In a local initiative, farmers in northeast Iowa receive incentive payments to learn and apply refined crop management practices. The Northeast Iowa Demonstration Project is an interagency project that provides assistance to producers who are adopting new management methods to protect ground water and surface water. The steep hills and trout streams of northeast Iowa are underlain by creviced limestone, resulting in karst topography that makes water resources highly vulnerable to contamination. The area's intensive crop and livestock production are significant potential sources of contaminants.
Small workshops help participants learn from each other as well as project staff.
Some of the most important of these in Iowa are refined methods for crop nutrient and pest management that reduce excess nutrient and pesticide use. Such methods have also been proven to increase farm profitability by increasing the use of on-farm resources. In recent years, public incentive programs aimed at increasing the adoption of nutrient and pesticide management BMPs have paid producers to hire crop consultants, who provide management prescriptions for nutrient and pest management. These incentive programs have been hindered by the small number of qualified crop consultants available in Iowa. Or even where consultants are available, due to economies of scale they may be unwilling to serve small acreage farms, low resource farms, beginning farmers, or livestock operations of any size if they have a small crop acreage base.