Iowa farmer Jim O’Connell remembers a long-ago winter drive as pivotal in his outlook on farming.
“The ditches were full of soil; they were black,” he says. “At that point, I decided that we needed to do more.”
No-till practices were already in place on O’Connell’s operation, but he wasn’t using many cover crops.
Spring came, and the veteran soybean grower planted some cover crops. He got a good stand but terminated it right away. In the fall, he seeded covers on a 20-acre cornfield and another 20 acres planned for soybeans.
“It worked out good the next spring,” O’Connell says. “We terminated it and then planted. I felt like we were helping [to keep the soil in place]. From that time on, I decided we were going to do everything we could to make that happen.”
Cleaning and growing
O’Connell grew up on the family farm outside Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Now, with more than three decades of experience under his belt, he grows food-grade waxy corn, soybeans and hay, and manages a small cow herd.
“I believe cover crops are huge in sustainable agriculture,” he explains. “We plant 100% of our crop acres into green cover crops. Our family has seen countless benefits from implementing covers and the planting green approach.”
The Midwest farmer has used no-till practices in soybeans since 1988 and strip-tilled corn since 2000. He also has planted all acres green since 2019, adding a wetland in 2022 and a bioreactor and saturated buffer in 2023.
“Changing weather has been an ongoing challenge in our area throughout the past few years,” O’Connell says. “Iowa has experienced extreme droughts, floods and multiple extreme weather events within the last five years.”
An August 2020 derecho storm leveled crops across the Hawkeye state, leaving his corn crop a total loss.
In addition to the plethora of weather obstacles, O’Connell finds himself near a large urban community — bringing additional challenges and opportunities to the farm.
“We work with the City of Cedar Rapids to ensure water passing through our farm is clean and high quality for those who might be using it downstream,” he explains.
Waterways are present in all fields and grass borders around the creeks on his land. Those, in combination with the wetland, bioreactor and saturated buffer, help the soybean grower keep a close eye on water quality.
“Water samples show they are working great and have prevented nitrates from leaching into creeks and streams,” he says. “While my nitrate levels are not very high due to my in-field practices, these structures are an added way to prevent nitrates from getting into our water.”
O’Connell lives in the Cedar River Watershed and all the streams in the area empty above the wells for Cedar Rapids.
“I implement these practices on our family’s farm because we all want clean water,” he says. “I greatly reduced nutrient runoff on my farm by implementing cover crops on all acres. Adding edge-of-field conservation practices has also helped reduce nutrient loss.”
Learning by doing
O’Connell doesn’t consider himself an advocacy guru. Yet, his lead-by-example approach naturally showcases the stewardship practices he implements on his farm.
The veteran grower knows the best way to get others to notice is simply being a committed caretaker. Farmers are often more apt to adopt new practices and management styles if they can see their success first-hand.
And that’s how O’Connell created his conservation legacy.
Whether he’s cooperating with a neighbor on a larger planter that would save valuable time in the field or demoing a harvest seeder that could plant cover crops while harvesting, he works to be as efficient, profitable and conservation-minded as possible, all at the same time.
“We live on a main road coming [west] out of Cedar Rapids, so a lot of people drive by,” he says. “I’ll hear people say, ‘Those farms out west of town are green. It looks like a lawn out there.’”
Realizing he is making an impact on others in his community, he is hopeful his efforts will touch farmers and consumers.
Because the Iowa farmer tends to fields in the Cedar River Watershed, he’s pushing himself and others to help clean up the water.
“That’s when we put the wetland in,” he explains. “The wetland is right at the start of a creek that feeds a larger creek and dumps right in front of several wells that pump drinking water to Cedar Rapids.”
According to O’Connell, working with the city on the project is good for everyone.
“You must have people working together,” he says. “If we can work together, I think we can get something done.”
Anticipating more rules and regulations are on the horizon for farmers, especially near urban areas, he says it’s much easier for farmers to be proactive with stewardship practices before being told what management practices to use.
“If we could start getting people to implement [conservation] practices now, before any of that, we aren’t going to have to worry about it,” O’Connell says of future regulations.
Committed to conservation
When Jim O’Connell talks about conservation and how stewardship practices can make a difference in soil preservation and water quality, he steps on what he calls his soapbox.
Simply put, he cares deeply about conservation, making a difference and leaving the land in better shape than before. And he’ll tell you that being committed to conservation has made a difference in the profitability of his operation.
“Conservation practices have helped lower our input costs,” O’Connell says. “With that, we don’t have to use as many chemicals. The cover crop is building soil and helping with infiltration, helping with erosion. Everything we’re doing with conservation is helping lower our bottom line.”
As growers continue to seek ways to step up production and add profitability to their operations, he knows the results he’s seen through his stewardship practices will inspire him to press on.
Through affirmative direction in city board rooms, on-farm tours, commodity and agribusiness groups and even on the field as a high school football coach, his influence on others speaks volumes of his commitment to conservation.
Iowa Soybean Association Conservation Agronomist Evan Brehm said of O’Connell in his ASA Conservation Legacy Award recommendation letter, “As a farmer and high school football coach, Jim will often say, ‘Don’t make excuses. You can make anything work if you want to.’”
His mission to touch other people’s lives through land stewardship is one he comes by honestly. His father was one of the first in their area to adopt no-till, and though he passed away two decades ago, O’Connell strives to carry on his innovative legacy.
“The one thing he always said to me was, ‘You can tell the success of someone by how many people they’ve affected in a positive way,’” he says of his late father.
No doubt, he believes in leaving his farm in better shape than when he started. His dad instilled in him that if something was borrowed from someone, to return it in better shape than when it was received.
“We look at the farm the same way,” O’Connell concludes. “Our farm is a valuable gift that we hope to pass on for generations. We need to work on protecting that.”
