Description: This panel discussion features members from the Northwest Iowa Ag Stewardship Alliance (NIASA), SCABS, the Southfork Watershed Alliance, and the Lake Panorama Rural Improvement Zone (RIZ) who will talk about farmer involvement to address water quality concerns throughout the state of Iowa.

Authors: Mridula Madhukumar Menon, Melissa Miller, Paul Kassel, Ethan Thies, Jason Opheim

Author Bios: Melissa Miller and her family live and farm in the South Fork of the Iowa River watershed in Hardin County, where she serves as president of the Southfork Watershed Alliance. Since 2012, she has worked in research at the intersection of agriculture and the environment for Iowa State University, currently as project director for the Iowa Nitrogen Initiative.

Paul Kassel was raised on a grain and livestock farm in Palo Alto County Iowa.  He has a Bachelors and Masters degree in Agronomy from Iowa State University (ISU) and served as an ISU Extension and Outreach Field Agronomist in northwest Iowa for 40 years.  Kassel also has a corn and soybean farming operation near Spencer.  

Ethan Thies is an Environmental Specialist Senior with the Iowa DNR Water Quality Improvement Section. In May he began representing Central Iowa as a Basin Coordinator. Until May Ethan worked as a Conservation Field Specialist with ISU Extension & Outreach since 2024. Prior to working with ISU Extension, Ethan worked as a Watershed Coordinator with the Water Quality Improvement Section for five years in the Black Hawk Lake and North Raccoon River watersheds.

Jason Opheim farms near Postville, IA and is well versed in regenerative agriculture practices and water resource concerns. He was pivotal in the formation of SCABS, a group that serves as a large farmer-led network for discussing regenerative agriculture practices.

Mridula (Malu) Menon is an agriculture project manager and conservation agronomist for The Nature Conservancy in Iowa and the coordinator of NIASA. She received her Master’s in Agroecology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison 2024 and is working towards becoming a Certified Crop Advisor (CCA).