Soil and Water Outcomes Fund

Unique to the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund is its outcomes-based approach, 50% upfront payment, and farmer-friendly mission.

Clover in corn stubble
Photo: Gil Gullickson

Unique to the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund (SWOF) is its outcomes-based approach, 50% upfront payment, and farmer-friendly mission. The Soil and Water Outcomes Fund is managed by AgOutcomes, a subsidiary of the Iowa Soybean Association.

About the program:

  • Farmers receive 50% upon signing a contract and 50% after verification
  • Contracts set from date of signing to June 1 of the following year
  • Cover crops, reduction of tillage, extended crop rotations, or fertilizer management
  • There are 13 states eligible: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Program Differentiators

SWOF was founded to deliver support and resources to farmers adopting new conservation practices. The program addresses common challenges including implementation costs, upfront payments, hands-on technical support, and an easy, efficient contracting process.

Also, SWOF is based upon the environmental outcomes produced (hence the name) instead of the practices implemented. It provides a team of agronomic experts for consultations, monitoring, and verification, plus soil and water sampling at no cost to the farmer to help secure those outcomes.

"The benefit of our program is if a farmer just wants to do one thing that generates a little bit of environmental benefit and a little bit of payment, that's their choice and they can do that. If someone wants to go all in and do multiple things, that's their choice as well and they're going to be compensated more," says Adam Kiel, managing director of SWOF.

Carbon Farmer

"This program helps offset the costs of implementing new conservation practices," says Jordan Albert from Brandon, Iowa, who grows corn, soybeans, and rye cover crops grazed by his cattle. "And I suggest that farmers don't just try [conservation] for one year. It takes a multiyear commitment to see soil health benefits. Rome wasn't built in a day. Soil health can't be built in one day either."

By the Numbers

Over the past two years, the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund enrolled more than 240,000 acres of land. In 2022, the average payment to farmers for outcomes generated by conservation practices was $34 per acre.

Was this page helpful?

Related Articles