A new law that the Iowa Legislature passed this year has started the process of improving the state’s water quality.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig says his office worked very closely with the legislature on passage of Senate File 512 during this year’s session.

“What Senate File 512 does, for the first time, is we have dedicated predictable funding for the next 12 years for water quality. What that allows me to do and our office is go out and attract the partnerships and leverage those dollars-with federal dollars, or private dollars, or whatever source we can find-to really scale up our efforts to implement practices.”

One of those programs is the water quality initiative cost-share program. Naig says over 2,800 farmers from all of Iowa’s 99-counties have signed up to try cover crops, no-till/strip-till, or nitrification inhibitor on more than 300,000 acres. That includes more than 1,000 farmers that will receive $25 per acre for cover crops, $10 per acres for no- or strip-till and $3 per acre for using a nitrification inhibitor to apply fall fertilizer. Plus, farmers that already have implemented these practices are eligible to receive $15 per acre, up to a maximum of 160 acres.

The state will provide more than $5 million in cost-share funds to match the estimated $9.1 million that were invested by farmers.