Iowa farmers can now sign up for a cost-sharing program to help pay for water quality strategies. State Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig says it’s the sixth annual round for the program which helps farmers install nutrient reduction management practices. Naig says, “What we make available is a cost share for cover crops or converting to strip-till and no-till and for using a nitrogen inhibitor in the fall on fall-applied fertilizer.” Farmers who are planting cover crops for the first time get the highest cost share, he says, and the funding will be doled out starting in July. Naig says, “We have had 8,000 participants over the last five years and 4,600 of those have been first-time users of one of those water quality practices.”

He encourages growers to apply for the cost share program as soon as possible. “It’s good to get in early because the dollars do run out at some point,” Naig says. “We’ll make those decisions in July or into August. Folks can call the office or visit our website, Iowa Agriculture-dot-gov, or they can walk into their county conservation office and apply for the cost share there.”

Naig says farmers are only eligible for cost share on up to 160 acres.