Making Progress
in Water Quality
ISA experts help guide farmer’s path to cleaner water BY BETHANY BARATTA
F
rom a window in his rural Lake City home, Mark Schleisman can see the North Raccoon River. It’s not only a tributary feeding the Mississippi River, but a place where his kids enjoy fishing. It’s an extension of the landscape that Schleisman has worked decades protecting using various soil and water conservation efforts. He knows the cover crops, bioreactors, grass waterways and filter strips are benefitting water quality. One sign is the quality of fish his children catch. “When I was a kid, the water quality was not very good in the river,” Schleisman says. “We fished for catfish
Corey McKinney, a conservationist with the Iowa Soybean Association, checks water levels in a newly installed saturated buffer along Rock Creek near Osage.
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and got mostly carp. Now, my kids catch bass and walleye – nice game fish out of the water.” He sees the water quality improve through the various testing he’s been involved with through the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA). Cover crops sequester nutrients on his fields, keeping valuable inputs there for the next crop. Tile monitoring through ISA validates progress made in water quality. “I really appreciate ISA doing this monitoring because it puts a real number behind the practice,” he says.
A strategic approach Long before the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy was implemented, ISA was working with farmers to reduce nutrient loading in Iowa’s streams and rivers. ISA recognizes the role the agriculture industry has in positively affecting water quality for downstream partners. “Farmers in watersheds have the first opportunity to influence what stays on the farm and what’s released,” says Roger Wolf, director of innovation and integrated solutions for ISA’s Research Center for Farming Innovation.
