Team studies perennial fix to perennial problem

DES MOINES, Iowa - The solution to a perennial problem of farming could be, well, perennials.

Researchers at Iowa State University are experimenting with the placement of perennial prairie strips in corn and soybean fields as a way of lessening runoff and soil erosion — problems nearly as old as farming itself.

"We know the farmers need to make a profit, but how do we interject some of these strips so that the farmers can still do what they need to do, but we can have other benefits?" asked Lisa Schulte, an assistant professor at Iowa State and project investigator.

Perennials — plants that grow back naturally, year after year — may offer the solution. Preliminary research on the project, done in coordination with Iowa State's Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, shows that placing the strips at key points in and around crop fields can lead to a 10 percent to 20 percent reduction in sediment loss.

Soil erosion is a longterm problem for farmers, who collectively are often criticized by environmental groups for not taking enough care to prevent runoff from reaching waterways. Chemicals used in farming are blamed for a variety of problems in waterways, including the growth of the so-called Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

The idea behind the project is to take a concept already common to farming — buffer strips — and improve it with more strategic thinking, said Matt Helmers, an assistant professor and extension agricultural engineer at Iowa State.

Helmers and other researchers believe there are environmental and practical benefits to precision placement of the strips. Farmers may be able to keep more land in use by incorporating the system, he said, while it would also help protect waterways and natural ecosystems.

"This is taking some land out but trying to maximize the environmental benefit of all of the land that's out of production," Helmers said.

The experiment is under way at 14 watersheds in the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in central Iowa. Besides examining water quality and erosion, researchers hope to find out whether the prairie strips can attract wildlife that would otherwise avoid an area designated for row crops.

There are positive signs so far, Schulte said.

"We have some birds who are here who are only using the strips," she said. "Birds that were already doing well within the agricultural fields we don't need to worry about. We need to worry about these birds."

Schulte said the project was geared at finding a way to blend the needs of farmers with long-term environmental concerns.

"We want to keep all of the elements of the Corn Belt landscape intact as much as we possibly can, and because we just don't know what will work well in the future," she said. "We can look at the past, but we really need to design a new system of agriculture. We want to keep all the species, all the potential that we have."

___

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — State wildlife officials are hoping deer hunters can reduce the population of another crop-damaging species in southern New Jersey: feral hogs.

They're allowing deer hunters in an area of southern Gloucester County to also shoot free-roaming swine that have been destroying crops and landscaping.

Division of Fish and Wildlife spokesman Al Ivany says the division is trying to eradicate them before they become a more serious problem.

The wild hogs prey on ground-nesting birds and small mammals and compete for food with native animals.

They are believed to be descended from domestic hogs that wandered off from local farms.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.