Making Retail Conservation Real
Advancing Conservation Agronomy in the Private Sector
There is a renewed commitment for improved water quality and soil health in Iowa and the nation. A national meeting in Des Moines, Iowa, brought together leaders in retail agriculture, conservation and commodity groups to share ideas for scaling up conservation on the agricultural landscape. Since that initial meeting, ag retailers are working with conservation organizations and agencies to increase adoption of practices that improve soil and water quality.
‘Making Retail Conservation Real’ National Meeting
The “Making Retail Conservation Real” event, held Feb. 21-22, 2024, in Des Moines, Iowa, included fast-paced presentations and small group discussions about the current state of agricultural conservation, why advancing ag conservation is important, and how to make advancements in this space. Agriculture’s Clean Water Alliance (ACWA), Iowa Soybean Association (ISA), and the Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) co-hosted the event, and they enlisted executives with Bâton Global, a Des Moines-based company, to facilitate the discussions.
Agricultural conservation includes the goals of building soil health and reducing excess nutrients in waterbodies. Farmers can help achieve these goals by planting cover crops, reducing tillage, and managing nutrient application. They can install bioreactors and saturated buffers, which are structures that reduce nutrients in the water leaving ag fields before entering a river or stream. Currently, government agencies are heavily relied upon to implement these practices. The Making Retail Conservation Real meeting opened doors for finding additional, innovative ways these conservation practices get on the landscape. The first outcome from the meeting is a white paper that summarizes the ideas from participants.
Attendees at the Making Retail Conservation Real meeting in February broke into small groups to discuss ideas for scaling up conservation on the landscape.
Read the news release about the event: National Meeting Held to Advance Agricultural Conservation in the Private Sector
White Paper published
The first outcome from the meeting is a white paper, which insights and perspectives that emerged from the two-day meeting as well as qualitative research through ag retailer interviews.
Read the white paper: Conservation Agronomy in Agricultural Retail: Current State and Future Trends