Tweak, Adapt, Transform: How to Build a Resilient Future for Agriculture in the U.S. Corn Belt

Lisa Schulte MooreIowa State University

October 4, 2012

Supported by:THE MCKNIGHT

FOUNDATION

Big Question: How do we foster social & economic

vitality without destroying our environment?

Image source: IonE

Image source: IonE

Image source: IonE

Outline for Talk• Envisioning the Future

• Fostering Change:Tweaks, Adaptations & Transformations

• Scaling it Up

• What Can You Do?

Envisioning the Future

Image source: IonE

The Process1) Interviews with farmers

2) Focus group with regional change agents

3) Development of alternative future scenarios; visualization

4) Interviews with farmers and regional change agents

Strategic integration-disproportionatebenefits

Points of Consensus• Vision: Multiobjective management

• Strategy: Landscape planning & cross-boundary partnerships

• Tactics: Improved in-field management &targeted perennial conservation practices

2%

All visualizations by Drake Larsen

2%4%8%16%32%64%

2%4%8%16%32%64%

≤4%“This looks like what Iowa has now.”

“These two [scenarios] offer very little beyond production value. And in fact, it is so far skewed towards production that the production benefits are likely compromised…at least they will be in the long-term.”

≤4%

>75% of participants ranked this scenario as providing the greatest number of benefits.

“This is where I’d put my house...”

64%

20% of participants ranked this scenario as providing the ~fewest number of benefits.

“Definitely last. There’s nothing for me here.”

64%

“Targeting practices to the critical areas will accumulatebenefits better. When you are using natural systems you arecreating a diversity…a balance of approaches and benefits.”

16%

Adapt –85% annual:

15% perennial

Transform –>50% annual:

<50% perennial

Tweak –95% annual: 5% perennial

Image source: IonE

Fostering Tweaks:Public-Private Partnerships

in the Boone

Photo credit: ISA

Photo credit: ISA

Photo credit: ISA

Fostering Adaptation:Prairie STRIPs

Image source: IonE

Photo credit: Sarah Hirsch

100% crops 90% crops : 10% prairie 100% prairie

Pho

to c

redi

t: D

ave

Will

iam

s

Photo credit: Anna MacDonald

Pho

to c

redi

t: M

arlin

Ric

e

Photo credit: Anna MacDonald

Photo credit: Tatum Watkins, Age 8

Image source: IonE

Fostering Transformation:Landscape Biomass Project

Current Bioenergy Crops

Photo credit: Tom Schultz

Photo credit: Todd Ontl

Photo credit: Todd Ontl

Photo credit: Todd Ontl

Photo credit: Dan Claessen

Photo credit: Drake Larsen

Photo credit: George McCrory, University of Iowa

Scaling it UP

Image source: IonE

Fostering Improvements: Field/Individual Scale

Photo credit: Sharon Schulte

Fostering Improvements: Landscape/Community Scale

Photo credit: Carol Williams

Fostering Improvements: Regional/Institutional Scale

What can YOU do?

Image source: IonE

Be AWARE.

Image source: IonE

Visit the COUNTRYSIDE.

Image source: IonE

Foster innovative PARTNERSHIPS.

Image source: IonE

Acknowledgements• Interviewees & focus group participants

• STRIPs Project Collaboratorswww.nrem.iastate.edu/research/STRIPs

• Landscape Biomass Project Collaboratorswww.nrem.iastate.edu/landscape/projects/ls_biomass/ls_biomass.htm

• Partners: Iowa Soybean Association, USDA ARS, USFS, USFWS, The Nature Conservancy, University of Iowa, & many, many more

• Funders: IDALS, ISU, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, NSF, NSF Iowa EPSCOR, USDA, US Forest Service

For More Information• Atwell, R. C. et al. 2011. Tweak, adapt, or transform: policy scenarios in response to emerging bioenergy markets in the U.S. Corn Belt. Ecology and Society 16: 10.

• Atwell, R.C. et al. 2010.  How to build multifunctional agricultural landscapes in the U.S. Corn Belt: add perennials and partnerships.  Land Use Policy 27:1082‐1090. 

• Atwell, R.C. et al. 2009.  Landscape, community, and countryside: linking bio‐physical and social scales in U.S. Corn Belt conservation initiatives.  Landscape Ecology 24:791–806. 

• Atwell, R.C. et al. 2009.  Linking resilience and diffusions of innovations to restore perennial cover in the U.S. Corn Belt.  Ecology and Society 14:30. 

• Larsen, GL D. 2011. Farming for ecosystem services: a case study of multifunctional agriculture in Iowa, USA. M.S. Thesis. Iowa State University, Ames, IA.

• Liebman, M.Z., M.J. Helmers, L.A. Schulte, and C. Chase. In press. Using biodiversity to link agricultural productivity with environmental quality: results from three field experiments in Iowa. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems.

• Rickenbach, M.G. et al. 2011.  Cross‐boundary cooperation: a mechanism for sustaining ecosystem services from private lands. J. Soil & Water Conservation.

• Schulte, L.A. et al. 2008.  Targeted conservation approaches for improving environmental quality: multiple benefits for expanded opportunities.  PMR 1002.  Iowa State University Extension, Ames, IA. 

• Schulte, L.A. et al. 2006.  Agroecosystem restoration through strategic integration of perennials.  Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 61:164A‐169A. 

• Zhou, X., Helmers, M.J., Asbjornsen, H., Kolka, R., Tomer, M.D. 2010. Perennial filter strips reduce nitrate levels in soil and shallow groundwater after grassland‐to‐cropland conversion. Journal of Environmental Quality 39:2006‐2015.