Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Iowa Learning Farms' May Webinar: STRIPs

Date: Wednesday, May 16th, 2012

Start: 11:30 am End: 12:15 pm

Location: Online webinar

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

The Iowa Learning Farms’ (ILF) April webinar will feature Matt Helmers, ISU water quality engineer, on the Science-based Trials fo Rowcrops Integrated with Prairies (STRIPs) project at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge.

This research project explores the notion that perennial prairie plants strategically placed within row crop fields will improve field biodiversity, water quality, nutrient and carbon cycling. The perennial strips were planted in 2007 and a corn/soybean rotation has been used on all the research tracts. Numerous studies are taking place with the project including: surface runoff, nutrient export, water use of plants, insect andbird populations within the habitat and plant diversity, yields from row crops as well as social data and perceptions of conservation practices functioning within the row crop rotations.

Helmers will focus the webinar on the water quality aspect of this project. Data from 2007-2011 showed that sediment loss was reduced approximately 95 percent from watersheds with 10-20 percent native prairie vegetation.

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 topics discussed will be beneficial for technical service providers, watershed project coordinators, Extension specialists and anyone else interested in the topic of the month.

Related information

View an archived version of this webinar [Adobe Connect website]

View other ILF webinars  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.