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Fillmore and Root River Soil and Water Conservation Districts have partnered to enroll in a pilot program aimed to increase the adoption of Climate Smart Agricultural Practices. The Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture is a USDA program with a mission to enhance the adoption of agriculture practices that both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase soil health. Four states were selected to participate in the program – Minnesota, Virgina, Arkansas and North Dakota. In Minnesota, eight counties applied to participate in the program, and selected counties include the Fillmore and Houston County Partnership.
Local producers can choose to enroll in a practice such as cover crops, no-till, nutrient management, and conservation crop rotation, to list a few. Producers are compensated $100-$125 per acre to implement these practices into their production.
The eight counties of Minnesota enrolled 722 farm numbers into the program’s applicant lottery system in 2024, with 544 farms being selected. Of these applicants, 272, or 50%, were producers from Fillmore and Houston Counties.
Selected Fillmore and Houston producers enrolled 26,415 acres of Climate Smart practices, including:
- 12,825 acres of cover crops;
- 10,367 acres of nutrient management plans;
- 682 acres of reduced till;
- 2,262 acres of no-till/strip till;
- 258 acres of conservation crop rotation;
- 10 acres of prescribed grazing; and,
- 10 acres of pasture and hay planting.
The enrolled practice acres totaled $2,834,419 in cost share payments to local producers. Practices are estimated to reduce nitrogen by a total of 163,159 pounds annually in both counties using MN Pollution Control Agency Nutrient Reduction Calculators*.
Fillmore and Root River SWCD’s thank local producers for applying to implement these voluntary practices. Interested individuals can reach out to either Fillmore or Root River SWCD for more details on the program, as well as other conservation programs each district has to offer. Local producers will have the opportunity to sign up for another round of the program starting January 2, 2025; be sure to get to your local office by February 11, 2025. A final sign-up period will also occur in the spring/summer of 2025. Interested individuals can inquire at the Fillmore 507-887-0240 or Root River 507-724-5261, ext. 3 SWCD offices.
*Note, pollutant load estimates were created using the Root River MNPCA Pollutant Load Calculator for ease of assessment. Actual practice locations may reside in neighboring watersheds adjacent to the Root River.
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