Promoting improved water quality from Iowa farms: Opportunities for leveraging public resources to engage more Iowa farmers and landowners in water quality protection [P2017-03]

Project Description: 

The project's goal is to create a user-friendly guide to help increase farmer and landowner program participation. The project investigators will create the "Guide on how to improve water quality on Iowa farms" for farmers and landowners to use public programs to improve water quality and promote soil health. The guide will focus on farmers' and landowners' needs and experiences. The researchers will identify current on-farm conservation practices with a water quality impact offered by key agencies and private partner funders. They will document how farmers and landowners are encouraged to used these practices through financial incentives in programs such as EQIP and CSP. The guide will include steps to help participants understand the progams.

Project ID: 
P2017-03
Years of Grant Project: 
1
Total Grant Amount: 
$44,701
Project Start: 
2017
Lead Investigator: 
Neil D. Hamilton
Lead Investigator Bio: 

Prof. Neil D. Hamilton, is the emeritus Chair of Law and director of the Agricultural Law Center at Drake University Law School in Des Moines, Iowa.  He is past-president of the American Agricultural Law Association (AALA) and has authored several books, including the nationally award winning What Farmers Need to Know About Environmental Law (1990).  He has written numerous law review articles on topics such as: food democracy, rural lands, the future of agricultural law, sustainable agricultural land tenure, agricultural industrialization, and production contracts.  He was on the Advisory Board of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University from 1987 to 2008.  He is on the boards of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, and the Seed Savers Exchange.  He has a B.S. from Iowa State University in Forestry and Economics, and a J.D. from University of Iowa.  He and his wife, Khanh, own Sunstead Farm near Waukee and raise produce and flowers for local restaurants.

Email: neil.hamilton@drake.edu

Co Investigators: 

Jennifer Zwagerman and Matt Russell, Drake Agricultural Law Center