helpful tools & Resources

These tools and resources, created by our partners and other trusted innovators in the field of water quality and soil conservation, will help you to explore different conservation practices as they pertain to your specific needs.

Managing The N Factor

Check out this interactive, online tool that explores science-based research that is being conducted both on campus and in the field at Iowa State University regarding nitrate management and its impact on water quality.

Midwest Cover Crop Council Tools

The Midwest Cover Crop Council (MCCC) Cover Crop Decision Tools are web-based systems to assist farmers in selecting cover crops to include in field crop and vegetable rotations.

Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Through research and education, the Leopold Center helps to identify and develop new ways to farm profitably while conserving natural resources.

Iowa USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservation Showcase

Check out these profiles of Iowa's conservation success stories.

The end of season cornstalk nitrate test can indicate whether or not the nitrogen supply was adequate for ear development during the growing season. Visit our website - http://www.extension.iastate.edu/ag/

Iowa Nutrient Research & Education Council

INREC is the only organization in Iowa that strategically brings together major farm & commodity organizations, major fertilizer and crop production companies, agricultural retailers and crop advisors in a formal organization to help lead environmental efforts related to agriculture in Iowa.

Active Iowa Watershed Projects

Want to see active projects throughout the state? Check out this interactive map, managed by Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

WATER ROCKS!

Water Rocks!, in conjunction with Iowa Learning Farms, is creating a new public awareness toward the many issues surrounding water.

Coalition to Support Iowa's Farmers

CSIF was established in 2004 by farmers for farmers to help those that raise livestock successfully and responsibly manage changes to their livestock farms.

USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service Soil Health

As world population and food production demands rise, keeping our soil healthy and productive is of paramount importance. By farming using soil health principles and systems that include no-till, cover cropping and diverse rotations, more and more farmers are actually increasing their soil’s organic matter and improving microbial activity. As a result, farmers are sequestering more carbon, increasing water infiltration, improving wildlife and pollinator habitat—all while harvesting better profits and often better yields.

Iowa Water Quality Information System

The IWQIS allows access to real-time water-quality data and information such as nitrate, pH, and dissolved oxygen concentrations, discharge rates, and temperature.

water quality webinars

Watch information videos and learn more about water quality, conservation practices, and more from Iowa State University.

Iowa's landscape has changed dramatically over the past 10,000-15,000 years. Travel through time from the age of the glaciers, through several thousand years of prairie and formation of the world's richest topsoil, to modern agricultural practices today.

Corn Nitrogen Rate Calculator

This web site provides a process to calculate economic return to N application with different nitrogen and corn prices and to find profitable N rates directly from recent N rate research data. The method used follows a regional approach for determining corn N rate guidelines that is implemented in several Corn Belt states.