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Agren Projects

Iowa Farm*A*Syst

The Challenge:

With 75 percent of Iowans getting their drinking water from groundwater sources, protecting that water source is crucial.

Agren's Solution:

Iowa Farm Bureau Federation contracted with us to modify the national Farm*A*Syst model to make it specific and applicable to Iowa. Iowa is the only state in which a private organization initiated Farm*A*Syst. In Iowa, publications were designed to help farmers and rural residents prevent groundwater contamination, and to a lesser extent, surface water pollution. By using Farm*A*Syst publications to conduct a self-assessment on their property, residents can identify pollution risks on the farmstead and take steps to correct them.

Early in the process, we facilitated a series of nine focus groups in four targeted watersheds across Iowa. We conducted extensive research before beginning the task of transforming technical information into plain language. Publications on 12 topics related to water quality were eventually designed and written. Each publication underwent rigorous technical scrutiny by experts in both the private and public sectors before being finalized. In addition, we continue to review and update the publications as funding permits.

After the publications were completed, Iowa Farm Bureau again contracted with us to facilitate on-farm trainings for professionals and rural residents in the use of Farm*A*Syst. We continue to conduct one-on-one assessments with rural residents and group trainings as such opportunities are scheduled by the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation.