosion Project.

Go to report website

Related information

View this archived presentation

Rick Cruse is a professor of agronomy at ISU and director of the Iowa Water Center.  His research focus is on soil management and soil erosion processes. He recently served on the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology, a bioenergy advisory council to the chief U.S. EPA administrator and has served on the Iowa Climate Change Advisory Council. Cruse teaches two graduate level soil management classes at Iowa State University.

View other ILF webinars: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/ilf/

About Iowa Learning Farms: ILF is a partnership between the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa State University Extension, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the US EPA (section 319); in cooperation with Conservation Districts of Iowa and the Iowa Farm Bureau.