The Iowa Nutrient Research Center at Iowa State University announced funding of just over $1.4 million to support a dozen new water quality and nutrient management projects for 2022-2023.

"This year, INRC celebrates its first decade. We are very pleased to have the opportunity to continue supporting this important work to improve Iowa’s water quality and agricultural systems,” said Matt Helmers, Iowa Nutrient Research Center director and professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at Iowa State. “These projects represent new approaches, as well as continuing study of areas where more work is needed to inform recommendations for farmers, policymakers and stakeholders.”

Hongli Feng, assistant professor, received funding for the project "Spatially delineated carbon credit potential and implied nutrient reduction co-benefit: An assessment with integrated ecological and economic modeling framework." The project will take a cross-disciplinary approach to investigate the nutrient reduction potential of various carbon initiatives with integrated modeling that incorporates diverse variables, including information on farmers’ response to different incentive payment strategies.

Chad Hart, professor, received funding for the project "Landowners Matter Too: Accelerating Adoption of In-field and Edge-of-field Nutrient Reduction Practices through Better Engaged Landowners." The project will assess Iowa landowners’ views on and barriers to adopting key in-field and edge-of-field practices for nutrient reduction, looking for more “win-win” situations that could encourage increased conservation practice adoption.