IOWA - Water pollution & Livestock

[Iowafarmer]

That was a thing many years ago. These retention ponds handle millions of gallons now and it hasn't been an issue in the last 10 years. This is not just my opinion, as I said before, I have a good friend that works in wastewater for the city who I badger repeatedly on these subjects.

 

[Iowafarmer]

CRP, CREP, WRP have individual $ caps. Just like rest of farm programs.

I would agree with most of that except the moldboard plow the only place I’ve seen those in recent years is in the scrap pile. I would estimate at least 50% no till in my area south central Iowa. Almost never see bean ground worked some tillage before corn

 

[Iowafarmer]

I live in Iowa. Just have a look at any of our rivers or lakes in the summer and you can see something isn't right. The two lakes right by my house are both closed to any kind of swimming once it gets real hot due to algae blooms. Really wishing more people would consider alternative farming methods before we get to a point of no return. It's actually amazing that people still subscribe to the idea that dumping tons of chemicals on your fields every single year is the best way to do things.

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Well what’s the chances of getting a bunch of school kids to come out and walk beans these days

 

[Lvthntitall]

I have worked in the ag sector all my life. I deal with the decision making of inputs every day. There are a few things I would like people to consider. There are no two people that think exactly the same so there will never be a solution that makes everyone happy. A few thinks that I feel I need to mention, 95 present of growers I work with try everyday to do a better job. There is however 5 percent don’t care.
Growers I personally work with spend millions of dollars every year to stabilize nitrogen. They soil sample every two years which when combined with yield maps data allows for for variable rate fertilizer applications which only apply fertilizer where needed. Conservation practices are used on almost every farm I know of.
Agriculture is the leading cause of run off but not the only offender. After working on several watershed projects I do know the municipalities we worked with stated if they treated water to remove nitrogen they then put it back into the river down stream so there are other aspects that need to be worked on, not just the ag industry.
I could write a book on here with my opinions but will spare everyone the pain of reading it. I will stop here but would like to offer to anyone that is interested that is willing to travel to central Illinois a day or two of my time to show what is done everyday to find the balance in these struggles.

 

[IsThisHeaven]

Who said I did? I have no problem with crop production for food or animal feed, but corn syrup and soy oil

you two need to protest …. Dont eat any grains or fed meats. Boycott all grains and fed meat!!

You might not like it but is true whether you like it or not and whether I say it out loud or not.

Agriculture does a lot of good in the state. But if we are gonna talk about the good we can also talk about the bad. The Farm Bureau has more power over the politicians in this state than any other special interest.

 

[Forestryguy]

Good to know! You think a good pasture around all water bodies would help the run off? How much erosion you seeing? I’ve never been just referencing the permits I’ve dealt on in MT. And that’s mostly solid manure besides some chicken and hog. Nitrogen I would think in that type of rainfall would move into shallow wells. Depending on pH your phos would tie up rather rapidly at 2-6”

In no way doubting you I’m not there I’m just trying to understand this! We’ve broadcasted tankers of hog manure, but have fields treated only 5-7 years Dryland so 10-14” moisture a year and pH from 7.5-8.3. Ties up quite fast in calcareous soils.

If the pastures were large enough and not over grazed I would say yes. The areas that I was specifically referencing are/were mostly Bluff Country woodlands along the Mississippi River. The soil is shallow due to being mostly forested land sitting on top of limestone that is fractured. This is all on hills and slopes that vary in steepness, with the ridge tops farmed. There are places that water can pick up a lot of velocity and recent farming practices have been to make waterways as narrow as possible for more production, unless they are bailing the waterways. I know of areas that there is a very large amount of erosion taking place. A lot of fields have small paths of erosion after rains. The property where I lived at butted up against a place that was an "Organic" farm on a fairly steep slope. They cultivated for weed control but loosened the soil constantly. We put in a few check dams from the property line down a ravine. After the very first moderate rain, the first check dam was completely full of eroded soil. Farmer didn't care, he was more worried about water being backed up onto his land. At the state forest I worked at erosion control ponds were built back in the 70's or 80's at the head of ravines. Some of these are 30-40 feet deep. In 2017/18 we started to clean them out and reconstruct them. Most were almost completely full of silt.

I am not sure on the pH of the soils in the area. I would guess they are basic. Since there is a lot of limestone.

In MY perfect world fields would have 100 feet of buffer, on the downslopes, of native deep rooted grasses to slow and disperse water. Cover crops would be used more to shield soil from loosening by rainfall. Everyone would be no-tilling. Manure would only be spread as solids on unfrozen ground and on pasture or as side dressing for row crops.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Not any ground around here going for $20000/ac but then we don’t raise 300bu corn in my area if we hit 200 field average we get pretty excited just bought another 80 this winter at 5k/ac I thought that was crazy money for what it was but it adjoined me so I had to have it

I see you're from SC Iowa where the terrain is more rolling with dispersed wood lots and creeks. This topography is great for deer, turkeys, quail, and pheasants. I'm surprised your land prices are still that low, considering most farms that Whitetail Properties lists in that part of the state get $5k just for recreational properties. Congrats on the purchase!

You get north of I80 where land is generally more flat the further north you go, and you'd choke on the land prices. The piece for $20k I'm describribing was in southern Carroll County where CSRs are typically around 75-80. It's flat but otherwise unremarkable. The seed companies, weatlhy investors, and large private farms compete furiously at auction for most land around here these days. You get over into NC Iowa and I'd hate to guess what that ground is going for with farmers competing with realtors wanting to develop everything between DSM and Ames to the north and DSM and Adel to the west, and DSM to Newton on the east.

Regarding plows, I did find a bit of good news today. JD ended its production of moldboard plows in February 2023.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

CRP, CREP, WRP have individual $ caps. Just like rest of farm programs.

Yes, I understand this ,and I agree with removing the $50k caps as long as the ground being enrolled in the program is actually highly erodible or a riparian area. The caps are in place to avoid wealthy folks from taking highly productive land out of production and getting paid for raising deer and pheasants.

Case in point, wealthy attorney from DSM inherited all but 80 acres in the NE corner and my 13 acres on the south side of this section. The 80 surrounding my place is in CRP, and he got in roughly 10 years ago when the rates were through the roof with a $100/ac signing bonus. He is getting between $400-500/ac for this ground. He has several other mild to "slightly rolling" deer and pheasant farms in CRP, and would put more in if he wasn't capped. Here's the rub though, for every acre of highly productive non-HEL ground he got into the program, which is a competitive application process, there are hundres of acres of marginally productive HEL ground in production that could be in the program.

 

[yfarm]

Our property is in northern Polk County, developers have paid 25-29k/ acre across the road from us, town used to be 1 mile south, city limits are across the road now. Once we get involuntarily annexed, hunting is over. Unlike Texas, Iowa has no historical use preservation in their code. In Texas if you are annexed, you can continue to hunt despite being within city limits. My son dove hunts within the city limits of Austin, every time people call the police who explain historical uses are allowed if owned prior to annexation.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Our property is in northern Polk County, developers have paid 25-29k/ acre across the road from us, town used to be 1 mile south, city limits are across the road now. Once we get involuntarily annexed, hunting is over. Unlike Texas, Iowa has no historical use preservation in their code. In Texas if you are annexed, you can continue to hunt despite being within city limits. My son dove hunts within the city limits of Austin, every time people call the police who explain historical uses are allowed if owned prior to annexation.

If you're a bowhunter, and your property is timber, you may get lucky if you can lobby for an urban hunt inside city limits. I believe there are still urban bow hunts available all over the greater metro Des Moines area and the suburbs.

 

[PA farmboy]

Haven't read through all the replies but if farming in any other state is like PA we need nutrient management plans for spreading manure. And as expensive as fertilizer is you won't see many/if any use any more than they have to. Bigger contributor is all the yards that get fertilizer pumped onto them all summer long since god forbid the neighbors yard is greener. With nothing being removed from the ground those excess nutrients move downward through the soil profile to the water table. With ag crops being grown, over half the biomass being produced ends up leaving the fields whether its for grain, or forage.
Farms have been blamed for years for things like this, our area falls under the Chesapeake bay watershed and even with all the further regulations we have all received they have figured out the bay solution hasn't gone down like they thought it would. Further more than fertilizing yards is every town/city has a sewer plant to process all the human waste. Where do you think that liquid ends after being processed? Right into the river system sitting beside the plants.

 

[william schmaltz]

The biggest problem in agriculture lies in the fact that decades ago farmers were fed some shit about magic seeds, sprays and fertilizers. And once they hopped on the wagon, they have had no choice of hopping off of it without going bankrupt. Anyone who left the organic world has had no other choice but to keep up with the times and pump the ground full of shit or basically not be ablet to make ends meet. Just a harsh reality. They were lied to and tricked and now they're stuck. Guys that stayed organic may produce 1/5th the yield, but they have what seems like 1/10th of the inputs. Smaller machinery, no spraying, no synthetic fertilizer, and their soil isn't chalk and would actually grow if SHTF. If there were a federal program that I could go along with, it's that farmers should be subsidized for losses if they want to go back to organic for the time (5 years I believe) it takes to re-certify the ground organic. And make it at least a 10-year commitment. I know plenty of guys that would gladly pull the plug on their reliance on synthetic fertilizers, sprays, and seeds if that were an option. If there were an attack on our synthetic fertilizer plants in this county, the chalk that is half our farm land in America wouldn't produce anything more than weeds. We desperately need to restore our soil if we want this country to survive and if we want to slow down the need to destroy more and more habitat for these guys to make ends meet. Having 1/5 of the corn and soy products in this country would probably be a massive benefit. If it wasn't clear, I'm not blaming farmers. They were sold a package and now they're stuck and have no other choice but to go along with it; and I wish they were provided a way out.

It's absolutely incredible to me that the same demographic that stringently refused covid vaccines because the pharma companies were in bed with politicians and the fact there were no long term studies are also the ones that will defend theses massive seed, pesticide, and fertilizers companies tooth and nail even though they're all in bed with politicians and there are no long-term studies on health hazards. Brilliant. All the guys my age went to college (funded by these companies) and came home brainwashed into thinking more fertilizer, more spray, less cover, and the desire to do whatever it takes to have the highest yield; no matter what the inputs are, seemingly. All my buddies that farm organic have the same brand new vehicles and winter homes in Arizona that the guys in bed with big ag have. And they have a whole lot less stress and have eliminated the chemical exposure to their children.

Human civilization relies on two things: three inches of topsoil and the fact that it rains. We need to do something about that topsoil and runoff ASAP.

 

[Lvthntitall]

Organic farms in our area are where all the manure is being consumed and some actually over applied, they are also working the ground on average 6 times counting cultivation. This is causing more soil erosion compared to minimum or no-till. Again not pointing fingers just saying again no perfect solution.

 

[gabenzeke]

Our property is in northern Polk County, developers have paid 25-29k/ acre across the road from us, town used to be 1 mile south, city limits are across the road now. Once we get involuntarily annexed, hunting is over. Unlike Texas, Iowa has no historical use preservation in their code. In Texas if you are annexed, you can continue to hunt despite being within city limits. My son dove hunts within the city limits of Austin, every time people call the police who explain historical uses are allowed if owned prior to annexation.

I'm in northern Polk county too. Urban sprawl is getting crazy. Luckily the town I'm in allows archery hunting in city limits

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[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I'm in northern Polk county too. Urban sprawl is getting crazy. Luckily the town I'm in allows archery hunting in city limits

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When I was in High School in the early 90s, we pheasant hunted between the Menards on Hickman and old Waukee downtown. Today, just 30 years later, it is concreate from that same Menards to Waukee and almost all the way to Adel (12 miles). We also used to bird hunt between Grimes downtown and Living History Farms. Now its strip malls, apartments, sub-divisions, and office space.

 

[gabenzeke]

When I was in High School in the early 90s, we pheasant hunted between the Menards on Hickman and old Waukee downtown. Today, just 30 years later, it is concreate from that same Menards to Waukee and almost all the way to Adel (12 miles). We also used to bird hunt between Grimes downtown and Living History Farms. Now its strip malls, apartments, sub-divisions, and office space.

That's funny, I grew up in waukee. I like to tell my kids that when I was starting to drive Hickman was a gravel road. Crazy how much it's grown. There's a bike trail that runs through that area near Menards and waukee....may or may not be a real good morel spot.

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[Pony Soldier]

That's really bad news that John Deere has stopped moldboard plow production. I have to plow my fields every 10-30 years as they become sod bound.

As it stands I have half of 11 acres plowed but can't get back into it till it quits raining. I have waterfalls flowing over the furrows. Once plowed I will disc it and reseed it to grass. Just a mtn cycle. I only wish I had soil like you guys.

 

[PA farmboy]

Correct, organic farms have to rely on whatever types of manure they can get their hands on to feed their crops. Wont grow crops for very long if you don't replace what you take out of the soil. Isn't as clear cut as can appear with organic vs conventional farming, good and bad in both practices. Pesticides you should be wearing proper PPE to protect yourself from getting contaminated, and alot of smaller guys will have a custom guy do their spraying since they don't have a cabbed tractor to do it themselves.
With the crops we can produce currently we can keep a slight buffer but would everyone be prepared for food prices to go up atleast 2-3 times as much? Where we would be at if everyone was organic, we would fall into a shortfall of product which would lead to the high prices to ration demand. Just a bunch of misconceptions about the ag world that people either read, or hear that isn't necessarily true.
Like any other industry the big get bigger and the smaller guys get run out. Unfortunately I am one of those smaller guys that is teetering on the edge of being able to quit my full time job to only farm. Hope to some day get there but like anything it takes time and patience.

 

[cuerro viejo]

Yes, I understand this ,and I agree with removing the $50k caps as long as the ground being enrolled in the program is actually highly erodible or a riparian area. The caps are in place to avoid wealthy folks from taking highly productive land out of production and getting paid for raising deer and pheasants.

Case in point, wealthy attorney from DSM inherited all but 80 acres in the NE corner and my 13 acres on the south side of this section. The 80 surrounding my place is in CRP, and he got in roughly 10 years ago when the rates were through the roof with a $100/ac signing bonus. He is getting between $400-500/ac for this ground. He has several other mild to "slightly rolling" deer and pheasant farms in CRP, and would put more in if he wasn't capped. Here's the rub though, for every acre of highly productive non-HEL ground he got into the program, which is a competitive application process, there are hundres of acres of marginally productive HEL ground in production that could be in the program.

thats a rarity in CRP rates across NA. For example for me to hit max it took +-1800 acres.

with that said if your CRP rates where that high, it would mean historical production values are in excess and well above $400 an acre there fore you would be financially ahead to crop share.

basically that example is exception not the rule.

 

[cuerro viejo]

The biggest problem in agriculture lies in the fact that decades ago farmers were fed some shit about magic seeds, sprays and fertilizers. And once they hopped on the wagon, they have had no choice of hopping off of it without going bankrupt. Anyone who left the organic world has had no other choice but to keep up with the times and pump the ground full of shit or basically not be ablet to make ends meet. Just a harsh reality. They were lied to and tricked and now they're stuck. Guys that stayed organic may produce 1/5th the yield, but they have what seems like 1/10th of the inputs. Smaller machinery, no spraying, no synthetic fertilizer, and their soil isn't chalk and would actually grow if SHTF. If there were a federal program that I could go along with, it's that farmers should be subsidized for losses if they want to go back to organic for the time (5 years I believe) it takes to re-certify the ground organic. And make it at least a 10-year commitment. I know plenty of guys that would gladly pull the plug on their reliance on synthetic fertilizers, sprays, and seeds if that were an option. If there were an attack on our synthetic fertilizer plants in this county, the chalk that is half our farm land in America wouldn't produce anything more than weeds. We desperately need to restore our soil if we want this country to survive and if we want to slow down the need to destroy more and more habitat for these guys to make ends meet. Having 1/5 of the corn and soy products in this country would probably be a massive benefit. If it wasn't clear, I'm not blaming farmers. They were sold a package and now they're stuck and have no other choice but to go along with it; and I wish they were provided a way out.

It's absolutely incredible to me that the same demographic that stringently refused covid vaccines because the pharma companies were in bed with politicians and the fact there were no long term studies are also the ones that will defend theses massive seed, pesticide, and fertilizers companies tooth and nail even though they're all in bed with politicians and there are no long-term studies on health hazards. Brilliant. All the guys my age went to college (funded by these companies) and came home brainwashed into thinking more fertilizer, more spray, less cover, and the desire to do whatever it takes to have the highest yield; no matter what the inputs are, seemingly. All my buddies that farm organic have the same brand new vehicles and winter homes in Arizona that the guys in bed with big ag have. And they have a whole lot less stress and have eliminated the chemical exposure to their children.

Human civilization relies on two things: three inches of topsoil and the fact that it rains. We need to do something about that topsoil and runoff ASAP.

interesting…

history: such as 45 + years on GMO history and zero mRNA history(well now we have two years of train wrecks)

history like: ivermectin derived from a nature occurring soil protein and a natural occurring soil protein produced by Bacterium Bacillus thuringiensus. BBT…(we have 85 year of data on BT(BTT GMO) and 50 years on Ivermectin)

the organic farming trend is fine, if thats what you want to do with your land then do so. Its still a free country, but trying to compare yields and ROI of something that you didnt actually farm and are purely looking at only based on observational data via processions of debt to form your hypothesis is triffling.

I've actually gone down both paths. Both have pitfalls, organic was not for me. My herbicide and pesticide costs ha e been trending down for 30 years… Fertilizer depends on winter rotation