The last two days have been all over the place; however, a common theme has presented itself, run-off from crops. Tuesday began with a visit to the Iowa Agribusiness Association where the discussion centered on problems with the corporations and water. Later in the day we went to an Iowa State research facility that looked at how to minimize N runoff by planting cover crops, specifically Miscanthus. Miscanthus can be used as animal bedding, burned for energy, or used as a buffer crop to reduce nitrate runoff. Then, on Wednesday, the group met in the morning with the Practical Farmers of Iowa. They are a group dedicated to providing farmers with the best practices necessary to farm; they emphasize the farmer-to-farmer relationships and the ability of farmers to share information with each other.  At Practical Farmers we focused on several issues.  First, we learned about efforts to assist farmers who have experienced  pesticide drift, which has been discussed with some other farmers we have met with. The largest impact occurs with horticulture crops (think vegetables and orchards, generally anything that is not a commodity crop such as corn or soy). The Nutty Farmer had discussed cover crops with us, but I never fully understood the purpose other than to prevent soil erosion. PFI added to this by describing how dicamba has a serious problem with pesticide drift if the conditions are not right, but is only active for 1-2 days. Later in the day we heard from Bayer Crop Science with regard to dicamba and the efforts that it is taking to show applicators the conditions on a given day and if they lend themselves to spraying dicamba. Furthermore, some state governments have regulated the dates to which a farmer may spray dicamba beyond what the EPA has listed (no later than 90 days after planting). This is due to dicamba becoming more at risk to pesticide drift as the weather becomes more humid and warm. The states pushing to regulate this put final dates that dicamba can be sprayed believing that as it gets further into the spring/summer and warmer the spraying should stop. When the PFI representative we met with was asked what could be done to prevent pesticide drift or what legislation/ regulations should be passed she did not comment on regulations but said what could be done to prevent. Websites show what is grown where and is self-reported so farmers can tell what pesticides are being used around them. Farmers should make themselves visible and reach out to neighbors if they are concerned. Both Bayer Crop Science and PFI discussed the problem can generally stem from the applicator. The applicator is state licensed and might not be as vigilant as a neighbor would be when applying dicamba, even though dicamba requires extra courses to be taken to be licensed to apply it. Pesticide drift and N runoff are difficult issues to tackle with no clear solution requires more work to be done such as the research Dr. Heaton has done at Iowa State in investigating other crops to be grown that have a practical value, being energy, and a use while grown for farmers, such as being a cover crop.