thinkingSystems

A Systems Approach to

soil and water

conservation

lecture sponsors:Iowa State University Extension and Outreach | Iowa Nutrient Research Center | Iowa Learning Farms | Leopold Center for Sustainable AgricultureIowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship | Department of Agronomy | Department of Agricultural and Biosystems EngineeringDepartment of Natural Resource Ecology and Management | Department of Sociology

Monday, Nov. 18 7:00pm2432 Food Sciences BLDG

freelecture

Dr. Benjamin Turner

Texas A&M University-Kingsville

This lecture will highlight research, grounded in systems thinking, aimed at better understanding the dynamics underpinning contemporary soil and water conservation challenges. This approach synthesizes knowledge across disciplinary boundaries and utilizes methods from social, natural, and computer modeling sciences. Key learnings include how agricultural producers’ land ethics and the incentives of contemporary agricultural policy shift land transformation towards greater cultivation, the effects of which alter soil ecosystem functions, including delayed soil legacy effects that may alter the dynamics of runoff and stream sediment loading. The trade-offs between alternative agricultural policies, the role of the growing soil health movement, and how the systems approach can be utilized to better understand and prioritize emergent soil and water resource management problems will also be discussed.