Buena Vista University Opens Sustainable Agriculture Center with Boettcher Family

Buena Vista University has partnered with the Boettcher family to create the Boettcher Raccoon River Sustainable Agriculture Center at the family’s 160-acre farm roughly 10 miles from the Storm Lake campus. The university announced the initiative on Jan. 5, 2026, saying the site will serve as a platform for experiential learning, applied research and community engagement in sustainable and regenerative agriculture.

“This partnership creates an incredible outdoor laboratory for hands-on learning,” said Buena Vista University President Brian Lenzmeier during a fall 2025 event marking the collaboration. Programming at the center will start “as soon as spring weather permits,” said Buena Vista University Senior Director of Marketing and Communications Megan Ogren in an email. The family celebrated the new partnership with university faculty and staff on campus last fall.

The Boettcher farm is enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, the federal Farm Service Agency program that promotes planting vegetative cover over environmentally sensitive land. That enrollment, combined with the family’s long-term stewardship, frames the center’s focus on soil health, water quality and conservation as practical priorities for student training. “This farm has been in our family for over 150 years, and I have worked to honor the land and my ancestors through sustainable care of the soil and river,” said farm owner Iris Boettcher. She added that the collaboration “provides an experimental lab for faculty and students to design innovative, sustainable, and regenerative agricultural practices.”

The immediate benefits to students include field-based coursework and research projects that can build skills in conservation practices, monitoring soil and stream conditions, and testing crop or cover-cropping techniques. For the local economy, hands-on training can strengthen the pipeline of workers and agribusiness leaders familiar with conservation-minded practices, potentially helping area farms adapt to evolving market and regulatory pressures around nutrient management and water quality.

Lenzmeier framed the center as tied to regional identity and workforce development: the farm’s work “reflects the history, values, and future of agriculture in Northwest Iowa,” and he hopes the partnership and center inspire future “agricultural leaders and environmental stewards.” Over the longer term, the center could position Buena Vista University to pursue research grants, collaborate with extension services and offer demonstration projects that benefit neighboring landowners and the Raccoon River watershed.

For Buena Vista County residents, the new center links education to place-based conservation outcomes. As programming ramps up this spring, students and local stakeholders will have a nearby site to test practices that aim to improve soil resilience and river health while contributing to the region’s agricultural economy.