Google will provide a $150,000 grant to the Iowa Nutrient Research and Education Council (INREC) to support innovative “batch and build” water quality projects in progress across Iowa.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship-led “batch and build” model modernizes the project management process by installing batches of conservation practices on multiple farms at once, allowing a faster acceleration of water quality progress. 

As a result of this efficient and cost-effective model, used to install edge-of-field practices such as bioreactors and saturated buffers that filter and denitrify water before it enters the waterways, Iowa is setting records for conservation implementation.  

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship currently has eight “batch and build” projects in motion, with several more in planning phases. 

The funding from Google will provide financial support to alleviate bottlenecks, encourage practice adoption and fill in gaps not covered by state or federal funding. 

“It takes many great public and private partners to accelerate our statewide water quality progress, and we are thankful to Google and INREC for their support as well as the more than 350 other committed urban and rural partners,” said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig.