The purpose of the survey is to learn about collaborating landowners’ experiences with the establishment and management of prairie strips to help project staff understand (1) what positive and negative experiences they have had, (2) what information and technical assistance needs they may have, and (3) to learn from their ideas about how the STRIPS team can improve outreach and promotional efforts. The 2021 survey consisted of 10 open-ended questions and three yes/no questions.

Advancing local leadership and creating private incentive structures for perennialization of working landscapes can help improve conservation practices on millions of acres across the Midwest. 

The world currently faces a suite of urgent challenges: environmental degradation, diminished biodiversity, climate change and persistent poverty and associated injustices. All of these challenges can be addressed to a large extent through agriculture. 

Lisa Schulte Moore, a professor of natural resource ecology and management at Iowa State University, has been named a 2021 MacArthur Fellow.

Climate and agricultural scientists and other stakeholders are concerned that without major shifts away from degrading practices toward regenerative systems, long-term sustainability will be compromised.

The practice of adding small grains or forage crops to corn and soybean rotations has great potential to balance production and environmental goals, but adoption of these practices in Iowa and across the Midwest is low. 

The US Department of Energy announced that the City of Ames and 15 other municipalities across the country were selected for technical assistance grants within their “Waste-to-Energy” program. C-CHANGE team members Mark Mba Wright, Ali Kraber, and Lisa Schulte Moore are working with the City on this grant. 

Learn more about emerging concepts in biogas digestion and on-farm biogas production in this Iowa Learning Farms webinar!

The webinar was held on June 2, and the recording can be found here

A new study indicates that insects like honey bees in many cases can do a better job of pollinating soybeans than the plants can on their own.

Farmers can help slow climate change by mixing native grasses into croplands, restoring wetlands and raising perennial crops. Seeding narrow strips of land within and around crop fields with native plants is an effective and affordable way to make farming more climate-friendly.

C-CHANGE researcher, Marshall McDaniel is the recipient of the Early Achievement in Teaching Award from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in soil and plant growth and soil and plant relationships. McDaniel believes learning is best achieved through discovery and wants students to become comfortable with, and excited about, the same discovery process experienced by scientists.

Although numerous governmental and non-governmental organizations have been working for decades on different outreach strategies to promote conservation practice use, adoption of key practices such as cover crops and no-till is not yet widespread enough to address resource concerns. This new study involving Iowa State University C-CHANGE researchers can more effectively guide conservation extension and outreach programs.

C-CHANGE team member Matt Liebman was part of an international research team that established through a meta-analysis that diversifying agricultural systems beyond a narrow selection of crops leads to a range of ecosystem improvements while also maintaining or improving yields.

Tom Richard, C-CHANGE researcher and professor of ag and biological engineering at Penn State explains, “The Northern Hemisphere of our planet has a lot of plants growing. In the summer and fall, they pull CO2 out of the atmosphere and overcome some fossil fuel emissions. But that alone is unfortunately not enough. A goal of C-CHANGE is to take advantage of photosynthesis and put it to better use.”

C-CHANGE has received a one-year grant from the Walton Family Foundation to advance an innovative value chain to address challenges facing U.S. Corn Belt. The value chain is based on the production of renewable natural gas (RNG) and associated bioproducts through the anaerobic digestion of herbaceous biomass combined with manure.

C-CHANGE was awarded a $10 million Sustainable Agricultural Systems grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute for Food and Agriculture. The grant expands C-CHANGE beyond Iowa State University to a multi-institutional consortium that includes Penn State University, Roeslein Alternative Energy, FDCE Inc., and the USDA-ARS National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment. The team will advance a new biobased value chain based on the production of renewable natural gas and associated bioproducts through the anaerobic digestion of diverse feedstocks.

Several C-CHANGE team members are among the winners of the 2020 SWCS awards from the Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS).  Awards are presented annually to individuals and organizations who have made outstanding contributions in advocating and advancing the conservation of soil, water, and related natural resources.

C-CHANGE’s J. Arbuckle won two 2020 SWCS awards from the Social and Water Conservation Society.