Des Moines – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today encouraged interested parties to consider attending the Iowa Water Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday, February 26th and 27th, in Ames.  The conference will focus on current topics in agriculture, biofuels, and water management. 

“Improving and protecting water quality is important to farmers and central to what we do at the Iowa Department of Agriculture,” said Northey.  “Our land and water resources are vital to the economic health of our state and this conference will promote discussion of new technologies and strategies to help protect them.”

The conference will feature discussion on a wide variety of topics, such as biofuels and water quality, wetland and drainage integrated-landscape systems, conservation, etc.

Secretary Northey will serve on a panel at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday discussing hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico.   

“It is important we address the hypoxia issue and the run-off from both rural and urban areas that contributes to it,” Northey stated.

The hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico is an area varying size where dissolved oxygen has fallen below the level necessary to support marine life.  The causes include excessive nutrients, primarily nitrogen, carried to the Gulf by the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers.

The program is sponsored by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s Division of Soil Conservation, ISU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and ISU Extension.  For additional information and registration materials go to http://www.aep.iastate.edu/water