Mississippi farmers visit Iowa counterparts
By Jean Caspers-Simmet
simmet@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 07/29/2010 9:43 AM
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RADCLIFFE, Iowa —Denny Friest and his son, Brent, recently used their farm as a backdrop to show what they and other Iowa farmers are doing to improve water quality and ultimately slow the growth of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Friests, who farm near Radcliffe, hosted farmers, agriculture and environmental officials from Mississippi as part of the Iowa-Mississippi Farmer to Farmer Exchange. Denny Friest, an Iowa Soybean Association member and longtime participant in ISA's On-Farm Network, showed how he and Brent use the on-farm networks strip trials to improve nitrogen management and other farming practices.
The father and son showed the Mississippi farmers their hog facilities, their planting and manure handling equipment, some of their plot work as well as the Garden Story Wind Farm, which has turbines on the Friests' ground.
The Iowa visit follows one made by Friest and others to Mississippi Memorial Day weekend.
The exchange grew out of discussions between Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey and agricultural leaders in Mississippi as part of the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force. The hypoxic zone is a result of nitrogen and phosphorus from the Mississippi Watershed flowing into the Gulf and spurring growth of algae. When the algae decays, it depletes the water of oxygen to levels that can't support marine life.
During the visit to Mississippi Iowa participants toured conservation sites and farming practices, attended the Delta Council annual meeting and visited the Gulf of Mexico to learn more about the impact of hypoxia.
Doug Gronau, from the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation; Bill Tentinger, from the Iowa Pork Producers Association; Don Elsbernd from the Iowa Corn Growers Association; Friest and Tracy Blackmer from the Iowa Soybean Association; Matt Helmers from Iowa State University; and Harlan Hansen from the Iowa Drainage District Association made the trip to Mississippi with Northey.
A variety of conservation practices used in Iowa to prevent erosion and protect water quality were showcased during the recent visit by the Mississippians.
The group toured an ethanol plant in Nevada, the ISU BioCentury Farm and Couser's Cattle Farm at Nevada. They visited two ISU Research farms, toured a Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program wetland, and toured the Monsanto Channel-Bio facility.
The group met with Hy-Line International officials and saw the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge.
Northey said the goal is to develop relationships between agricultural leaders in both states and promote the sharing of information and technologies that will help address the "dead zone."
"We learned a lot during our visit to Mississippi, and we wanted to give a better understanding of Iowa agriculture and the care our farmers have for the land to the farmers from Mississippi," Northey said.