Tama Soil & Water Conservation District

09/08/2026

It's Toolbox 🧰 Tuesday! Here we explore those incredible, indispensable tools your Conservation Toolbox can't do without! We've recently peeked into the Toolbox and found state cover crop cost-share, cost-share stacking and some cover crop benefit highlights. Cover crops build organic matter, which retains and cycles nitrogen and other nutrients and sequesters carbon. Let's dig deeper 😉

Megan Kavanaugh, a soil scientist and technical product specialist at Sound Agriculture, says, “Nutrient cycling is a complex process by which soil microbes convert nutrients that are 'locked up' or otherwise unavailable to the plant, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, into plant available nutrients."

As shared by Wallaces Farmer, one of the primary parameters for healthy soil is a diverse soil community, including microbes specifically required for nutrient cycling. So, the question becomes how do you increase the diversity of beneficial, nutrient cycling microbes in the soil as a prescriptive measure to increase soil health?

“Compelling evidence is beginning to emerge that cover crops increase soil microbial abundance,” Kavanaugh notes. “Cover cropping provides both above- and belowground biomass, including root exudates that are known to boost soil microbial growth.”

Root exudates contain signaling molecules that aid in activation of microbes involved in nutrient cycling. “It’s a highly intelligent system that plants have evolved over time, communicating with soil microbes in exchange for bioavailability of nutrients,” she says.

A review by Cornell University Extension regarding the effect of cover crops on nutrient levels noted the importance of giving a good cover crop credit in nutrient budgets. “It’s quite interesting that economic value has been applied to something as simple, yet effective, as adding cover crops,” Kavanaugh says.

📸 A crimson clover,-oats-rapeseed-winter rye mix in Tama County's Grant Township.

09/01/2026

Happy National Potato Month! 🥔🍟

09/01/2026

It's Toolbox 🧰 Tuesday! Here we explore those incredible, indispensable tools your Conservation Toolbox can't do without! We've recently peeked into the Toolbox and found state cover crop cost-share, cost-share stacking and some cover crop benefit highlights. Cover crops provide a complete makeover of your soil's structure. Let's dig deeper 😉

New-and-improved soil structure results in many benefits:
💪 Cover crops help protect the ground from wind and water erosion. They not only act as armor, but as soil health improves, your soil aggregates stabilize and become more resistant to water and wind.
💪 Cover crops keep living roots in the soil during more months of the year and increase underground biodiversity. Living roots can add carbon to the soil, providing a great food source for microorganisms. In exchange for this service, the soil organisms increase activity. They also produce a substance, glomalin, which further builds soil aggregate structure.
💪 Improved soil structure also includes better pore spaces in your soil. Better structure improves water infiltration and retention, which helps to better you to better manage the effects of flood or drought. To break up compacted layers, tillage radishes and turnips can be great cover crop choices because their taproots can bust through that hardpan. Bye bye ponding! Hello increased drought resistance!
💪 Cover crops build organic matter, which retains and cycles nitrogen and other nutrients and sequesters carbon. This can result in reduced fertilizer and fuel costs. Cha-ching!
💪 Cover crops can help you reduce w**d competition. The top of the food chain on this topic is terminating your cover crop immediately before or shortly after planting your cash crop. The dead/dying cover crop creates a mat that w**d seeds find difficult to grow through. It can mean better w**d control, especially of w**ds with long germination seasons, like water h**p.

Interested in giving cover crops a try? Give Tama SWCD/NRCS a 📞 at 641-484-4702 ext. 3 or stop by and see our smiling faces 😃🙃🤪🥸 at 102 Business Hwy 30W in Toledo. We're right across from Murph's Creamery & Grill. See less

📸 Tama County's Spring Creek Township

08/28/2026

August is National Water Quality Month, celebrating one of earth’s most vital resources: clean water. Across America, farmers and ranchers are working with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to protect the water that connects our country’s farms, families, and communities.

Several factors impact how nutrients move through the landscape, including rainfall amount, rainfall intensity, and soil moisture. By using the agency’s whole-farm holistic conservation approach, producers can bundle practices to build healthier soils, optimize nutrient management, and increase edge-of-field filtration - ultimately improving water quality and operational efficiencies.

The application deadline for 2027 federal contracts for conservation practices to meet the needs of your farm management gameplan, your soil and your water is September 25 ⏳ Read more on how conservation practices such as grazing management help how protecting water quality and building operational productivity go hand-in-hand at https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/conservation-basics/water/news/from-field-to-stream-how-farmers-and-ranchers-are-protecting-water

📸 NRCS

08/26/2026

08/25/2026

It's Toolbox 🧰 Tuesday! Here we explore those incredible, indispensable tools your Conservation Toolbox can't do without! The last two featured tools have been state cover crop cost-share and cost-share stacking. "Why consider fall cover crops? " We're soooooooooooo glad you asked! 😃

For the next few weeks, we'll dig deeper 😉 but but here are the highlights:
💪 Cover crops provide a complete makeover of your soil's structure. New-and-improved structure results in many of the benefits in SARE's diagram found below.
💲 Legume cover crops serve as natural fertilizers. Grass cover crops scavenge nutrients that are often lost after harvest or during winter, releasing them later to feed growing crops.
🐄 Cover crops can provide livestock producers with additional forage opportunities. These can include summer, fall and/or spring grazing in the field and dried/stored forage.
🦃 Cover crops provide winter food, cover, and nesting sites for birds and other wildlife.
🐝 During the growing season, flowering cover crops can provide food and habitat for pollinator and other beneficial insects. Mindful cover crop species selection plays a huge role here.

If considering adding cover crops to your Toolbox, keep these things in mind:
🌾 Cover crops can be planted any time of the year. They're typically, but not always, following cash crops.
🌾 Planting several cover crop species together in a mixture can increase their impact on soil health even more.
🌾 It’s important to choose the right cover crop mixture to meet your management goals.

Have we already piqued your interest? Give Tama SWCD/NRCS a 📞 at 641-484-4702 ext. 3 or stop by and see our smiling faces 😃🙃🤪🥸 at 102 Business Hwy 30W in Toledo. We're right across from Murph's Creamery & Grill. See less

📸Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE)

08/24/2026

While NRCS accepts applications year-round, interested agricultural producers in Iowa should apply by Sept. 25 to be considered for fiscal year 2027 funding. Programs include:
• Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP): The Agricultural Land Easement component of ACEP enables producers to protect their agricultural land from development by enrolling it in a permanent Agricultural Land Easement. The Wetland Reserve Easement component of ACEP helps landowners protect, restore and enhance wetlands which have been previously degraded due to agricultural uses.
• Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP): CSP helps producers build on existing conservation efforts while strengthening their operation.
• Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP): EQIP provides producers with the technical and financial resources they need to address resources concerns on their land including improved water and air quality, increased soil health, reduced soil erosion, improved natural vitality and more.
• Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP Classic): Projects are implemented using NRCS contracts and easements with producers, landowners and communities, in collaboration with project partners.
NRCS is also providing additional financial assistance nationwide through the Regenerative Pilot Program (RPP), which enables producers to implement whole-farm regenerative practices through a single application for EQIP and CSP. RPP is part of USDA’s commitment to putting Farmers First and advancing the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda by building a healthier, more resilient food system.

For more information, give Tama SWCD/NRCS a 📞 at 641-484-4702 ext. 3 or stop by and see our smiling faces 😃🙃🤪🥸 at 102 Business Hwy 30W in Toledo. We're right across from Murph's Creamery & Grill.

📸 Laura Bro, Tama County's Highland Township

08/24/2026

In honor of Labor Day, Tama SWCD/NRCS will be closed on Monday, September 7.

08/24/2026

The Iowa Nutrient Research & Education Council (INREC), in partnership with IDALS, is expanding its free fall nitrogen soil sampling project to farmers and landowners across 26 counties, including Tama County. The expansion gives more producers an opportunity to get valuable information about nitrogen remaining in their soil after the growing season, at no cost.

Fall sampling can help farmers better understand what is happening in their fields from year to year while building a stronger base of data for nitrogen management. It can also:
🌽 Establish a baseline of residual nitrogen in your fields.
🌽 Build field-level history to help inform future nitrogen decisions.
🌽 Provide valuable data at no cost while contributing to broader research on nitrogen management.

Sampling will follow a consistent, standardized approach, with participants receiving valuable information about their fields. The data will also support research with Iowa State University and tools such as N-FACT, with all shared data remaining anonymous. https://iowanrec.org/ https://n-fact.ag/start

If your farm is in one of these counties, sign up for free fall nitrogen soil sampling and help build a better picture of nitrogen in Iowa soils.

"How much nitrogen should I really be applying?" It's a question farmers ask themselves every day, and we have a tool that can help.

N-FACT provides a way to calculate fertilizer needs for your fields anytime, anywhere in Iowa. Plus, it's completely free.

Check it out: https://bit.ly/3EWzQeC

P.S. Heading to the Farm Progress Show September 1-3 in Boone? Stop by Iowa State University’s exhibit to see N-FACT at work firsthand.