Record acres in cover crop program targeting metro Des Moines water sources
Iowa farmers have enrolled a record number of acres in an expanded state cover-crop program that seeks to improve the water quality upstream from the Des Moines metro area.
The region has struggled with high nitrate levels in its main drinking water sources, the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers flowing from northwest Iowa.
So far this year, farmers have applied for state assistance to plant cover crops on about 315,000 acres, triple the number of acres farmers in 22 northwest Iowa counties enrolled in 2025, the Iowa Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday, Sept. 2.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said in June the agency would expand its cover crop cost-share program, targeting counties in the Des Moines watershed. The action came after Central Iowa Water Works banned Des Moines metro governments, businesses and residents from watering their lawns in order to preserve capacity to remove nitrates from drinking water.
It was the second consecutive year the regional water authority prohibited lawn irrigation in response to nitrate levels, largely from farm runoff, surging above the federally allowed maximum of 10 milligrams per liter for drinking water. The regional authority lifted the last of this year's irrigation restrictions on July 20.
Naig said the initiative “reinforces that farmers are eager to embrace responsible farming practices that protect their land for future generations" while being "part of the ongoing work to improve Iowa’s water quality.”
Statewide, farmers are applying for cost-share assistance to plant cover crops on about 1 million acres, adding roughly 300,000 more acres than last year, the state ag agency said. Cover crops are an important conservation practice that can significantly cut farm pollution runoff.
In 2024, Iowa farmers planted cover crops on nearly 4 million acres, based on the most recent data available.
But while cover crop adoption is growing, it’s still a small portion of Iowa’s 23 million acres of corn and soybeans. The Des Moines watershed includes nearly 6 million acres planted to corn and soybeans.
Critics, including Chris Jones, the Democratic candidate opposing Republican Naig's reelection bid this fall, agree that cover crops are important. But they say such voluntary programs will never make much of a dent in Iowa's water problems unless paired with some degree of regulation, which GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds has steadfastly resisted.
Several programs available for farmers to cut soil fertilizer losses
Meanwhile, farmers can tap several public and private programs that help them cut fertilizer loss, reduce erosion and improve soil health. For example, Practical Farmers of Iowa also provides cost-share assistance to farmers that can be combined with other state and federal assistance programs.
"In 2025, more than 2,400 farmers received $10 million in PFI cost-share to plant cover crops on more than 900,000 acres," the Ames group said in announcing this year’s program, available to farmers across all of Iowa and parts of Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
Iowa’s program, with enrollment closing at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 9, provides $25 per acre to plant cover crops on up to 500 acres per farm, and Practical Farmers of Iowa provides $15 an acre until all available funding for the year is used. It has no limit on the acres that can be enrolled.
Farmers plant cover crops like cereal rye in the fall, setting down roots that help hold fertilizers and soil in place, both over winter and in the spring before planting of commercial crops. That can reduce nitrogen and phosphorus runoff by roughly 30%, according to the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy, which outlines programs to slash by 45% the fertilizer runoff that leaves the state and flows down the Mississippi River, contributing to the so-called "dead zone" around the river's mouth each summer in the Gulf of Mexico.
The state ag agency also said Wednesday it's adding $2.1 million to its effort to help cattle producers convert low-performing cropland to pasture for grazing cattle or to grow hay. In August, Naig announced the agency would provide $500,000 annually over the next three years to expand the Cattle and Conservation Working Lands program to 22 counties in northwest Iowa, another effort to help improve the quality of water that makes its way to central Iowa.
The program, which is available in 28 Iowa counties, is designed to help producers gain access to land to expand their herds or help young farmers begin raising cattle. Naig said producers tapped out the money available this year within 10 days of announcing the program expansion at the Iowa State Fair.
