Farm Bureau creates a wetlands bank

In what’s trumpeted as a “win-win” for farmers and the environment, the Farm Bureau Federation is launching what it calls a wetlands mitigation bank. The bureau is working with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to purchase and restore 70-acres of wetlands in Franklin County near Hampton.Rick Robinson, director of environmental affairs for the Iowa Farm Bureau, says farmers would be allowed to drain their farmable wetlands by offsetting that land through buying “credits” in the proposed wetlands mitigation bank. The project is the first of its kind in Iowa. Robinson says the credits could cost 15-hundred dollars each, but more research and work needs to be done.The land is currently used for farming and will be used through the next growing season. Robinson says the bureau hopes to start wetland restoration work on the acreage next fall.