Resources

All of our resources are available from this page. You can also visit the specific pages for individual topics to get focused information on those areas.

Conservation

Conservation encompasses many areas - soil, water, and crop considerations all play a part. We offer a variety of practical resources to help you find the answers to your questions.

"How resilient are our lands here in the Midwest? What is our ability to retain productivity if we have another long drought or continual flooding? Will people still be farming in Iowa 1,500 years from now? Or even 200 years from now? The decisions we make today about our natural resources will affect agricultural production 50 years from now." --from the video "The Work of Our Hands"

Conservation Resources

Cover Crops

Cover crops are a great way to improve soil health. Many Iowa farmers are adding cover crops to their crop rotations so soil stays covered when the fields are not growing other crops. Cover crops also improve soil organic matter and slow water runoff.

Farmers have many questions about incorporating cover crops. Most asked questions include: what kinds of plants can be used, when and how to seed and when and how to terminate. With field days and workshops, Iowa Learning Farms strives to help farmers, and other interested people, find the answers to these questions and more.

Cover Crop Resources

Edge-of-Field

Edge-of-field practices play a crucial role in meeting the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy goals of improving water quality through reducing nitrogen and phosphorus in Iowa's water bodies. Edge-of-field practices involve drainage water management, bioreactors, buffers, saturated buffers, denitrifying wetlands, terraces and sediment control.

Edge-of-Field Resources

Relay Intercropping

Relay intercropping is a multi-year, multi-species cropping system that allows for 3 harvestable crops (small grain, soybean, corn) in 2 years.

View recent webinars, blogs and publications from ongoing research farm and on-farm demonstrations.

Relay Intercropping

Field Day Toolkit

These toolkits are the product of Iowa Learning Farms’ many years of planning and hosting field day events across the state of Iowa, as well as our newer Conservation On Tap gatherings. While ILF utilizes many different outreach approaches, the importance of farmer-to-farmer interactions cannot be overstated. Field days do matter!

Field Day Toolkit

Conservation On Tap Toolkit

Webinar Toolkit

Iowa Learning Farms (ILF) has successfully produced its Conservation Webinar Series since 2011, offering opportunities for online audiences to learn about the latest research and implementation efforts of conservation-related practices. To aid other organizations in producing webinars, ILF has created this toolkit which includes information on planning, promoting, designing, hosting, archiving, and evaluating a webinar, based on experience gained from producing and archiving hundreds of webinars.

Webinar Toolkit

Recent Resources

Posts in Webinars

September 2, 2026: Beyond Nutrient Removal: Greenhouse Gas Dynamics in Iowa's Restored Wetlands

September 2, 2026: Beyond Nutrient Removal: Greenhouse Gas Dynamics in Iowa's Restored Wetlands

With Jonathan D. Norton

Webinars, Conservation, Edge of Field, Water ConservationAlena WhitakerSeptember 2, 2026

August 26, 2026: Replicable Farmer Outreach Approaches to Increase Conservation Practice Adoption

August 26, 2026: Replicable Farmer Outreach Approaches to Increase Conservation Practice Adoption

With Jenny Seifert

Webinars, ConservationAlena WhitakerAugust 26, 2026

August 19, 2026: When Does Scouting Pay? Evaluating Soybean Aphid Scouting and Drones

August 19, 2026: When Does Scouting Pay? Evaluating Soybean Aphid Scouting and Drones

With Hyewon Lee and Seowoo Lee

Webinars, Conservation, Conservation CropsLiz RipleyAugust 20, 2026

August 12, 2026: Agronomics of Relay Intercropping

August 12, 2026: Agronomics of Relay Intercropping

With Mark Licht

Webinars, Conservation, Conservation Crops, Relay IntercroppingAlena WhitakerAugust 12, 2026

August 5, 2026: A Conversation with Daniel Andersen

August 5, 2026: A Conversation with Daniel Andersen

With Daniel Andersen

Webinars, ConservationLiz RipleyAugust 5, 2026

July 29, 2026: The Nitrogen Toolbox: From Cycling to Rate Tools to Late-Season Decisions

July 29, 2026: The Nitrogen Toolbox: From Cycling to Rate Tools to Late-Season Decisions

With Richard Roth

Webinars, ConservationAlena WhitakerJuly 29, 2026

July 22, 2026: A Conversation with Shelby Gruss

July 22, 2026: A Conversation with Shelby Gruss

With Shelby Gruss

Webinars, Conservation, Cover Crops, LivestockAlena WhitakerJuly 22, 2026

July 15, 2026: On-Farm Energy Opportunities: Distributed Wind

July 15, 2026: On-Farm Energy Opportunities: Distributed Wind

With Kathy Evenson-McDermott and Sophie Farr

Webinars, ConservationAlena WhitakerJuly 15, 2026wind energy, turbine, distributed wind, renewable energy

July 8, 2026: Harnessing Local Woodland Resources to Enhance Bioreactor Microbiome for Water Quality Improvement

July 8, 2026: Harnessing Local Woodland Resources to Enhance Bioreactor Microbiome for Water Quality Improvement

With Clarisse Siababa

Webinars, Conservation, Water Conservation, Edge of FieldAlena WhitakerJuly 8, 2026

July 1, 2026: Removing Dissolved Phosphorus and Nitrate with Phosphorus Removal Structures Using Steel Turnings in a Bottom-Up Flow Configuration

July 1, 2026: Removing Dissolved Phosphorus and Nitrate with Phosphorus Removal Structures Using Steel Turnings in a Bottom-Up Flow Configuration

With Chad Penn

Webinars, Conservation, Water ConservationAnn StaudtJuly 2, 2026nitrate, pollution, agricultural, phosphorus, dissolved, water quality

June 24, 2026: Enhancing Nutrient Pollution Reduction Strategies Through Standardized Tracking of Agricultural and Urban Nutrient Fluxes

June 24, 2026: Enhancing Nutrient Pollution Reduction Strategies Through Standardized Tracking of Agricultural and Urban Nutrient Fluxes

With Robert D. Sabo

Webinars, Conservation, Water ConservationAlena WhitakerJune 25, 2026

June 17, 2026: Top 10 Ways That Cover Crops Impact Soil Health

June 17, 2026: Top 10 Ways That Cover Crops Impact Soil Health

With Rob Myers

Webinars, Conservation, Cover Crops, Soil ConservationAlena WhitakerJune 17, 2026