Marty Danzer
County:
Carroll
Bio:
Marty is from Carroll and is on the Iowa Soybean District 4 Board of Directors. On his farm in Carroll County, he has corn, soybean and a cow-calf operation. He's been utilizing cover crops for the last three decades.
Q&A
What are you doing to practice and promote soil and water quality?
Starting early in my career, I got involved with the Soil Conservation Service and I worked with them for about 20 years. Soil conservation is very important to me. We need to pass our farms onto our children, so we need to be stewards of the land. In my farming operation, we've utilized cover crops and we're starting to do more no-till. We run a lot of hay ground and small grains with our cattle operation. Cover crops, grass and alfalfa are a big part of our operation because of the livestock. I've always said that with the grasses and alfalfa, a lot of the land that I farm is highly notable grass land. We usually run 80-100 acres of grass and small cover crops, like oats, and that's a big part of my operation. Conservation is a big issue for my operation.
What needs for soil health and water quality do you see in your region/county?
As we go down the road, food and water are something that everybody needs, no matter if you're a farmer or living in the city. I think we need to utilize our practices that maintain water quality and soil conservation.
What could be done with more public funding for soil and water quality?
I think a lot of our funding that we need to look at for down the road involves the urban sector and the farm sector, and that is water quality. We are all going to need water and that's one of our resources that's becoming very limited. I think the more we can do to promote water quality, the better off we'll all be.
