The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is again offering state cost-share incentives for using cover crops.
The annual program is available to eligible first-time users as well as returning participants. It’s now open for Iowa farmers to begin enrolling their acres that will be seeded this fall.
Farmers who are planting cover crops for the first time are eligible for 30 dollars per acre. Farmers who have previously benefited from using cover crops can receive 20 dollars per acre. Cost-share funding is limited to 160 acres per participant.
Farmers transitioning acres to no-till or strip-till are eligible for ten dollars per acre. Farmers can receive three dollars per acre for utilizing a nitrogen inhibitor when applying for fall fertilizer.
Farmers can submit applications through their county soil and water conservation offices located in their county USDA Service Center. Funds will be made available beginning in July.
Last year, over 35 hundred farmers and landowners enrolled nearly 390 thousand cover crop acres in the program. The state invested more than 8.5 million dollars through the Water Quality Initiative, which leveraged nearly 23.4 million dollars in total conservation investment.
