Saturated Riparian Buffers: Who Says You Can’t Teach an Old Buffer New Tricks?

Getting into Soil and Water 2020

Figure 1. A saturated riparian buffer in Iowa.

 

The Perks of Buffers

Replacing farmland adjacent to streams with grasses or forests provides many benefits to agricultural ecosystems. Commonly referred to as riparian buffers, perennial vegetation planted along stream corridors improves wildlife habitat and reduces soil erosion and nutrient losses from overland water flow (Lee et al., 2000). Properly managed buffers have been shown to increase the quantity and diversity of bird species and pollinators, considered vital to agriculture sustainability (Bradbury et al., 2019). Buffered streambanks are also less susceptible to soil erosion, losing up to 80% less soil than row cropped or grazed stream banks (Schultz, 2004). Riparian buffers have also been shown to remove nitrogen from groundwater leaving agricultural fields. Microbes in the soil use the nitrogen as an energy source, converting nitrate to non-reactive nitrogen gas. The United States Department of Agriculture has acknowledged the multifunctional benefits of riparian buffers by promoting them as a part of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Over 1.2 million acres of farmland are currently enrolled in filter strip or riparian buffer CRP contracts, and Iowa leads the country with over 200,000 acres enrolled (FSA, 2019). Traditional riparian buffers play a key role in improving water quality in Iowa by reducing soil and nutrient losses from water moving across the land surface, but they are ineffective at removing the bulk of nitrogen lost from Iowa farmland that is routed to streams in subsurface tile drains.

Tile drains are commonly installed on poorly drained soil, lowering the water table to improve crop yields. Drainage water often contains elevated concentrations of soluble nutrients, including nitrate. The 17.4 million acres of drained land in the Midwest act as the largest source of nitrogen to the Gulf of Mexico, contributing to an annual Hypoxic Zone. Hypoxia is caused in the Gulf of Mexico from excess nitrogen and phosphorus contributing to algal blooms and the subsequent depletion of oxygen from algal decomposition. Each state in the Mississippi River Basin has implemented a nutrient reduction strategy to reduce the size of the Hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Iowa is one of the largest nutrient contributors to the Gulf and was the first state to implement a nutrient reduction strategy. Iowa’s strategy uses both in-field and edge-of- field conservation practices to reduce nutrient losses from Iowa. One of these edge-of-field practices redesigns traditional riparian buffers to also remove nitrogen from tile drainage. Referred to as saturated riparian buffers (SRBs), nitrate is removed from tile water by rerouting the water back into the buffer before it reaches the stream.

Figure 2. A diagram of a saturated riparian buffer equipped with a two cham- bered water control structure.

 

How Saturated Riparian Buffers Work

Saturated riparian buffers work by intercepting a tile drain as it leaves the field and crosses into a riparian buffer. Tile water is diverted into a distribution pipe where it then seeps through the buffer’s soil to the stream. To construct a SRB, a two chambered water control structure is placed at the field outlet. See Figure 1. The chambers are separated by flashboards set to a depth that raises the water table in the buffer without pushing water back into the field. Tile water leaves the field and enters the first chamber where it flows into one of two distribution outlets located on each side of the control structure. Distribution pipes are installed to a depth of around 2 feet and run parallel to the stream. The flashboards dividing the two chambers raises the water level in the control structure forcing water into the distribution pipes, where it then moves as shallow groundwater through the buffer. In cases of high flow from tile drains, the second chamber houses an overflow discharge pipe to prevent water backing up into the adjacent field. Once nitrate rich tile water becomes shallow groundwater in the riparian buffer, nitrate can be removed by microbes or plant uptake. Riparian buffers remove around 50% of the nitrate that leaves the field, or 134 lbs N per drained acre (Jaynes and Isenhart, 2018). Recent research has determined the majority of nitrate removed from SRBs is likely by microbes converting nitrate to non-reactive nitrogen gas in a process called denitrification (Groh et al., 2019). Saturated riparian buffers have shown early promise as a practice to remove nitrate from tile drainage and have been quickly integrated into the CRP program and the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy. It will take a widespread implementation of SRBs alongside other conservation practices, including wetlands, cover crops, and woodchip bioreactors, to reach nutrient reduction strategy goals.

Morgan Davis, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow Agronomy
Iowa State University

 

References:

Bradbury, S., Isenhart, T. M, and Schweitzer, D. 2019. Establishing and Managing Pollinator Habitat on Saturated Riparian Buffers. Iowa State Extension and Outreach. https://store.extension.iastate.edu/product/Establishing-and-Managing-Pollinator-Habi- tat-on-Saturated-Riparian-Buffers.

FSA. 2019. Conservation Reserve Program monthly summary: November 2019. Farm Service Agency, USDA, Washington, DC. https://www.fsa.usda.gov/ Assets/US- DA-FSA-Public/usdafiles/Conservation/PDF/November2019Summary.pdf (accessed 4 Jan. 2020).

Groh, T. A., Davis, M. P., Isenhart, T. M., Jaynes, D. B., and Parkin, T. B. 2019 In situ denitrification in saturated riparian buffers. J. Environ. Qual. 48:376-84. doi:10.2134/ jeq2018.03.0125.

Jaynes, D. B. and Isenhart, T. M. 2018. Performance of saturated riparian buffers in Iowa, USA. J. Environ. Qual. 48:289–296. doi:10.2134/jeq2018.03.0115.

Lee, K. H., Isenhart, T. M., Schultz, R. C., and Mickelson, S. K. 2000. Multispecies riparian buffers trap sediment and nutrients during rainfall simulations. J. Environ. Qual. 29:1200–1205. doi:10.2134/ jeq2000.00472425002900040025x

Bee Branch Healthy Homes Project

Getting into Soil and Water 2020

Finished basement project at occupant’s home where drainage dimple board, sump pump with battery back up and a humidistat vent fan were installed rendering this space usable for the first time in over a decade.

 

The City of Dubuque’s Bee Branch Watershed is the area hit hardest by flash flooding during significant rain events. Frequently, several feet of water inundate homes destroying water heaters, furnaces, washers, dryers, and personal belongings. Disinvestment in the flood prone area resulted in declining property values. Equally as important, were the residual effects on its residents including poor health, negative neighborhood perceptions, stress, and a general feeling of helplessness against Mother Nature.

“Nobody would put any money into their homes, and you couldn’t blame them for the simple fact that the water would ruin everything,” said Cletus Cashman, 90-year-old lifelong Dubuque resident and participant of the Bee Branch Healthy Homes (BBHH) Resiliency Program.

In 1999, the City hired a consultant to study the nature of the flash flooding. The study, called the Drainage Basin Master Plan, determined that approximately 1,150 homes and businesses were at risk of flood damage. It also recommended major infrastructure projects to eliminate risk from flood damage. In 2003, the city began working on a multi-phased, watershed- wide approach to protect its residents.

Since then, millions have been invested to slow the rate of stormwater, reduce the amount of stormwater runoff, and safely channel stormwater through the city’s North End neighborhood. Several strategies have been used including retention basins, permeable pavement systems, storm sewer capacity improvements, and daylighting one-mile of the Bee Branch Creek and its associated floodplain.

Helping watershed residents living with residual issues from flooding was the city’s top priority when applying for Community Development Block Grant – National Disaster Resilience Competition (CDBG-NDR) funds in 2014 and 2015. The grant team made the strategic move to incorporate repairs and renovations to homes in addition to public infrastructure improvements.

The application was successful, and in 2016 the State of Iowa was awarded $96 million to make flood improvements in nine watersheds as part of the Iowa Watershed Approach including Dubuque’s Bee Branch Watershed. The City received $23 million for infrastructure improvements and $8.4 million for the Bee Branch Healthy Homes Resiliency Program.

Dubuque’s approach includes right sizing public infrastructure, repairing
and renovating homes to reduce water intrusion and address damage, and family advocacy support. This triangle represents a comprehensive plan to simultaneously improve neighborhood, structural, and social resilience. Knowing this innovative approach could serve as a replicable model for other communities, the city has captured data throughout the program.

To date, BBHH has helped 200 families address water intrusion and prepare for future rain events. On average, improvements range between $10,000 – $28,000 depending on project scope and property type. The program is available to owner-occupied homes, single-unit rentals, and multi-family residential units that are located in the eligibility area and meet income requirements established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In September 2019 a 2-3” flash flood event inundated this BBHH project home in just a couple hours, forcing it’s two families to leave the home in the middle of the night.

 

Every participating household is required to visit with a BBHH advocate. They talk about any barriers or challenges the family is facing. These self-identified challenges are sorted into five categories: health, education, financial, social, and built environment. Classifying the challenges has helped evaluate gaps in services throughout the community. Disaggregating the data by subgroups such as race/ethnicity and tenant versus owner-occupied has been integral in understanding that subgroups experience different challenges and require different approaches in order to create positive outcomes.

Existing conditions found in the basement of a project after years of water intrusion. Poor Air quality and water wicking materials contributed to asthma triggers for the family living in the home.

 

There have been several lessons learned throughout the program. Property drainage is critical. This includes soil modifications and effective gutter and downspout systems. Keeping water away from the home is more important
than any other modification. Once inside the home, raising furnaces and water heaters off the floor as little as six to eight inches can save them from flood damage. Dehumidification with permanent high-power vent fans, sump pumps, and tuck pointing have been equally common modifications to create a drier and healthier home.

What happens upstream effects downstream. This is equally as true in urban watersheds as it is for our rural neighbors. This can be applied at all levels – from stormwater management in our streets to a home gutter system dumping water directly on an adjacent property. Part of being a good neighbor is looking at how your home impacts others. It also means checking on your neighbors during flash flood events to make sure they are safe. Hearing that neighbors are talking to each other because of the program is the greatest compliment the city can receive. Relationships among neighbors and structural improvements to both public and private infrastructure is creating greater neighborhood resilience, and the city couldn’t be more proud to tell that story.

 

Sharon Gaul

Grants Project Manager
City of Dubuque

Factors That Influence Farmer Adoption of Conservation Practices

Getting into Soil and Water 2020

Field days are an excellent way to promote conservation through farmer-to-farmer learning. (Courtesy of Practical Farmers of Iowa)

Although farming is essential for providing food and fiber for society, farming practices can often come with unintentional environmental costs. While farmers do not wish to deliberately contribute to the degradation of natural resources, the current dominant system

of agricultural production in the Midwest has resulted in considerable soil erosion, substantially impaired water and air quality, and dramatically decreased wildlife and pollinator habitat. Fortunately, a large suite of conservation practices has been developed through years of cooperative research between universities and farmers to address these environmental concerns.

Such practices include things like cover crops, no-till farming, terraces, grassed waterways, prairie strips, diverse crop rotations, and stream buffers. While significant progress has been made over the past several decades, farmers on the whole have not yet voluntarily adopted these practices at a rate necessary to adequately balance agricultural production with natural resource sustainability throughout the Midwest. Understanding how and why farmers make decisions, including what factors influence the decision making process, is key for natural resource professionals to develop strategies for increasing the rate of farmer adoption of conservation practices.

Rural sociologists and other social scientists have been studying farmer behavior since the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s. One of the most important findings from this research has been that farmers are an incredibly diverse group of people with a wide array of beliefs, motivations, attitudes, values, and social norms that influence their behavior in very complex ways. This means that there is no singular strategy that natural resource professionals and policy makers are able to use to help encourage farmers to adopt conservation practices on their land. That being said, two recent projects led by researchers at Iowa State University and Purdue University analyzing decades of research studies have identified a number of factors that have most consistently been found to have an influence on adoption.

These meta-analysis research papers found that in general, farmers with larger farm sizes and income, farmers with higher levels of formal education, younger farmers, and those with farmland more vulnerable to erosion were more likely to adopt conservation practices. Additionally, farmers that identify with an environmental stewardship ethic, those who actively seek information about conservation practices, those who have previously adopted a practice, and those who have influential conservationist farmer leaders within their communities are more likely to adopt conservation practices.

Several conservation practices at a glance. (Courtesy of Iowa NRCS)

Cost-share programs provided by state and federal agencies that help farmers pay for part of the cost of conservation practices have a positive influence on adoption. However, farmer awareness of these programs, as well as having positive attitudes about the programs themselves and the practices they pay for, are key to the amount of influence these programs have. Farmers who interact with natural resource professionals through conservation networks and programs are also more likely to adopt conservation practices. My own research has found a correlation between how often a farmer visits their local USDA office for conservation assistance and the likelihood that they will adopt certain conservation practices.

When considering the factors that influence farmers’ decisions, it is crucial to understand that farming is an enterprise that involves very high risks, and farmers often operate on extremely thin profit margins. The ISU and Purdue research teams identified several common barriers associated with risk that have a negative influence on adoption of conservation practices. The financial cost of practices, perceived reduction in crop yields, practice compatibility with existing farming practices, market fluctuations in crop prices, distrust of community or government agencies, neighbors’ lack of success with practices, complicated program application processes, and farmer uncertainty about potential practices can all decrease the likelihood that a farmer will adopt conservation practices.

Based on these findings, the authors of the two meta-studies also included several recommendations for natural resource professionals who work with farmers. Identifying and collaborating with farmer leaders in rural communities to facilitate conservation social norms through workshops and field days can be highly influential on other farmers. Increasing awareness by educating farmers about the benefits and potential risks, as well as how conservation practices can reduce risk, decreases uncertainty and can therefore increase adoption. Assisting farmers with cost- share programs helps offset financial risks, and accentuating other farmers’ positive experiences with adoption can be especially effective. Finally, one of the most important factors that influences farmers to adopt conservation is facilitating the development of long-term relationships and opportunities for knowledge transfer between natural resource professionals and farmers and between farmers themselves!

 

Chris Morris

Graduate Research Assistant Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Sociology, Iowa State University

We Proudly Present GISW 2020

Getting into Soil and Water 2020

In its eleventh year, Getting into Soil and Water remains dedicated to educating a broader audience on soil and water conservation and the preservation of environmental quality. Soil and water affect our lives in hidden and not-so-hidden ways, providing a medium for food production, delivering ecosystem services, and sequestering carbon dioxide to mitigate global climate change. As co-editors of the 2020 edition, we have had the special opportunity to explore these issues and trends in soil and water, and to create a publication to share others’ insights and research findings with you. Our team of three co-editors is made up of Jacob Wright, Shannon Breja, and Justin Hunter. We wanted to share with you a little bit about ourselves and what soil and water conservation means to us.

 

Jacob Wright: I am a senior in agronomy and environmental studies and joined the Soil and Water Conservation Club in the spring of 2017. Growing up on a dairy farm in Virginia, I always saw numerous articles and heard discussion about nutrient contamination in the Chesapeake Bay. This peaked my interest for soil and water conservation, and being a part of this club and publication has allowed me to learn more about current research and issues in this field of study. I have learned a lot from co-editing through reading different research studies and seeing the diverse perspectives and ideas that came together to showcase the variety of opportunities in soil and water conservation.

Shannon Breja: I am a junior studying agronomy and seed science, and I became a member of the Soil and Water Conservation Club in the fall of 2017. Although I grew up surrounded by agriculture, I did not realize the urgency of conservation until coming to college. With the environmental impacts of agriculture becoming increasingly prevalent, the club has allowed me to learn about current conservation issues. The club has also allowed me to be co-editor of this publication to share some of these relevant issues and provide different perspectives about them. My hope for all of you is that Getting into Soil and Water will increase your knowledge of conservation and strengthen your interests in it.

Justin Hunter: I am a senior in agronomy and joined the Soil and Water Conservation Club in the fall of 2017. My interest in conservation started my freshman year of college. Learning about the effects of soil erosion and water contamination motivated me to always try to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. This club has allowed me to connect with people who share the same motivation as myself and to gain additional knowledge on agricultural conservation practices. Being a co- editor on this year’s publication has brought great opportunities in networking with authors and learning more about the current conservation practices that are working today. I hope this publication gets the readers thinking about conservation and how these practices can improve both agriculture and the environment.

 

This publication would not be possible without the great help of our committee members. We would like to thank them for their dedication to making this publication unique and informative. We would also like to thank our advisors, Dr. Rick Cruse, Dr. Bradley Miller, Hanna Bates, and Heidi Ackerman for their knowledge and support throughout the publication process. They have been essential to this publication, and we are so thankful for them.

Finally, we need to send a huge thanks to you, our readers. Your support has given us the opportunity to create the eleventh edition of Getting into Soil and Water, and we are excited to continue these publications for years to come.

Visit the full publication on the ISU Soil and Water Conservation Club page.

Butts Selected as a Recipient for the Iowa Water Center’s Research Grant Competition

Ames, Iowa – The Iowa Water Center (IWC) annually administers a statewide grant competition known as the IWC Graduate Student Supplemental Research Competition. 

The purpose of this funding is to help graduate students to complete additional research objectives beyond the scope of their current work, with an emphasis on submitting their research to peer-reviewed publications. 

Tyler Butts is one of the recipients, along with three other graduate students across Iowa. Each recipient will receive funding for various different research studies. 

Butts’ research focuses on the relationship between food web structure and ecosystem resilience, as well as how food web structure affects greenhouse gas flux. 

In order to gain a further understanding of this relationship, Butts and his research team proposed an experiment that will test the effects that three different food web structures have on ecosystems using six experimental ponds. Each food web structure will have varying amounts of complexity and will be replicated in two separate ponds.  

The goal of this experiment is to not only gain a newfound understanding, but to then share this knowledge in order to implement more prosperous lake restoration programs. 

Get to know Tyler Butts, a PhD student at Iowa State University. 

Butts was raised in a small town in south central Wisconsin. Butts grew up around lakes, as well as being an avid fan of Steve Irwin and the Discovery Channel, which he believes had an impact on his career path. 

Butts attended St. Norbert College in Wisconsin to obtain his undergraduate degree. While studying there, he worked with Dr. Carrie Kissman to investigate how zooplankton were being affected by river dredging in Green Bay, Wisconsin. This inspired Butts to dig deeper into how disturbances may affect bodies of water, but he wanted to explore the entire food web instead of just zooplankton. He was directed to Dr. Grace Wilkinson, a limnologist, ecosystem ecologist and assistant professor at Iowa State University, who is also interested in food webs at an ecosystem level. 

In the summer of 2019, Butts and his fellow research team members conducted an experiment in the Horticulture Research Station at Iowa State that tested how the density of bigmouth buffalo affected the ecosystem resilience of these experimental ponds. In this research, the team found that a higher density of bigmouth buffalo led to algae blooming quicker and at a more intense rate compared to the ponds that contained a low density or no bigmouth buffalo.  This experiment led the group to inquire further and apply for the IWC Graduate Student Research Competition. 

“The Iowa Water Center program’s focus on research and emphasis on exploring the challenges to water sustainability made it the perfect home for our proposal,” said Butts. 

Butts’ shared that his favorite part of the research process is to delve into the background information that we already have access to and find the areas of that research that need more clarification. He also explained that helping others through the scientific process has been very fulfilling. 

“Guiding undergraduates through the scientific process from asking a question, to running an experiment, and writing up a report or presenting a poster is extremely rewarding,” Butts shared. 

When Butts isn’t practicing research experiments, he enjoys to spend most of his time doing various outdoor activities. One of his favorite pastimes is to hike around lakes or rivers because of the opportunity he gets to reconnect with the ecosystems that he spends his time working with. Butts also enjoys camping, reading, playing strategy games and playing jazz. He shared that he hasn’t had much of a chance to find time to play since moving to Ames, but still loves to play when he gets the opportunity.  

Jadidoleslam Selected as a Recipient for the Iowa Water Center’s Research Grant Competition

Written by Meghan Hanley

Ames, Iowa – The Iowa Water Center (IWC) annually administers a statewide grant competition known as the IWC Graduate Student Supplemental Research Competition.

The purpose of this funding is to help graduate students complete additional research objectives beyond the scope of their current work, with an emphasis on submitting their research to peer-reviewed publications.

Navid Jadidoleslam has been selected, along with three other graduate students across Iowa, as recipients for this year’s grant competition. Each recipient will receive funding for various different research studies.

Jadidoleslam’s proposed research is focused around developing software to improve the way hydrologic data are visualized and published. This new open-source software is named Hydrovise.

The goal behind Hydrovise is to make the process of hydrologic data visualization and analysis more user friendly. Hydrovise allows users to assess data in space, time and variable data cubes – without using a database. This software enables users to visualize time-series and geospatial data with minimal effort or background knowledge on web development. Hydrovise is a tool for communicating hydrologic data in an interactive and transparent way. Users can easily visualize and publish hydrologic datasets in Open Data journals or alongside their publications as well.

Hydrovise is an open-source code published under MIT license terms. You can learn more about Hydrovise here.

Get to know Navid Jadidoleslam, a PhD student at the University of Iowa.

Jadidoleslam is originally from Tabriz, Iran where he earned his undergraduate degree in civil engineering in 2012. He then started his master’s degree at Istanbul Technical University, where his studies focused on hydraulic and water resources engineering. After obtaining his master’s, Jadidoleslam researched different PhD programs at universities in the U.S.  and chose the University of Iowa due to the Iowa Institute for Hydraulic Research’s (IIHR) esteemed reputation in water resources engineering.

Jadidoleslam works at the Iowa Flood Center, intending to continue his research in academia in the hydroscience field. He felt as though the IWC Graduate Student Research Competition would be a great opportunity for him to gain practice in grant proposal writing and to learn the procedure that goes along with the application process. This ultimately led him to apply for the IWC’s annual funding program.

One aspect of Jadidoleslam’s proposal topic that interests him the most is the visual representation of data in an interactive way that can provide more understanding of hydrologic data and the models that go along with the research.

Jadidoleslam also shared that his favorite part of the research process is the continuous learning that occurs. The hydrologic data and models are constantly evolving with the availability of new satellite-based remote sensing platforms. He explained that he tries to learn more by doing a variety of projects under the main research focus in his studies, and he enjoys sharing his work and results with his peers.

In Jadidoleslam’s down time, he has an interest in photography that stems from his childhood. He enjoys taking landscape photographs while he experiences different aspects of nature. Jadidoleslam also takes delight in cooking, baking bread, singing and playing guitar.

Waters of the World: Author shares Stories of the Adventurers and Expeditions that shaped Water Science

Hanna Bates, Iowa Water Center

How have our stories about water changed? What do these changes tell us about what we know or think we know about water? These are the questions the author Sarah Dry poses in her book, Waters of the World, The Story of the Scientists Who Unraveled the Mysteries of Our Oceans, Atmosphere, and Ice Sheets and Made the Planet Whole. Published in 2019, these questions are very timely: society is now at a crossroads considering the anthropogenic impacts of climate change and how to be ready for an uncertain future of droughts, floods, and coastal regions facing increasing frequency of extreme weather events like hurricanes.

Waters of the World explores the lives of scientists, their research methodology, and their relationships with others as they explore the unknown and develop new fields of research in water resources. In this book, Dry explores the lives of six scientists who each study different aspects of water – water vapor’s heat trapping capabilities, cloud formations, precipitation patterns, hurricanes, ocean currents, and ice as earth’s climate record-keeper. The book explores a time when scientists were adventurers who often wrote about their expeditions and their discoveries for the general public. As inquiries progressed, efforts in meteorology and other climate sciences became both a competition among contrasting ideas and theories as well as a community of researchers who crowd-source data, water samples, and even air from around the globe to find answers.

The book not only features the discourse over science and the development of scientific instruments that measured the skies above and the movement of water in the oceans, but also the personal lives and struggles of scientists that make them a complete person outside of their work in science. The author explores the insecurities felt by Henry Stommel who established dynamical oceanography as a new science before his 28th birthday and without possession of a PhD. Dry illustrates the challenges faced by Joanne Simpson, a woman pursuing higher education who often got belittled for her area of study. Dry quotes Simpson who stated, “To understand how a woman, or a man for that matter, creates original work in any field, it is necessary to penetrate the emotional masks, and my masks have intentionally been hard to penetrate.”

One of the most important aspects of the book is the role larger systems of society and governments played in pushing the boundaries of water science in particular directions. The author explores the study of weather forecasting (which is better noted to be foreshadowing) in the book. This inquiry was critical to agriculture in India due to the life and death of millions that were dependent on the monsoon season to grow crops during colonization. Passages in the book show that it is not just the weather, but also governing systems, that can enable the fragility of a food system.

Furthermore, ethical considerations play a role in the study of science to not only understand, but to also try and control natural resources. In the 1940s, General Electric (GE) scientists, including Bernard Vonnegut, discovered the ability to manipulate little clouds to produce rain within GE freezer units. This led to US government-funded research into cloud seeding with silver iodide in active hurricanes to see if they could be modified with human influence. This research would create shock waves across society and popular literature because Kurt Vonnegut, a writer and teacher at the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop, was Bernard’s brother. The research conducted at GE significantly influenced the topics and ethical explorations within several of his award-winning books.

In this book, Sarah Dry makes the argument that science is more than facts and statistics, but is shaped by civilizations, governments, and most importantly, by the scientists themselves. Those interested in history, interdisciplinary research, climate science, and the human dimensions of research should read this book. Content of this book is mostly accessible to a general audience, but a little background in climate science would be helpful to understanding some of the terminology used.

Water Scholars is a Water Resources Research Learning community at the Iowa Water Center. This community offers programming to Iowa water resource researchers and professionals throughout the year that spans a book club, monthly communications, and professional development sessions. To learn more or to join, please visit our website.

 

Hanna Bates is the Acting Assistant Director for the Iowa Water Center. She holds a BA in Anthropology from the University of Iowa and an MS in Sociology and Sustainable Agriculture from Iowa State University. Follow on Twitter @hannatbates or email hbates@iastate.edu.

Why Do Iowa Farmers Grow Corn?

Modern corn culture came to Iowa with the settlers that moved across the United States. Farmers, hopscotching westward to Indiana, Illinois and Iowa from the valleys of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, brought the agriculture of the Upland South with them- Dent corn and hogs.

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