Science-based
Trials of
Rowcrops
Integrated with
Prairies
Welcome to the STRIPs project! We are an interdisciplinary team of researchers, educators, and extension specialists studying the impacts of strategically integrated strips of prairie within row-cropped agricultural landscapes. We encourage you to visit the links above to learn more about our project, current findings, and upcoming opportunities. We thank the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge for their leading role in supporting this project. Our experimental site is located at the refuge.
What's New?
March 1: Read project investigator Matt Helmers' comments on 5 ways to cut nitrate loss from ag fields in Corn and Soybean Digest. We've documented that prairie strips can reduce BOTH subsurface and overland loss of nitrate from corn-soy fields.
February 22: Watch lab graduate research assistant, Anna MacDonald, talk about her work in this Leopold Center "On the Ground" video. More information can be found in an accompanying news release found here.
February: More successful graduate student defenses: congrats are in order for Sarah Hirsh and Tomorra Smith! Well done, you two! Publications will be forthcoming.
January: Project investigators Matt Helmers, Matt O'Neal, and John Tyndall will be offering a course on Ecosystem Service Management, which highlights the STRIPs project, next fall through ISU. Contact Matt Helmers for further details on enrolling.
December: Graduate students Delise Lockett and José Gutierrez Lopez successfully defend their Master's theses, which address aspects of the STRIPs project. Congrats!
October: The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture develops pamphlet, A Landowner's Guide to Prairie Conservation Strips (PDF 2.8 MB), based on the STRIPs project. WHO-TV covers the release of this brochure (WMV 1.5 MB).
September 11: Read the STRIPs in Transition report on our June 2011 project stakeholder board meeting, prepared by GL Drake Larsen, Tricia Knoot, and John Tyndall (PDF 1.2 MB).