Ten new projects have been funded through the Iowa Nutrient Research Center.

The projects are largely based around quality of river water by researching the presence of nutrients in the water and how to use new tools improve agricultural farming. The projects are being built off of projects that were previously funded for 2013-2014.

“The goal of the projects is to reduce the amount of nutrients lost in service water not just here in Iowa, but also in the Gulf of Mexico.” said John Lawrence, the ANR extension director. “We are trying to identify methods to reduce the loss of those nutrients.”

Lawrence points some of the tools the research will study: Bioreactors, a underground trench with woodships, help maintain nutrients in the soil that would otherwise be lost. Saturated buffers are going to maintain the water levels in crop field, so during heavy rain the crop will not drown. Remote sensing through satellites and field spreadsheets may help farmers better decide how and when to plant their crops for their particular field. Cover crops help protect the farming soil during the off-season by maintaining nutrients that would otherwise be lost by weather factors.

“I’m really interested about this project” said Yuting Guo, a sociology graduate student hired to help with the research. “I think it will help solve some environmental problems. I’m interested to see how [the research] affects other states and other places.”

As well the scientific side of the research, psychological research plays a large part in the projects as well. David Peters, an associate professor in sociology, says that his part of the research will help to better understand the decision-making process of farmers to improve the effectiveness of the tools and projects.

“Some farmers may have attitudes opposed to some of the research used,” Peters said. “They may have concerns on how different practices effect the environment. It’s our goal to try to understand the mechanics that make farmers adopt conservation techniques.”

Guo says that one of the most important things that students should understand about the project is the affect of attitude on taking action.

“We have so many serious problems here [in the enviorment],” Guo said. “This research makes me realize that I have to take action to protect our environment. What can we do to let farmers know about the new technology? Understanding their attitudes make them more willing to accept the new technology. Attitudes can affect action.”