Iowa Learning Farms will host a cover crop workshop from 6 to 8 p.m. at DMACC Newton Campus, 600 N. Second Ave. W.
The evening workshop is free, open to the public, and includes a complimentary meal.
An RSVP is recommended. Contact Jasper County Extension at 641-792-6433 by March 1 to reserve a seat.
As part of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy, when cover crops are used in combination with other conservation management practices, point and nonpoint source pollution is reduced in Iowa waters and downstream. Other conservation management practices that help reduce nutrients entering waterways include strip-tillage or no-tillage, grass waterways, buffers and terraces, wetlands, bioreactors and more.
Speaking at the workshop are Prairie City farmer Gordon Wassenaar and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach water quality engineer Matt Helmers.
Wassenaar has been farming for more than 50 years and is using conservation practices including no-till and a cereal rye cover crop on 1200 acres. Helmers will talk about drainage system strategies for nutrient reduction into rivers and streams.
For more information about Iowa Learning Farms, visit the website: www.extension.iastate.edu/.