The Washington County Soil and Water Conservation District is in year one of a three year project aimed at improving water quality by reducing erosion. District Conservationist Tony Maxwell says states in the upper Midwest that drain into the Mississippi were tasked with coming up with plans to reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus that’s making it into waterways. Those nutrients cause issues for communities that get their drinking water from streams and the fishing industry in the Gulf of Mexico.

As part of Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy, an initiative focused on the West Fork Crooked Creek watershed was one of eight demonstration projects given funding to show farmers conservation practices like cover crops. Maxwell says landowners have agreed to plant 2,600 acres of cover crops this fall, and over the three years they hope to get up to 16,000 acres.

Farmers interested in planting cover crops after harvest this year can contact the Soil and Water Conservation District. Cost sharing is available.