Praise, Progress on Planning Tools Development

Conservation planners who are following Agren’s quest to develop online planning tools continue to say wonderful things about the time savings and cost estimate accuracy the new tools offer. And, they’re anxious to try the newer programs coming online later this year.

“Our PondBuilder, BasinBuilder, and RCNCalulator are operational, and can be licensed from us in areas where LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) elevation data is available,” says Agren President Tom Buman. “We’ve had a lot of positive comments about these programs and are excited to get them in the hands of the people who need them.”

Tom says Agren has made significant progress in developing its WetlandBuilder and WaterwayBuilder programs, along with building interest in use of the programs in Ohio, Wisconsin, North Carolina and other states across the country.

Agren plans to have programming complete for WetlandBuilder in late September of this year, and for WaterwayBuilder by the Spring of 2011. Programming continues for the suite of contouring practices – contouring, contour buffer strips, contour strip-cropping, and terraces – with completion expected by summer of 2011.

“People have told me they like the time savings in making estimates for conservation work. But they also say the accuracy of the estimate is important,” adds Agren Vice President Stan Buman. That improved accuracy saves time in fewer contract revisions, he says. “Conservationists I’ve talked with think the programs will pay for themselves pretty quickly. Federal and State agencies are looking to technology for efficiencies in these times when they won’t likely get more employees,” says Stan.

Tom says the tools are turning out to be what he and Stan and others at Agren envisioned 4 years ago when they first started working on them. “We think we will eventually completely change how conservation planners are doing their work. Until now. planners haven’t been able to give accurate on-the-spot estimates for a variety of practices in the field or in the office,” he explains.

Agren’s vision for its planning tools is to bundle them in a comprehensive package to give conservation planners access to multiple tools. After a site visit, the farmer and planner would pull the aerial photo of the farm up on a large computer screen to begin developing a whole farm plan. “As the farmer talks about the conservation practices he or she is interested in, the conservation planner could map them out,” Tom says. “For instance, if a landowner wanted a pond in the northeast corner of his land, the planner would launch PondBuilder and they would locate a site for the pond together. After that the two might launch TerraceBuilder and plan terraces in the northwest corner of the farm. Then they could launch WaterwayBuilder and look at how waterways could be used on the farm to reduce ephemeral erosion.”

The difference between using current planning methods and this new bundled planning tool package is that when the two finish talking, the landowner would have a whole farm plan with an accurate cost estimate for each practice, and a schedule for implementation. The SoilLossCalculator could be run before and after the planning session to determine soil savings.

For more information, email Tom at tom@agreninc.com or Stan at stan@agreninc.com, or visit the Agren web site at www.agreninc.com to read more and schedule a live on-line demonstration of the software.

Equipping Absentee Landowners to Choose Wisely in Conservation

Progress continues on a three-year pilot project meant to better equip absentee landowners to work effectively with tenants to make and maintain conservation improvements on their land. The project, which began last October, grew out of a meeting of absentee landowners, Conservation Districts of Iowa (CDI), Agren, Inc., and others in March of 2008.

“About 60 percent of Iowa’s land is leased, and many of those owners do not live on the land,” explains Amy Dreith of Agren, who is helping facilitate the project for CDI. “The project aims to help them make good decisions about their land and choosing tenants who will help care for their land.” A subcontractor, Agren is helping CDI carry out a Conservation Innovation Grant to develop a program tabbed LOCAL (Landowners and Operators Care About the Land).

“Agren and Iowa State University are helping CDI develop standards and an operational framework to establish a conservation certification program in Iowa,” says Jamie Ridgely of Agren. “It will build on the success of the Center for Absentee Landowners and an Internet-based farm leasing network operated by U.S. Farm Lease.”

The pilot program is being conducted in Dickinson County and parts of the Brushy Creek and Lake Panorama watersheds. Early work includes a mail survey that was sent to operators in March, followed by an owner survey later this month. ISU sociologist Dr. J. Gordon Arbuckle is a key collaborator on the project.

Expert Panels and Stakeholders to drive a Water Quality Master Plan for the Raccoon River Watershed

Plans are underway to begin the process of developing a comprehensive master plan to improve water quality in the Raccoon River Watershed in west-central Iowa.

The heavily farmed watershed has been ranked by some as the highest source of nitrate loading into the Mississippi River. Late last year, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources selected the Missouri and Mississippi Divide Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) to develop a plan that would guide DNR and the Iowa Legislature in policy development for future water quality issues in the Raccoon and across the state.

The RC&D subcontracted with Agren to develop and carry out a process that would bring together expert scientists, policy-makers, and a diverse group of stakeholders within the watershed to work side by side. “This is a collaborative ‘expert panel’ technique that will encourage a lot of interaction among experts, policy-makers, and the people affected by the plan,” says Jamie Ridgely, lead investigator of the project for Agren. “We’ve used this method effectively many times over to solve complex agricultural or environmental problems with diverse stakeholders who have differing interests and information, and we think it is very appropriate for this plan.”

Jamie emphasizes the master plan, which is to be developed by June of 2011, is not an Agren, RC&D, or DNR plan. “It’s going to be an expert-driven plan that incorporates recommendations from people who live or work in the Raccoon River Watershed,” she says.

It’s a process that’s tough for anyone to argue with, says Kenny Snyder of Carroll, who serves as project manager for the RC&D. “When you bring stakeholders and scientists together, only good can come out of the project,” he says. “It will be up to the landowners in our watershed to make the final difference.”

First of three panels in June

In June, an agricultural best management practice (BMP) panel of about 25 people will meet for four days. The panelists will hear from experts on individual BMP’s during the day, then tour practices in the evenings. Overall, they will interact with 80 to 100 stakeholders in the watershed during the week. “The tours ensure everyone discussing the BMP’s gets to see them and talk to producers who have had both good and bad experiences with the practices,” Jamie says. The expert panel’s goals include defining problems and evaluating which best management practices have the most potential to restore and maintain an environmentally and economically sustainable watershed.

Meetings will be held in Storm Lake, Rockwell City, Carroll, and Perry. While the meetings will be by invitation only to make the group a workable size, audio recording of the meetings will be posted online for public comment after the meetings.

A second expert panel on non-agriculture best management practices will meet in September, and animplementation expert panel will discuss incentives and organization next January.

The North, Middle, and South Raccoon Rivers have different water quality issues that will no doubt produce different recommendations, and that flexibility is intended, Jamie says. The 3,630 square mile Raccoon River Watershed touches parts of 17 counties, with highest acreages in Buena Vista, Pocahontas, Sac, Calhoun, Webster, Carroll, Greene, Guthrie, Dallas and Polk Counties.

The final Master Plan will be a blueprint for action to implement land management practices on specific areas based on the needs of those areas, offering environmentally sound and economically sustainable solutions for the watershed, says Adam Kiel, a regional watershed coordinator for DNR.

Partner Feature: Dr. Pam Mickelson

At Agren, we’re convinced working relationships with other professionals are key to successful projects. That was once again the case earlier this year when Agren had the opportunity to pilot an Iowa absentee landownership project.

The project needed help in “branding” services available to absentee landowners and in building marketing communications pieces. It had been 15 years since Amy Dreith, Agren’s lead on the project, had been a member of the Morningside College Advertising Club, but she felt strongly about the expertise Dr. Pam Mickelson and her class could bring to the project.

Amy had fond memories of Pam’s class; as a senior, Amy had developed a national campaign for Pizza Hut that was awarded first place honors in a four-state competition and seventh place nationally. She reconnected last fall with Pam to talk about how Pam’s advertising campaign class – a senior capstone course for advertising majors – could benefit the project. A primary Agren goal was to promote the use of more conservation on absentee-owned land by certifying farm operators, helping assure owners they could carry out conservation on their land. The class, in turn, wanted real-time experience in helping a client with an advertising and marketing opportunity.

Pam and her class of 12 self-motivated students were a natural fit for Agren’s absentee landownership initiative.

An absentee owner of farmland herself in Arkansas, Pam had farm roots and 24 years of experience with advertising campaigns.

All 12 students and Pam first met with Amy and Jamie Ridgely the second week of January in Carroll, and went on to serve as valuable consultants to Agren. They helped build recognition of “Iowa Conservation Connect” during the project. Pam now sees the need for a similar program called “Arkansas Conservation Connect” to open communication lines about conservation practices to absentee landowners like herself in that state.

It was a win-win relationship that Agren strives for in every project!

Partner Feature: J. Gordon Arbuckle, Jr.

He was a city kid, but J. Gordon Arbuckle’s roots were never far from the farm. The Iowa State University Assistant Professor of Sociology was originally from Washington, D.C., but spent his vacations and summers at his grandparents’ farm near Columbia, Missouri. “That’s when I fell in love with agriculture and rural life,” J. says. After college, he worked on rural and environmental projects in Guatemala for two years, then returned to D.C. and continued to work on international development projects for USAID, World Bank,and other organizations. After nearly a decade of environmental and community development work in countries including Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, El Salvador, and Belize he decided to attend graduate school in Missouri – in large part so he could manage the family farm while going to school.

“I’ve always been interested in helping to resolve the environmental challenges we face in agriculture through research,” J. says. “My graduate work, especially my Ph.D., focused on developing research skills and knowledge I could use to help improve the environmental – and social – performance of food and fiber production.”

He finds it rewarding to develop the questions that provide government agencies and landowners with the information they need to meet their objectives more effectively, such as he does with his work as co-director of the Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll.

J. met the Agren staff soon after joining ISU in 2007. “One of the first events I attended after starting at ISU was a conference in Des Moines on rural lands and livelihoods. Tom Buman happened to be one of the speakers, and his topic was absentee landownership,” J. says. “After his talk, I introduced myself and told him I was very interested in the topic, too. We agreed that we should join forces, and I’ve been collaborating with Agren on land ownership issues ever since.”

J. says he’s really enjoyed working with Agren. “Tom, Jamie, Amy, and Stan are all highly motivated and committed to improving Iowa’s natural resource base, and they are a pleasure to work with. I expect that we’ll be collaborating on projects for many years to come,” he adds.

Meet Randy Loomis

Randy Loomis joined the Agren staff in October of 2009 as business manager. He brings over 30 years of finance, accounting and benefits administration experience to the position. He and his wife Angie reside in Manning, where Angie serves as pastor for both the Manning United Methodist Church and the United Church of Manilla. They have two grown daughters and one son-in-law who live in central Iowa. When he’s able, Randy pursues his hobbies of reading and fishing, and he also admits to being a “political junkie.”

Randy grew up in Humboldt, Iowa, and received a B.A. in Business Administration (with an Economics minor) from Westmar College in 1978. His professional career began while a sophomore in college, when he began working full-time for a public accounting firm. He passed the Certified Public Accountant exam in 1981 and joined FryeTech, Inc., a multinational manufacturer of carbon paper and inked ribbons, where he departed as Vice President and CFO when the company relocated. Most recently, Randy worked for NationJob, Inc., a Des Moines-based Internet job board as Vice President of Administration and CFO until Angie’s ministry transferred the Loomis’ to Manning in 2009. In retrospect, Randy is thankful for the opportunities he has enjoyed over the years. “FryeTech allowed me to travel extensively in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia, and I saw more of the world by my early forties than many people see in their entire lives. NationJob is a 21st-century technology company, and I learned a lot in that unique environment. But now, especially with Angie’s call to the ministry, I’ve felt the desire to do meaningful work, rather than simply chasing the next dollar. Agren’s focus on agricultural and environmental stewardship fills that need.” At Agren, Randy is responsible for all aspects of financial management including payroll, billing, budgeting, and reporting as well as managing the employee benefit program.

Agren Exhibits and Presentations

Agren is committed to disseminating the results of the projects that we work on. Here is a list of the places we have presented and exhibited during the last six months.

The last 6 months...

• Conservation Districts of Iowa Annual Conference/Ames, IA – Exhibitor
• Michigan Association of Conservation Districts – Absentee Landowner Workshop/Mt. Pleasant, MI – Presenter
• National Association of Conservation Districts Annual Meeting/Orlando, FL – Exhibitor
• Iowa Water Conference/Ames, IA – Exhibitor
• National Resources Conservation Service National Meeting/Kansas City, MO – Exhibitor
• LiDAR Applications Workshop/Fargo, ND – Presenter
• LiDAR Applications Workshop/Grand Forks, ND – Presenter
• Ohio Federation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts Annual Meeting/Columbus, OH – Exhibitor
• Wisconsin Association of Land Conservation Employees Annual Meeting/LaCrosse, WI – Presenter
• Volunteer Fire Department Fire Chief Meeting/Ames, IA – Presenter