Farmers, ISA undeterred by lawsuit

Editor’s note: The following was submitted by the Iowa Soybean Association in response to a Des Moines Water Works lawsuit against three nearby counties over pollution in the Raccoon River.
A lawsuit won’t deter farmers and the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) from planning and implementing conservation practices to improve water quality in the Raccoon River and beyond.

The Des Moines Water Works Board of Trustees voted March 10 to sue the boards of supervisors in Sac, Buena Vista and Calhoun counties for allegedly allowing nitrates from 10 drainage districts under their control to pollute the Raccoon River, a primary source water for the utility.

When litigation was merely a threat in January, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey urged producers not to let the situation distract them from doing their jobs, particularly environmental work.

ISA members Dwight Dial, of Lake City, and Brent Johnson, of Manson, along with agribusiness officials, took the message to heart.

“I haven’t been doing conservation work because of (Des Moines Water Works CEO) Bill Stowe and the water works,” Dial said. “The goal has always been to make sure my property is in better shape than when I got it. I want to leave a legacy of treating the ground, water and wildlife better.”

The lawsuit was expected to be filed in federal court by Friday, officials said. Farmers say it hasn’t changed their philosophy toward protecting the environment. As always, nutrient retention and soil health remains a top priority.

Dial grows 700 acres of soybeans and corn in southwest Calhoun County, custom feeds hogs and raises sheep. He abandoned tillage in the late 1980s to reduce erosion, build organic matter, retain nutrients and pad the bottom line.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) Environmental Leader Award winner built terraces, grass waterways and installed buffer strips to slow and filter water runoff. He uses nitrification inhibitors and incorporates hog manure to mitigate leaching.

“I’m doing everything I can do that I know of to trap as much nitrogen for my plants because it’s the right thing to do,” Dial said. “We don’t want to send nitrogen anywhere.”

Embracing and implementing conservation practices outlined in the voluntary Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy — cover crops, conservation tillage, bioreactors, saturated buffers, etc. — is the best way to improve water quality, not a regulatory scheme supported by the Des Moines Water Works, Northey said. The initiative’s goal is a 45-percent reduction of nitrate and phosphorous loads entering Iowa’s waterways.

The state’s ag leader wants landowners and farmers to do more, and never be satisfied with environmental performance. Johnson said Northey’s conservation philosophy is right on target.

“It’s the right thing to do environmentally and economically,” Johnson said. “Keep moving ahead with the strategy. It’s an important goal.”

Johnson farms 900 acres of soybeans and corn in far northeast Calhoun County and owns Labre Crop Consulting with wife LuAnn. He continually looks for ways to retain more nutrients on farmland and increase productivity on his operation and for clients.

Johnson adopted strip-till for all crops years ago. He built several wetlands, buffer strips, grass waterways and established a buffered side hill to reduce erosion and runoff.

Precision agriculture, nitrification inhibitors and variable rate fertilizer applications are an important part of Johnson’s operation. He hasn’t tried cover crops yet, but may in the future.

“We’re always looking for ways to be more sustainable,” said Johnson, a new Calhoun County Soil and Water Conservation District commissioner.

That’s that type of attitude that feeds Northey’s optimism that the state’s nutrient reduction strategy will be successful. Progress has been made, he said, but there’s plenty of work to do.

That includes participating in 16 Iowa Water Quality Initiative (WQI) demonstration projects, Northey said. Three were announced last week, two of which are in counties named in the lawsuit. They include:

• The Elk Run Watershed Water Quality Initiative (WQI) Project — Sac, Carroll and Calhoun counties

• Headwaters North Raccoon River — Buena Vista and Pocahontas counties

• Leading a New Collaborative Approach to Improving Water Quality in the Squaw Creek Watershed — Story, Boone and Hamilton counties

Federal law required the Des Moines Water Works to issue a 60-day notice of intent to file a lawsuit so corrective action could be taken. Water Works officials said that didn’t take place.

“These projects have been in the works for a long, long time. We chose what we thought were the best projects addressing issues and the best group of partners, Northey said.

It’s really an extension of what’s going on throughout Iowa,” he added. “We certainly don’t want a lawsuit to distract us from the kind of things that we know can be beneficial to improve water quality.”

The new demonstration projects cover nearly 275,000 acres.

They will implement and demonstrate the effectiveness and adaptability of a host of conservation practices including cover crops, nutrient management, wetlands, terraces, bioreactors, buffer strips, no-till, strip-till and nitrogen inhibitors, among other in-field and edge-of-field practices.

ISA is a partner in most of the WQI projects statewide, including the latest three in northwest and central Iowa.

The Environmental Programs and Services (EPS) and On-Farm Network teams provide a variety of services from conservation planning, implementation and water monitoring to data collection, interpretation and replicated strip trials.

EPS Director Roger Wolf said the lawsuit is a distraction, but it won’t stop farmers or ISA from making a difference.

“At the end of the day, farmers will continue to focus on soil management that is critical to have a productive and profitable system,” Wolf said. “As we think about water, we’ve always been concerned and will continue to be.”
The Iowa Soybean Association is based in Ankeny.

Should Greene County be a defendant, too?

The Greene County board of supervisors at its regular meeting Monday discussed the lawsuit filed by Des Moines water officials against three upstream counties over pollution in the Raccoon River.

Board chairman John Muir and county drainage clerk Michelle Fields had gone to County Day at the Capitol last week to discuss the Des Moines Water Works suit against Calhoun, Buena Vista and Sac counties with local legislators.

Were supervisors surprised that Greene County wasn’t also named in the suit?

“Kind of,” Muir acknowledged Monday.

But he raised a question — how do you distinguish natural nitrates in the river from agricultural runoff?

Fields confirmed that water in Greene County was indeed sampled by Water Works officials.

“There’s no baseline for the Raccoon River for us to know what’s excessive and what’s not,” she said.

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