The National Corn Growers Association looks forward to seeing the next steps that will be taken as a part of the Farmers for Soil Health. NCGA is a founding member of FSH, which was awarded the $95 million grant from the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program that makes this work possible.
“This grant provides technical and financial resources to mitigate the risk farmers increasingly face due to severe climate events,” said NCGA President Tom Haag, a farmer from Eden Valley, Minn. “It is exciting to see that this effort to promote cover crops will reach acreage producing over 85 percent of the nation’s corn and soybeans.”
The program, which will help double acreage nationally by 2030, will offer farmers three years of declining cost share payments to help them transition to cover crops. FSH will work with data insights and publishing company DTN to develop a digital platform that will use satellite imagery, allowing farmers to receive an “eco-score” for corn and soybeans produced with cover crops and conservation tillage. This platform will facilitate the marketing of crops to parties interested in securing a documented source of sustainably produced corn and soybeans.
FSH is a collaborative effort of the American Soybean Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Pork Board and the United Soybean Board with the mission to advance conservation practices to improve soil health across the U.S. The grant will fund cost share and technical assistance for cover crops to 8,000-10,000 farmers on 1.44 million acres of corn and soybeans.
To execute this grant, FSH will receive technical assistance from the National Association of Conservation Districts, The Sustainability Consortium, Soil Health Institute, University of Missouri Center for Regenerative Agriculture, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, DTN, National Center for Appropriate Technology, and Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural America.
For more information, contact FSH Executive Director Dr. Ben West at bwest572@gmail.com or visit Farmers for Soil Health.
