Ducks Unlimited (DU) has partnered with Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) and Farmers Business Network (FBN) to promote sustainable agricultural practices that incentivize producers in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio to implement 320,000 acres of cover crops across the three states. Over the next year, DU will work with private landowners to enroll acres into cover crop contracts. In return, landowners receive a $10 to $25/per acre incentive payment.
Cover crops are a crucial conservation tool that have only been implemented on 6% of the cultivated land in the north-central U.S. They benefit soil health, slow erosion, sequester carbon, which reduces atmospheric greenhouse gases, and provide cleaner water by filtering nutrients from run-off. Nutrient run-off has been linked to harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the Great Lakes, and the oxygen-depleted gulf hypoxia regions in the Gulf of Mexico. HABs can make drinking water unsafe for human consumption, and impossible for aquatic life to survive (hypoxia or "oxygen depletion" has the same affect).
The primary focus of this historic conservation effort is the protection of Saginaw Bay and St. Joseph River watersheds, as well as the western Lake Erie Basin. DU will be responsible for administering the cover crop program, working with producers to develop sustainable on-farm practices that fit their needs and are economically beneficial.
For more information, contact:
Colleen Gleason
Tri-State Biologist, Ducks Unlimited
734-649-1245
cgleason@ducks.org
Monica Pohlar
Regional Agronomist, Ducks Unlimited
815-760-1895
mpohlar@ducks.org
| State | Practice | Compensation | Requirements |
| INDIANA | Cover Crop | $25/acre | Must provide FSA documents and FSA subsidiary print and will be shared with NRCS/USDA. Cannot be paid for cover crop on the same acres by federally funded programs like EQIP/CSP/RCPP. Has to be new practice or expanded practice. Must have wheat, corn, or soybeans in rotation. |
| Cover Crop | $15/acre | Must provide FSA documents and FSA subsidiary print and will be shared with NRCS/USDA. Cannot be paid for cover crop on the same acres by federally funded programs like EQIP/CSP/RCPP. Acres could not have cover crop prior to 2018. Must have wheat, corn, or soybeans in rotation. | |
| Plant a cover crop | $10/acre | Plant a cover crop no later than NRCS accepted date. Previous cover crop practice allowed on field. Can be in other federally funded program. Must have wheat, corn, or soybeans in rotation. | |
| OHIO | Cover Crop | $25/acre | Must provide FSA documents and FSA subsidiary print and will be shared with NRCS/USDA. Cannot be paid for cover crop on the same acres by federally funded programs like EQIP/CSP/RCPP. Has to be new practice or expanded practice. Must have wheat, corn, or soybeans in rotation. |
| Cover Crop | $15/acre | Must provide FSA documents and FSA subsidiary print and will be shared with NRCS/USDA. Cannot be paid for cover crop on the same acres by federally funded programs like EQIP/CSP/RCPP. Acres could not have cover crop prior to 2018. Must have wheat, corn, or soybeans in rotation. | |
| MICHIGAN | No available acres |
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| State | Practice | Compensation | Requirements |
| IN/OH/MI | No-Till or Strip Till | $2/acre | Only applicable on wheat fields planted in 2022. Can be in other federally funded programs. |
| Living Root | $3/acre | Only applicable on wheat fields planted in 2022. Not stackable with cover crop payments above. Have a living root established on field year round. (Double cropped soybeans after wheat, cover crop that is harvested) | |
| Nitrogen Balance | $10/acre | Only applicable on wheat fields planted in 2022. Stackable with all payments above. Nitrogen levels must fall within N-Defense safe zone. Scan QR code for more info. |
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