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Dubuque County Land Stewardship Initiative
The Dubuque County Land Stewardship Initiative aimed to create healthy watersheds in Dubuque County by managing the land to improve water quality, ensure flood resiliency, and mitigate climate impacts. The project measured changes in nutrient loss, soil erosion, soil quality, and net greenhouse gas emissions on participating fields, and reported the implementation of new conservation practices and management changes like cover crops, reduced tillage, and improved nutrient management.
Active
Innovation
Engagement Targets
Notes: (1) I Minor fluctuations in the number of retained growers is expected from year to year. These fluctuations may be due to year-over-year crop rotation effects or other factors beyond the control of the project. Enrolled acres represent the total number of acres on an individual farm in a specific year. The ability to report enrolled acres is based on the Fieldprint Project Standard requirement that individual growers enrolled in projects enter at least 10% of the acres managed for a specific crop. (2) Entered acres represent the actual number of enrolled acres for which data is entered in the Fieldprint Platform for analysis.
Objectives
Improve adoption of conservation practices, conservation tillage, cover crops and nutrient management.
Practices will be tracked on a yearly basis to gauge progress.
The Innovative Ag Services agronomists and the Dubuque County SWCD worked with individual growers to enter field data into the Truterra™ Sustainability Tool and generate the Sustainability Score for each field. The Sustainability Score is an indicator of stewardship level on the field. From there, the agronomy or conservation advisors helped the grower evaluate the impact of various management and conservation practices on field stewardship and profitability levels. Growers were rewarded for the magnitude of increase in their field’s Sustainability Score, which was, on average, a 15 point increase on the participating fields, and $33/acre.
The use of the Truterra™ Sustainability Tool provides an opportunity to model the impact of environmental sustainability improvements on field profitability and help growers determine the best balance for their operation. The tool insights, coupled with agronomic expertise of the Innovative Ag Services team, support farmer decisions on business and natural resource management
The Innovative Ag Services agronomists and the Dubuque County SWCD worked with individual growers to enter field data into the Truterra™ Sustainability Tool and generate the Sustainability Score for each field. The Sustainability Score is an indicator of stewardship level on the field. From there, the agronomy or conservation advisors helped the grower evaluate the impact of various management and conservation practices on field stewardship and profitability levels. Growers were rewarded for the magnitude of increase in their field’s Sustainability Score, which was, on average, a 15 point increase on the participating fields, and $33/acre.
The use of the Truterra™ Sustainability Tool provides an opportunity to model the impact of environmental sustainability improvements on field profitability and help growers determine the best balance for their operation. The tool insights, coupled with agronomic expertise of the Innovative Ag Services team, support farmer decisions on business and natural resource management
The project was open to all crop growers in Dubuque County, IA. The Fieldprint Calculator data was reported only on fields enrolled by Innovative Ag Services, a Land O'Lakes cooperative participating in the Truterra program.
A total of 33 farmers and 3,447 acres were enrolled in the Dubuque County Land Stewardship Program in 2022. New advanced nutrient management practices were implemented on 2,238 acres, cover crops on 1,484 acres, and reduced tillage on 508 acres.
The average Truterra Sustainability Score on the enrolled fields went up 14 points from baseline. The average sheet and rill erosion risk was reduced by 20%. Net greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by 602 lbs/acre/year. Soil conditioning index went up by 0.09 points. Average nitrogen loss was reduced by 26.3 lbs/acre and phosphorus loss was reduced by 3 lbs/acre.
Reduce nitrogen and phosphorus loss
Average nitrogen loss was reduced by 26.3 lbs/acre and phosphorus loss was reduced by 3 lbs/acre.
Participants
Project Lead Organization(s)
Truterra, LLC
(Full)
Project Details
Status
Active
Pathway
Innovation
Natural Resource Concern
Counties the project is located in: