Des Moines, Iowa — State officials, along with commodity group leaders, are touting a nine-and-a-half million dollar U-S-D-A grant for water quality efforts that will get four-point-75 million dollars worth of matching funds from the state. Officials say Iowa farmers will invest another 33 million dollars to complete water quality projects.
Kurt Simon, the state conservationist, says more than 40 partners are involved.
That’s the voluntary approach farm groups and state officials announced three years ago in response to concerns about run-off from ag land. Kirk Leeds, the C-E-O of the Iowa Soybean Association, is also a spokesman for the Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance and he was at Tuesday’s news conference to announce the combined 47-and-a-quarter million dollar investment in conservation practices on Iowa farms.
The Iowa Soybean Association Research Conference is going on through Wednesday in Des Moines.
