CLARINDA, Iowa (KMTV) —
- Video shows: an Iowa farm with chickens, sheep, cattle, a donkey and a cat. It's winter so the fields are bare, but young trees have been planted near a pond and there is restored prairie.
- Fourth-generation farmer Seth Watkins is working with Golden Hills RC&D to bring a Canadian conversation program called ALUS (Alternative Land Use Services) to the United States for the first time.
- The ALUS program pays farmers to convert marginal land into something other than cropland to help the ecosystem, such as prairie or wetlands.
- Find out more:
goldenhillsrcd.org
ALUS.ca
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
I'm on a farm near Clarinda, where a new conservation program is being introduced. I'm your Southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter, Katrina Markel, and I spoke with farmer Seth Watkins who is working with Golden Hills RC&D to bring ALUS from Canada to southwest Iowa.
WATKINS: “Every farm should have chickens..."
ALUS, A-L-U-S, is important to fourth-generation farmer, Seth Watkins. It stands for “Alternative Land Use Services.” A mouthful. But what it does, is pay farmers to put conservation practices to use.
WATKINS: "Our biodiversity is really important and crops are important, too, but we can do this in a way that we can feed people, we can rebuild our soil, we can clean our water, and we can maybe bring back some of the species lost..."
CARA MORGAN: "The program pays on an ongoing basis for the footprint of that practice, long term, because that producer is also producing clear air and clean water for the region."
Cara Morgan is the executive director of Golden Hills RC&D, a nonprofit bringing ALUS from Canada for its first U.S. program.
They have backing from Iowa West and the Walton Foundations.
So, what does a farmer actually do? They convert marginal lands that aren't very productive for crops and plant prairie grasses, trees or put in ponds. The goal is to get nearby farmers to do the same.
MORGAN: "If you have one landowner that does one practice – that's just one practice. But if we have FIVE landowners that do practices all within that watershed ... they're making a larger scale difference within that watershed ... all of that water that flows into one common point, the Missouri River."
Watkins is passionate...
"Clover is a great hay source, especially on wetter land, and they simply pay farmers a little bit to let the third cutting go to seed because it's great monarch habitat"
He talks about revenue ranging from pecan trees to the possibility of running a "glamping" -- that's upscale camping – business.
"The more we can diversity our revenue streams the more resilient our businesses become."
For many families, conservation practices could help ensure another generation of Iowa farmers.
WATKINS: "We start to have a real ecosystem again. And when we're doing it with a group of farmers? Then we have the scale that we really need to make a change."
MORGAN: "That's the long game. That's not just today. And improving your landscape on your farm, is Investing in the next generation."
The goal: healthy land, strong rural communities.
