Like other farmers in his corner of Iowa, Dick Sloan made his living by growing corn and soybeans. But Sloan’s farm doesn’t look quite the same as his neighbors’ operations. He uses contours that flow with the land rather than straight lines. He has restored prairies along his waterways. His soil is never bare.

“I’ve also come at things with a conservation approach,” Sloan, now retired, said. “I grew up with that, watching how actions on the land impacts things. You learn from that, learn to read the land.”

Sloan had an opportunity to move back home and farm with his father after college, and he took it. “I didn’t want to have some kind of conventional job, and it allowed me to pursue my interests in biology, animal behavior, and how to use science to improve practices,” Sloan said..

To help him accomplish his goals — minimizing impact, retaining soils, reducing runoff, increasing diversity – Sloan began participating in local conservation programs. “This program was performance-based, meaning if you met targets for reducing soil loss, as an example, you earn incentivized payments to meet performance goals.”

That experience and knowledge helped Sloan work with his local US Department of Agriculture Natural Resource and Conservation Service (NRCS) office to enroll in the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). CSP makes annual payments to farmers changing or expanding practices that meet the objectives of NRCS-approved conservation plans. Farmers are awarded program contracts based on the benefits to cleaner water and air, healthier soil, and better wildlife habitat.

“I just went down the checklist with my NRCS specialists and just started checking off the list,” Sloan said. “I’m interested in multi-species cover crops, overwintering covers, and introducing a resource-conserving crop into my rotation. CSP was a good match for me. It helped me reach my conservation objectives.”

For farmers wanting to integrate practices like Sloan, limited funding can be a barrier to participation. But interested farmers should take note: CSP and other USDA conservation programs have increased budgets for the next few years due to the federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). IRA funding will allow more farmers to participate in CSP, as well as other programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).

Sloan used another federal program, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), to pursue his interest in planting Prairie Strips along waterways and contours. Prairie strips are sections of native perennial vegetation such as warm season grass, wildflowers and fruit-producing shrubs.

“That’s one of the best decisions I’ve made as a farmer,” Sloan said. “To see those pheasants come out of the prairie. There’s some quail, whitetail deer, and now we have turkey. There’s so much life in those Prairie Strips.”

Ten-years of research by Iowa State University has shown that “integrating small amounts of prairie into strategic locations within corn and soybean fields — in the form of in-field contour buffer strips and edge-of-field filter strips – can yield disproportionate benefits for soil, water, and biodiversity.”

Sloan said that without federal programs, he would have a hard time reaching his high conservation standards. “Conservation payments make up a significant portion of my annual income, nearly as much as I receive in commodity payments,” Sloan said.

“I know how farmers think,” Sloan said. “How many loads of corn could I be getting out of that area where I put the contour or where I put that prairie? But then I think about the wildlife, and with the help of these programs, I think it’s worth it.”

Farmers interested in integrating conservation practices on land can contact their local NRCS office for more information.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was an incentive package passed by the 117th U.S. Congress designed to reduce inflation, reduce drug prices, and lower climate emissions. The IRA was signed into law in August 2022 by President Joe Biden. The legislation included a $20 billion boost in funding and availability of USDA conservation programs for farmers and private landowners, including $8.45 billion for EQIP.