Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced today that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is expanding its popular Cattle and Conservation Working Lands Project into Adams County, the eighth county to join the project. The southwest Iowa county will now join Taylor, Page, Woodbury, Cherokee, Ida, Guthrie, and Carroll Counties as part of the innovative and creative water quality program. Secretary Naig made the announcement today in Ames during his remarks to the Iowa Cattle Industry Convention.
This first-of-its-kind, locally-led project demonstrates the compatibility between cattle and conservation, and the creative opportunities to advance conservation-based cropping systems. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and other partners will work with farmers and landowners by using precision ag tools to identify, build and expand opportunities for forage-based crops, such as pasture and hay, where row crops are less profitable. Assistance is provided to livestock producers on an individual basis to evaluate their operations and goals on a sub-field level and to identify the best opportunities to target conservation practices. The project also encourages cover crop seeding in the fall, a practice that is proven to improve water quality and prevent soil erosion while also serving as a source of forage for livestock.
“The strong demand for the Cattle and Conservation Working Lands Project within our seven-county project area proves that it is both popular and effective, and with more partners and resources, we’d love to continue to expand it into even more counties beyond Adams County. Ultimately, this is the type of working lands concept that should become the basis for a future Farm Bill conservation program,” said Secretary Naig. “The project provides an opportunity to grow our livestock herds, which is good for Iowa’s economy, while also improving soil health and making progress toward our Nutrient Reduction Strategy goals. We continue to set records for conservation adoption in Iowa, and this project is helping to build that momentum.”
The Department supported an initial pilot in Taylor County, which began in 2017. Since the start of work in Taylor County, 170 different producers have participated. This has led to the conversion of over 6,500 acres to haying or grazing in the county. Nearly 500 different fields throughout the county have been impacted with participation touching every township. Over 50 ponds, an important water source, have also been constructed. Taylor County has gone from approximately 5,000 acres of cover crops in 2016 to now seeding upwards of 13,000 acres per year. The project expanded into Page County in 2022. Since then, 80 different producers have converted more than 1,000 acres to hay or pasture across 100 different fields. Twenty ponds have been constructed, and the county is now seeding approximately 16,000 cover crop acres per year.
In 2023, with the help of a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) Regional Conservation Partnership Project (RCPP) grant and other conservation and cattle-focused partners, Carroll, Guthrie, Cherokee, Ida and Woodbury Counties were added to the project. In 2024 alone, across all seven counties participating, 220 producers converted 5,580 acres to hay or grazing. This includes more than 600 different fields. While the cover crop acres for this fall as part of this project are still being tallied, the number already exceeds 44,000 acres.
The Department’s initial partners on this expansion into Adams County include the following: Adams County Cattlemen’s Association, Iowa Beef Industry Council, Adams County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), NRCS and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.
“We are pleased that the Adams County SWCD has been approved for the Working Lands Project funding. We have seen the benefits of this program in neighboring counties,” said Chad Jacobs, President of the Adams County Cattlemen. “The program provides some great incentives to convert crop acres to hay and pasture. We are excited to see the impact on Adams County in the coming years.”
The Department is supporting the administrative, technical, and cost-share assistance costs of the SWCD to lead the project. Between all partners, the estimated cost-share budget for practice implementation is anticipated to be at least $744,000.
“I am excited about this project because of the potential to return marginal soils, that have been converted to cropped acres, to the pasture and hay ground those soils are better suited for,” said Marnie Cline, a livestock farmer and an Adams County Soil and Water District Commissioner. “This funding partnership will give the cow/calf producer incentives to return cropped acres to pasture, hay, and utilize cover crops to protect and improve the soil and its health. These forage practices will benefit the producer, their livestock, and the water quality of Adams County.”
