Another shrink ray could be coming to make the NRCS even smaller. This comes after the department lost about a quarter of its staff in 2025. Advocates say this puts conservation goals in jeopardy.
What’s happening: The proposed 2027 budget for the USDA would cut about $700 million from NRCS technical assistance, which funds staff.
What it means: A potential cut of another 3,000 employees nationwide in FY27 (An even bigger cut than the 2025 calendar year, which was a loss of 2,800 employees).
In Iowa, that means a loss of another 44 employees.
Why it matters: NRCS is a critical partner in water quality, providing funding, technical assistance, and support to farmers who want to implement conservation. When you shrink the NRCS, there are fewer staff members to help farmers navigate programs and solve complex conservation problems.
One Big Beautiful Buzz
500 farmers got wind of the plan and decided to push back. They signed a letter urging Congress and the Trump administration to prioritize USDA staffing. The lead organizer of the letter – Invest in Our Land – says the proposed cuts jeopardize conservation programs that Congress supported via the One Big Beautiful Bill.
“It’s one thing for something to be made into law, but then it actually has to be delivered, and these are the staff that deliver the programs,” Invest in Our Land's Executive Director said.
What’s next - a sequel?
This is far from final, and we aren't at the credits yet. Now, it's up to the Senate Appropriations Committee to decide if we get a sequel ("Honey, I Blew Up the Budget") or if they will block the shrink ray entirely.
There’s no date on the calendar, though. The committee has postponed twice.
See NSAC’s breakdown of the 2025 cuts by state and by USDA agency.
Unrelated, but delightful:
Speaking of buzz, remember the bee scene in Honey I Shrunk the Kids?
2. The data on data centers 📈
The AI data-center boom has become a live political and community debate in Iowa and nationwide.
So, which is it? Economic boon or environmental threat?
While headlines might tell a certain story, the answers are never that simple. That’s why we worked with a trusted IAWA reporter, Dan Looker, to understand how data centers use water, and what it means in Iowa.
How it works: Some data centers use water for evaporative cooling. Some use other cooling methods that don’t need water.
But there's more to understand...
According to experts, water usage is likely underrepresented because a lot of water use happens offsite to produce energy. Coal, nuclear, and natural gas energy all require water.
Yes, and... Iowa uses about 60% wind energy, which doesn’t require water to produce.
Do we have enough water?
Placement matters. Some utilities draw water from sources that recharge quickly, like shallow aquifers and surface water. Others draw from aquifers that took millions of years to fill and are considered a finite resource (when it’s gone, it’s gone).
Go deeper:
What about jobs, donations, and tax incentives?
And can water recharge projects help? (spoiler: yes)
All that is covered in our reporting. It's a long read, but it really is worth it.Read more on our website.
3. The money is flowing🚰
"Farm to Faucet" directs millions to Central Iowa
"Farm to Faucet" funding signed by the governor in June is already being put to use for cover crops and streamside buffers.
What it is: "Farm to Faucet" is legislation that will drive $320 million over the next 10 years for water quality in Iowa.
Tracking the money: The funding comes from redirecting revenue from the state’s water excise tax and Iowa’s Water Quality Financing Program.
What’s included:
$52 million over 12 years to support conservation practices like cover crops and stream buffers in the Greater Des Moines watershed
$25 million for Central Iowa Water Works to upgrade nitrate removal capacity
$18 million for loans and grants for wastewater and drinking water infrastructure
$500,000 annual funding for Iowa DNR’s water monitoring network (this is separate from the University of Iowa’s network, which lost state funding in 2023)
No time to waste
IDALS is immediately putting money to work with the Greater Des Moines Watershed Program, which provides incentives to farmers to adopt conservation.
(For those who track programs, this falls under the Water Quality Initiative)
She's bold. She's beautiful. And she's bioremediation
A Des Moines husband and wife artist created a quilt that filters out nitrates while floating in water.
Why it matters: “It's in the Water" is both an outreach effort and a scientific masterpiece.
How it works:
The 18’x18’ quilt is made of repurposed plastic children’s toys.
It’s held up in the water by floating buoys at each corner.
The contraption holds algae that cleans water by consuming nitrates and phosphorus.
Up next: The quilt is open to the public at Wilson’s Orchard in Cumming until mid-September. The artists, Edward Kelley and Emily Newman, also founded the Parts Per Million Collective.
ISU receives grant to help private well users with water quality
ISU is one of only four projects awarded nationwide. The $590,000 grant will build on a previous existing rural drinking water initiative. In 2018, ISU surveyed rural residents and discovered about ¾ of surveyed households were at risk for unsafe water. Read more from ISU.
USDA announces new motto, mission, and vision statements
NRCS’s old motto, “helping people help the land” had been around since the agency’s founding after the Dust Bowl. The new motto, “keeping working lands in working hands” shifts the framing to a farmer-first approach. The new mission statement keeps a focus on conservation, but through a production lens. Read more on Morning Ag Clips
Summer Dead Zone expected to be larger than average
Low oxygen conditions are expected to cause a 7,027 square mile Dead Zone this year in the Gulf. This is below the record size, but larger than the 39-year average. The Dead Zone is where excess nutrients have caused oxygen levels too low to support fish and other life. Nutrients come from throughout the Mississippi River Basin. Read more from NOAA and the Gulf Hypoxia Task Force
EU revises carbon market rules; US is watching
The European Commission proposed an overhaul of EU’s carbon markets system that would allow industries to emit CO2 for longer, but offer more financial support to invest in clean technologies in Europe. Why should the US be watching? Many companies who pay US farmers carbon credits have European presence. Indirect effects could trickle across the pond. Read more from Reuters.
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