American Flood Coalition’s Post

7️⃣8️⃣% of Americans say they want to empower farmers to lead on solutions to flooding But what does that look like? How do we keep cropland in production, support farmers, and reduce flooding? For the first time, American Flood Coalition and our partners at Iowa State University have actually measured how multi-cropping (growing multiple crops in one growing season 🌽🌾) can reduce flooding downstream! And it measures up: multi-cropping could reduce flooding 3️⃣0️⃣% in the watershed we looked at - Cedar River - and even more in others ➡️ This is a nature-based way to reduce flooding downstream, increase profits for farmers, and improve soil and water quality. 🚜 And we’ve seen this in action in our 2 farm pilots in Iowa over the last few years But would this really make a difference in people’s lives? We went back and modeled the devastating 2016 Cedar Rapids floods, and found that multi-cropping upstream would have: 🌊 Reduced flooding in 26% of the city (400 acres!) 🏠 Prevented 500 homes and businesses from flooding