Des Moines Register: Iowa farmers turned to federal conservation programs to help cope with recent large natural disasters, helping drive spending to a record $83 million last fiscal year, the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Iowa said Wednesday. The federal programs will help Iowa farmers and landowners adopt conservation practices across 323,000 acres, including planting cover crops, terracing fields and creating grassy waterways, according to the NRCS, which is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The report covers spending in fiscal year 2021, which ended Sept. 30.