Leopold Center Ecology Initiative Special Projects
The Initiative uses discretionary funds and grants from other agencies and organizations to fund special projects the further the objectives.
Active
I-FARM computer model, a free, on-line tool: http://i-farmtools.org/
I-Farm is a web-based tool developed at Iowa State University that allows a farmer to run “what if” on-line scenarios on virtual or actual farms. The 3-year-old tool has been expanded to determine biomass harvest and its impact on:
- erosion
- soil fertility
- livestock operations
- the farm’s energy and labor requirements
- many other variables
It integrates crop and livestock components with soils, weather and economic information specific to 20 states, including Iowa. Access is free and the Web site allows up to 50 users at one time.
Some of the project work is being conducted in conjunction with the Department of Energy’s Integrated Feedstock Supply Systems for Corn Stover Biomass (i-farmtools.org/USDA-feedstock/). Tthe team’s role is to evaluate the approach and algorithms, coordinate with other models and decision tools, identify important applications and recommend future development opportunities.
How the tool works [Leopold Center newsletter article]
Boone River Watershed - Rapid Watershed Assessment
This group has sponsored three years of on-farm, reduced N-use demonstration trials, coordinated an ongoing biological assessment of the river, begun an extensive watershed modeling project, received NRCS funding for Rapid Watershed Assessment of the Boone River, and formed a Boone River Watershed Association. Goals are to promote local interaction and accepts of various management practices.
The Ecology Initiative has provided funds for project management, a case study and baseline modeling for the watershed, that includes about 50,000 acres in Hamilton County. Participants are providing ideas for strategically placed conservation practices that are being incorporated into modeling of regional scenarios.
Partners: local producers, Iowa Soybean Association, Nature Conservancy, Ecology Initiative, Iowa State University’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Prairie Rivers of Iowa RC&D. The group has leveraged more than $1 million financial support.
Grasslands: the Future of Sustainable Agriculture
The new Grasslands book is off the press! Grassland has been a special project of the Leopold Center Ecology Initiative, which helped assemble a steering team that set the scope and content for the book. We offer our appreciation and thanks to Jean Wallace Douglas, whose vision and desire to honor Henry A. Wallace’s legacy, along with a generous grant from the Wallace Genetic Foundation, made this book possible. Our goal for this book is increased awareness of the vital role grass and grassland plants have in ensuring a sustainable future for American agriculture. Grassland takes its inspiration from the classic USDA yearbook Grass: The 1948 Yearbook of Agriculture, also written at a time of political, environmental, and economic turbulence. The 1948 USDA yearbook is provided on the CD that accompanies this book. See the news release for more information.
Reducing Stormwater Runoff
This 2-year demonstration project includes establishment of demonstration biocells, or rain gardens (urban filter strips) at four Ames sites:
- City Hall
- Water Treatment Plant
- Ada Hayden Heritage Park
- and the Public Library
It offers a modest grant and education program and technical support for interested landowners. Education focuses on how well-designed bio-retention systems can increase landscape attractiveness while providing groundwater recharge and reducing the stormwater runoff impact to local waters. Eight applicants received grants, and 25 on-site consultations and six classes were conducted.
Land-water-human System of Rural Iowa
This joint Ecology/Policy Initiative project uses data from the Clear Creek watershed near Iowa City as a model to forecast how high-intensity continuous maize production might impact land use and water quality budgets in Iowa. The objective is to develop sound management practices responsive to the short- and long-term predictions on water and soil quality changes stemming from continuous corn production.
Economic costs of energy use in forage-only or commercial production cow herds
A producer survey will be developed and utilized with at least 30 producers to determine their attitude toward energy conservation in beef cow production.This project will partner with existing organic/grass fed projects and Young Cattlemen projects.
Expected outcomes:
+ Compare energy utilization in forage only versus commercial beef production.
+ Baseline measure of cattlemens attitude toward energy conservation.
The overall goals of the projects would be to evaluate the dissolved nutrient losses from the various management systems to provide stakeholders with science-based information in the impacts of agricultural management on drainage water quality. At the Agronomy/Agricultural Engineering Research Farm, work is focused on evaluating the impacts of liquid swine manure application, crop rotation, crop removal, and use of perennial cover for biomass (switchgrass) on dissolved nutrient loss in subsurface drainage. At the Northeast Research and Demonstration Farm, the work is focused on evaluating the impacts of liquid swine manure application, tillage, crop rotation, and cover crops on dissolved nutrient loss in subsurface drainage.
Drainage Water Quality Impacts of Agricultural Management Practices
Recent
Distiller Dried Grains
Good daily gains, reasonable feed costs, and 60 percent choice grade were achieved by continuous and rotational grazing supplemented with self-fed by-products pellets of DDGs, soy hulls and wheat midds (wheat midds are co-products of milling hard wheat for flour or durum for pasta manufacturing). The Conjugated Linolenic Acid (CLA) part of the fatty acid composition, a component that interests many consumers, was high, at .65 percent.
Grassed Waterways On-Farm Demonstration
The objectives of this study were to determine the effectiveness of different grass species (corn, smooth brome, switchgrass, big bluestem) in reducing N, P, and sediment export from newly established grassed waterways, and to determine if biomass removal affects runoff and nutrient export.
Findings:
+ Establishing perennial C4 grasses were just as, or more effective at reducing mean annual N and P export than smooth bromegrass and corn,
+ Biomass removal had minor effects to no effects on N, P, and sediment export,
+ The accumulation of N and P in aboveground plant biomass and subsequent biomass removal removed N and P from the grassed waterways, although soil N and P concentrations did not change, and
+ Reductions of N and P export were a result of runoff volume reduction, not runoff N and P concentration change.Story from the Leopold Letter on this project
Biomass production
Project info: Development of sustainable biomass production systems through new crop rotations and the integration of perennial crops, nutrient cycling and advanced biofuel conversion technologies - Matt Liebman, ISU Agronomy
This special project looks at the effects of removing large amounts of crop residue from agricultural fields to meet growing markets for liquid fuels and other industrial products. Liebman and graduate student Andrew Heggenstaller are exploring two alternative cropping systems and associated management practices that might generate large amounts of biomass feedstocks for bio-based industries while better protecting environmental quality.
One cropping system focuses on double-crop sequences which could be incorporated flexibly into existing corn-soybean systems to provide soil cover and active root systems throughout the year. The result should be a reduction of soil erosion and nitrogen losses, and more biomass than a single crop of corn. Cool-season triticale, warm-season corn, sorghum-sudangrass, and crotalaria are compared to corn.
The project also considers biomass production, carbon storage and nutrient efficiency by four perennial species (switchgrass, Indiangrass, eastern gamagrass, and big bluestem). A unique ash recovery process and analysis to assess the impacts of applying recovered materials back to the production plots is included in the work.