Catching every drop of water, reducing erosion and improving soil health are goals on this Boone County farmer’s land.

For Jeremy Gustafson, fighting to protect Iowa’s precious soil and water is more than just advocating for proper land stewardship.

The management mindset he’s embraced as a business strategy he also sees an opportunity to leave a lasting legacy for future generations, built on regenerative agriculture practices that will protect and improve his farm ground.

Humbly introducing himself as “just a farmer,” Gustafson, also an outreach leader with Practical Farmers of Iowa, shared his journey implementing cover crops, no-till and strip till practices and precision nutrient placement to more than 100 farmers and ag business professionals at the 97th annual Soil Management and Land Valuation Conference at Iowa State University in May.

Gustafson provided a combination of photos, rainfall data and side-by-side comparisons of his fields with others to highlight the impact regenerative agriculture can have across Iowa’s landscape. 

He’s an advocate for sustainable farming, offering first-hand successes and challenges from his farm just west of Boone.

“We do most of our own work,” Gustafson said. “My wife, me, our kids and my retired father — most things we do ourselves … We don’t hire a lot of outside help.”

Their mission? 

“Achieve the highest revenue on a parcel of land while minimizing soil erosion, reducing soil and water runoff, and we like to accurately place our nutrients whenever possible in the ground,” he said.

So far, implemented practices have yielded promising results. 

The family manages soybean and corn acres with a strong focus on erosion control, nutrition efficiency and soil health. They seed cover crops, use strip till and conservation tillage and have buffer strips around creeks.

“Our goal is to catch every drop of water and keep it where it lands, not letting it run off,” he said. 

“I’ve seen the difference, and once you see it, you can’t unsee it. We manage every field like we own it. We’re building a system that works for us.”

Keeping water in place

Conservation on his farm be­­gins with soil health, Gustafson said, and what better way to build organic matter than with cover crops. 

Most of his cover-cropped acres are seeded with cereal rye ahead of soybeans and winter wheat in front of corn acres, but he also is experimenting with camelina.

Cover crops help to reduce soil erosion, scavenge and hold nutrients, improve soil organic matter, increase water infiltration, reduce water runoff and improve water quality, he said.

“Think about your driveway,” Gustafson explained. “Where does the water go? It lands on your concrete … It runs off somewhere, right? (If it) hits the grass, it goes right in the ground, infiltrates. We want our fields to act like lawns, not driveways.”

He pointed to a recent 3- to 5-inch rain event central Iowa experienced. While some fields showed gullies and washouts, he looked across his section, and it held tight. “Our ground has more cover on it than most people’s … The cover crop and the residue are holding everything in place,” he said. “You can see it.”

He acknowledges that cover crops can be challenging. Last fall’s dry conditions led to spotty germination. A lot of guys didn’t see the rye take off like they had hoped, Gustafson said, but play the long game. 

Some years are better than others. The system works if you commit to it, he said.

Tillage, fertility options

Gustafson also promotes no-till or strip-till practices, which keep residue in the field, help build soil biology and allow for direct placement of fertilizer. 

Nutrient management can be a key to success, he said. Fertilizer is often spread on top of the field in the fall, he said. “Then we get a Halloween rain, 4 or 5 inches …, that fertilizer’s gone, or at least it’s not where it needs to be,” he said.

Fall strip-tillage places dry fertilizer directly into the future crop row. 

“That’s where the crop’s going to find it,” he said. “It doesn’t blow away, doesn’t wash off. It stays put.”

Gustafson said he’s been able to build up soil biology, which becomes the glue in the soil. It keeps topsoil in the field.

“With the biology that we have and the roots that we have in the soil, we’re able to hold that soil in place,” he said.

Advice for farmers

Gustafson encourages other Iowa farmers to rethink their standard practices. 

If you’re experiencing washouts, if your topsoil is ending up in the ditch, it doesn’t have to be that way, he said. There are systems that work. They take some time and adjustment, but if you build it right, the soil stays where it’s supposed to be, the nutrients stay where they’re needed, and your farm becomes more resilient, he said.

“We’re trying to do things right. Not just for us, but for the next generation,” he said.