Improving nutrient retention of managed agricultural landscapes has been identified as a critical step to reducing the Gulf Coast hypoxic zone. Iowa is one state that has created ambitious nutrient reduction strategies, but it’s unclear if landowners will adopt best management practices that seek to reduce nutrient runoff and improve ecosystem services. Through discussions with Iowan Stakeholders, US EPA Region 7, and US EPA’s Office of Research and Development, we identified land use scenarios and ecosystem services of interest for soy and corn farmers in the Des Moines Lobe of the upper Midwest.
Results/Conclusions
The land use scenarios included a baseline option, introducing water quality wetlands, updating drainage coefficients, and a combination of introducing wetlands and updating drainage coefficients. We seek to understand how these scenarios will ultimately impact agricultural productivity as well as ecosystem services like nutrient regulation, flood protection, and water fowl habitat. Those assessments will then enable a better understanding of how stakeholders in Iowa value and prioritize these services. This talk will outline existing knowledge around these scenarios and services, and present preliminary results of our assessments.