Scientist, farmer, and future leader

February 21, 2022

Nancy Bohl Bormann named a Future Leader in Science by ASA, CSSA, and SSSA.

Nancy Bohl Bormann's farm in north central Iowa, where she practices soil and water conservation
A photo of Nancy Bohl Bormann giving her daughter a piggy back ride in a corn field
Bohl Bormann and her daughter on their family farm

Nancy Bohl Bormann has a passion for the intersection of agriculture and the environment. A PhD student in the Graduate Program in Land and Atmospheric Science, she puts her nutrient management and soil conservation knowledge into practice on her farm in northern Iowa. “As a farmer, being a good steward of the land while being profitable is of utmost importance,” says Bohl Bormann. 

This month, Bohl Bormann was recognized as a Future Leader in Science by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America (ASA, CSSA, SSSA). The award is an opportunity for graduate students to engage with policymakers and advocate for food, agriculture, and natural resources research funding. Bohl Bormann is part of a cohort of ten students from around the country who will participate in the 2022 Congressional Visits Day, in which she will receive policy, communication, and advocacy training; the career development opportunity will take place remotely next month. She’ll also be recognized at the 2022 ASA, CSSA, SSSA Meeting in Baltimore. 

Industry and advocacy

Bohl Bormann and Iowa State Representative Terry Baxter in 2020

Before she began the LAAS graduate program in January 2021, Bohl Bormann was an Environmental Services Senior Manager at The Maschhoffs, a pork production company with an emphasis on sustainability. She worked with farmers to create nutrient management plans, such as cycling swine manure back into the soil as fertilizer for crops like corn. 

Bohl Bormann has held the elected position of Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioner of Kossuth County, Iowa, for the past eight years. Through her involvement in the Conservation Districts of Iowa, she participated in Iowa Conservation Partnership Day and met with her state representatives in Des Moines. 

Her first experience in advocacy was in 2008, when she participated in the National Pork Producers Council Public Policy Leadership Institute. The year-long program is designed to develop future leaders for the US pork industry through education of the legislative and regulatory processes, and to communicate issues faced by pork producers. She traveled to Washington, DC and met with legislators and pork industry leaders. 

Empowering farmers with information

Bohl Bormann and her spouse hosted a soil health field day in 2021.

Bohl Bormann enjoys working with fellow farmers, and believes that providing them with the most current research-based information will lead to the implementation of practices that are most efficient and best for the soil and water quality. 

In the fall, Bohl Bormann and her spouse Matthew Bormann hosted a soil health field day on their farm, which was attended by about fifty local farmers and agriculture industry professionals. Using their farm as a case study, the couple shared soil conservation techniques like no till, strip-till, and vertical till. Matthew Bormann told the Kossuth County Advance in January, “To build a more resilient soil structure, where water infiltrates better, and there’s less compaction, it requires you to till less to stop destroying organic matter and let the soil do its job. I can tell you for certain, unless we have a freshly patterned tiled farm to level out, there is absolutely no way I would go back to the old ways of tillage we used to do.” 

For her PhD thesis, Bohl Bormann is working to create a nationwide manure database, a dynamic, up-to-date resource with contributions from laboratories across the country. Currently, the most common average manure nutrient values (book values) used are almost two decades old. “By giving farmers the most current information about manure nutrients, they can make the best decisions for their land and the environment.”