CTIC's 12th annual Conservation In Action Tour will include a packed program of farm visits, facility tours, informative presentations and an up-close look at real-world conservation practices.

The Conservation at the Leading Edge tour will begin with a keynote speaker and social reception at the beautiful World Food Prize Hall of Laureates in downtown Des Moines. The next day will feature 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.