It’s late in the day, but the party’s just starting to roll in the packed Iowa Taproom in Des Moines as folks flock to meet “The Lobe Rangers.”
No, this trio isn’t the hottest new rock band. They’re three farmers — Zack Smith, Matt Bormann and James Hepp — who farm in the Des Moines Lobe, a north-central Iowa region that contains some of the world’s most productive farmland.
The mix of about 300 urbanites and suburbanites didn’t want to hear that, though. During a panel discussion hosted by the Iowa Environmental Council and Des Moines Water Works, they instead wanted to discuss one of Iowa’s hottest topics: water quality.
“We hear one thing every single place that we go,” said Sarah Green, executive director of the IEC, which has held 30 listening sessions across Iowa in recent months. “Iowans are fed up with excuses and inaction about our poor water quality.”
The Lobe Rangers share this concern. On that mid-September evening, they patiently explained how they work to deliver clean water downstream via steps such as cover crops, in-season nitrogen applications, and no-till and strip till.
They just wish more farmers would join the movement.
“We were fed up that we were not seeing enough adoption of these practices,” said Bormann, who farms near Algona, Iowa.
They aren’t alone when it comes to water quality concerns. A July survey commissioned by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future found water quality is a bipartisan issue among 800 likely Iowa voters. Overall, 75% of Democrats, 62% of independent voters and 54% of Republicans said they were concerned about home tap water quality.
Kirk Leeds noted several years ago that the clock was ticking on this issue. Now, those concerns have reached a crescendo, particularly with potential links between poor water quality and cancer.
“I've said for a long time that water is our biggest challenge in agriculture, both from the amount, control and quality of water,” said Leeds, who serves as CEO of the Iowa Soybean Association.
Lack of progress
Corn is a powerful economic engine that generates about $14 billion annually in farm-gate value in Iowa. Meanwhile, soybeans annually contribute about $11.5 billion to Iowa’s economy.
However, these crops form a leaky production system when it comes to nitrate and nutrients such as phosphorus that flow through tile lines or run off fields and eventually end up in drinking water.
“We have an annual cropping system that leaves the soil vulnerable to leaching when the crop is not using nitrogen,” said Matt Helmers, an Iowa State University Extension and Outreach agricultural engineer who directs the Iowa Nutrient Research Center.
The Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy (INRS) — launched in 2013 by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and ISU — aims to squelch nitrate and P drinking water levels by 45% by encouraging and cost-sharing sound farming practices.
Results show little progress. The INRS water quality dashboard assesses flow-weighted nutrient loads by dividing annual N and P loads in tons by the amount of stream flow occurring in a year. Amounts can widely vary between years due to factors such as precipitation. However, the water quality-monitoring data shows nutrient levels have stayed relatively steady since 2000, Helmers said.
In 2025, Polk County — which contains Des Moines and its suburbs — commissioned the Central Iowa Source Water Research Assessment. The report concluded that nitrates in the central Iowa water supply serving 600,000 residents are among the highest in the nation.
“We examined tile water in other drainage districts that had nitrate levels of 30 to 35 milligrams per liter,” saidDavid Cwiertny,director of the University of Iowa’s Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination.
That’s far above the federal drinking water standard of 10 mg/L for nitrate content.
“It’s just extra evidence that the nitrate levels coming out of those tile lines can be pretty exceptional,” Cwiertny added.
Nitrates also can leach into groundwater or move laterally to streams in untiled fields, Helmers noted.
“So, even in those nontiled landscapes, we can see nitrate that's lost from the plant root zone,” he said.
Then there’s the cancer link.
Iowa has the second-highest cancer incidence rate in the nation and is one of only two states where the rate is rising, according to a 2026 report published by the IEC and The Harkin Institute.
Current EPA drinking water standards of 10 mg/L may be insufficient, as research suggests health risks may occur at levels as low as 3-5 mg/L, Cwiertny said.
“There’s a lot of science that’s found potential associations between nitrate in drinking water with certain forms of cancer, as well as birth defects,” he added.
Mixed conservation results
One scenario for meeting INRS goals proposed a total estimated 10.5 million acres of no-till and strip till, and 12.5 million acres of cover crops — about half of Iowa's total corn and soybean acres.
Some goals are on track. In 2024, the INRS dashboard showed 4.6 million acres (20%) were under conservation tillage and 9.4 million acres (41%) were no-tilled out of 22.8 million corn and soybean acres.
However, the INRS dashboard showed cover crops lagged, with 2024’s 3.9 million cover crop acres falling short of a 12.5 million-acre goal.
Edge-of-field practices that include bioreactors and saturated buffers also are falling short in the eyes of The Lobe Rangers. They say 6 million acres are needed to meet IRNS goals. So far, edge-of-field practices tally about 190,600 acres, Helmers said.
All this frustrates Bormann.
“I’d been on the state soil and water conservation committee for two and a half years,” he said. “I was really fed up with the lack of any meaningful action that the committee could do.”
So, he resigned and called Smith, who farms near Lake Mills, Iowa. After two hours on the phone, they agreed that insufficient conservation farming progress was occurring. They formed a Snapchat group that rapidly grew and morphed into a peer group.
When Hepp, who farms near Rockwell City, Iowa, joined, they formed The Lobe Rangers. They quickly became a social media sensation, speaking at field days and conducting a media blitz in September.
“Agriculture can’t ignore this issue,” Bormann said. “The public's getting fed up, especially when there's enough research and farmers out there working to make agriculture better.”
So far, more regulation of nutrients has not occurred. This could change, however.
“I think that if we don't soon demonstrate real results, we're more likely to see regulation than we want to admit,” said Leeds, who represents an organization that supports voluntary INRS practices. “The reality is we've made improvements, increases in steps like cover crops. But here’s the cold, hard truth: We have not seen a significant improvement in water quality in the state.”
It’s time to revisit the INRS guidelines and goals, said Kerri Johannsen, IEC senior director of policy and programs.
“The science is better than it's ever been about how we can reduce nitrate [in agricultural runoff],” she said. “People are ready to get serious about the nutrient reduction strategy and put some markers down, put some goals in place and, if we're not meeting them, ask why not.”
Challenges and opportunities
It’s not as simple as just going out and seeding some cover crops. True, a winter cereal rye cover crop can scavenge excess N and slice nitrates by 30% to 45%, compared with a field without a cover crop, Helmers said.
However, challenges exist.
“There’s a cost associated with cover crops, and in a lot of cases, there isn’t a short-term, direct economic benefit for the farmer,” Helmers said. “Some producers may have limited time or labor to plant and terminate a cover crop [so it does not cause cash crop competition]. There’s also a concern with corn yields declining if cereal rye grows too quickly to where it can’t be killed in time.”
Conversely, merging cover crops with long-term no-till can scale back commercial fertilizer applications. Data compiled by Dave Franzen, a retired fertility specialist at North Dakota State University Extension, showed long-term — six years or more — no-till fields needed less N than conventionally tilled fields.
No-till and strip till also saves soil — and accompanying fertilizer and chemical — from washing or leaching into water bodies, Bormann noted. In-season applications also help ensure N goes into the corn plant when it needs it and not into water bodies, The Lobe Rangers said.
“We also can lower our overall rates because there’s a lot less chance of losing nitrogen,” Hepp added.
Besides soaking up excess N, cover crops can reduce herbicide costs by squelching weed growth. Slashing tillage can slice machinery costs and squeeze fuel needs — a perk accentuated by current spiraling diesel fuel prices.
“And we all get competitive-to-better yields as other farmers in our areas,” Hepp said.
Long road ahead
The ISA established its On-Farm Network that tests and hones practices that can improve water quality. Leeds noted its network of conservation agronomists work with ag retailers to assist farmers in how to incorporate conservation techniques.
“Do farmers need to do better?” Leeds said. “Absolutely. We believe strongly that farmers have to own this issue. And the farmers that I work for are adamant that farmers have to get better in this space.”
Opportunities exist, such as planting cover crops in front of soybeans, Helmers said. Since soybeans better tolerate cover crops than corn, yield concerns are diminished.
Planting cover crops on most of Iowa’s approximately 10 million soybean acres could help ease water concerns and improve soils, he said.
Still, it will take time to achieve INRS goals.
“We have a long way to go,” Helmers noted.