Online registrationis open for CTIC's 12th annual Conservation In Action Tour, which will include a packed program of farm visits, facility tours, informative presentations and an up-close look at real-world conservation practices in central Iowa on August 20-21. The Conservation at the Leading Edge tour will begin the afternoon of Tuesday, August 20, with a keynote speaker and social reception at the beautiful World Food Prize Hall of Laureates in downtown Des Moines.  

Wednesday, August 21, will be a full day of touring, including stops at:

• Couser Cattle Company in Nevada. The Cousers are pioneers in corn stover harvest and utilization, manure management and precision application of inputs. They will also describe their 220-acre AGvocacy Learning Farm project.
• New Century FS Melbourne Service Center. Facility manager Dan Hart and his team will open their state-of-the-art plant for a look at commercial-scale management of fertilizer, seed treatments and other inputs. The FS team will also provide an exploration of the role of Certified Crop Advisors in implementing conservation and production goals.
• LICA Demonstration Farm, Melbourne. The tour will visit the 80-acre home of a wide range of constructed conservation systems for an up-close look at many in-field and edge-of-field practices that protect water quality and build healthy soils.
• Tesdell Century Farm, Slater. This fifth-generation farm is home to an installation of prairie strips, which Lee Tesdell and Iowa State University researchers use to study and demonstrate the power of plant diversity in building soils and habitat on the farm.

The tour also includes lunch at New Century FS and dinner and a keynote speaker at Jester Park Lodge in Granger, Iowa.

Online registration for the tour is quick and easy at www.ctic.org/cia_tour/registration. The $175 registration fee includes transportation, stops and all meals. Visitors may also register by calling CTIC at (765) 494-9555. 

A limited number of rooms are being held in a Conservation in Action Tour reservation block at the Embassy Suites Downtown in Des Moines at the special rate of $129 per night for August 20 and 21. The registration web page includes a link for online booking of rooms at the discount rate.

Sponsors of the 2019 Conservation in Action Tour include: 

• Social Event sponsor John Deere
• Diamond sponsors: The Mosaic Company, Bayer CropScience and Syngenta          
• Platinum sponsor: The Fertilizer Institute
• Gold sponsor: Nutrien
• Silver sponsors: Certified Crop Advisors, Field to Market, JR Simplot and The Nature Conservancy
• Copper sponsor: Sand County Foundation

Additional sponsorship opportunities are available. Visit the CTIC website's tour sponsorship page, or contact Crystal Hatfield at (765) 494-9555 for more information.