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USDA-NRCS AWARDS $800,000 GRANT TO ISA ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS
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URBANDALE,
Iowa
(July 1, 2008) — The Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) has been awarded a Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) from the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in the amount of $800,000. The funding will be spread over 30 months — from September 2008 until March 2011. The CIG award funds “A Cooperative Conservation Framework for improving Watershed Health,” a project of ISA’s industry-leading Environmental Programs. There are two ISA Environmental Programs — the Watershed Program, and CEMSA (Certified Environmental Management Systems for Agriculture).
Curt Sindergard, President of the Iowa Soybean Association Board of Directors, said that the CIG is good news for Iowa. “This grant is a good example of how our work in Iowa’s watersheds is attracting significant federal and other outside investment in Iowa’s natural resources. We believe that our ongoing investment in agricultural and environmental performance made through the Soybean Checkoff are critical in leveraging these opportunities.”
Larry Beeler, Iowa NRCS assistant state conservationist for programs, says the CIG represents an important part of their mission. “Conservation Innovation Grants are intended to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies. The ISA Environmental Programs are unique in that they target environmental enhancement and performance as well as agricultural performance. The CIG funding mechanism enables NRCS to accelerate the kinds of technology transfer now being conducted by ISA as well as the adoption of new and promising approaches to some of our most pressing natural resource concerns.”
Roger Wolf is Director of Environmental Programs at the Iowa Soybean Association. Wolf says, “The work we’ll do with the CIG funding synchronizes with many efforts already begun or planned. We’d like to thank our partners for helping us build these programs — we’re adding a great deal to the body of knowledge about the land-water interface in agricultural watersheds. The work being planned under the CIG funding is going to be instrumental in demonstrating how to improve agricultural watershed health.”
According to Wolf, the CIG funding will specifically support:
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• area-wide planning for four watersheds,
• demonstration of public and private stakeholder involvement,
• natural resource monitoring, measurement, and applied evaluation,
• documentation of management practices and impact on soil carbon levels, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy use efficiency,
• creation of individual enhanced RMS plans for more than 100 farmers,
• linkage of individual Resource Management System plans to the watershed / area-wide planning,
• a network of Certified Crop Advisor Teams trained to provide enhanced technical assistance, and
• individual and aggregate case studies. |
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Wolf says monitoring, measuring and reporting are important components of the process at every level. “We know that millions of dollars are spent in public funding every year on individual conservation practices and watershed plans to improve water and soil quality and watershed health. What’s also true is that farmers, ag businesses, and private funders spend millions of their own dollars toward achieving the same goals.”
“Yet, actual results in watershed health are unknown or are hampered by a lack of coordination between the watershed and individual, and between public and private efforts. ISA Environmental Programs emphasize coordination, targeting, and performance measurement.”
Wolf says that those public and private partnerships are critical. “We all need to thank the USDA-NRCS for this investment in locally-led solutions. When grants like this are written, we know that Cooperative Conservation goes beyond a simple philosophy — it’s a concrete approach that the federal government is applying to Iowa’s watershed health. This investment will allow us to drive our search for science-based data at local level even deeper.”
Project Collaborators: |
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• Boone River Watershed Association
• The Nature Conservancy in Iowa
• Agriculture's Clean Water Alliance
• Des Moines Water Works
• Iowa Department of Natural Resources
• Prairie Rivers RC&D • Prairie Winds RC&D
• Iowa NRCS & local SWCDs
• Pioneer Hi-bred
• Sand County Foundation
• Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship
• Iowa State University's Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture |
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Contact the Project Director at: |
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Roger Wolf Director,
Environmental Programs
Iowa Soybean Association
4554 114th St. Urbandale, IA 50322
(515)251-8640
rwolf@iasoybeans.com
www.isafarmnet.com/ep/ |
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More information on the CIG awards is posted on NRCS’s web site: |
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• www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/cig/2008awards.html
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