Farmland owners in Iowa, like farmers, are becoming more interested in stepping up to take on the challenge of improving water quality and reducing soil loss. That’s important because 57 percent of Iowa farmland is owned by people who do not farm, according to a recent survey by Iowa State University (ISU).

More than one-third of landowners contacted in that survey expressed interest in assisting tenants on cover crops, one of the key conservation practices in Iowa’s Water Quality Initiative, officially called the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy. Twenty percent of...