When Martha McFarland decided to move back home to the Northeast Iowa driftless region farm where she grew up, her friends in Colorado where she had been working as a teacher were skeptical.

“When they heard I was moving back to Iowa to farm, they just kept asking ‘why, why would you want to move away from here? From Colorado?’” McFarland said. “But I told them how much I love the landscape around home. It’s this beautiful mix of crop ground, woods with shagbark hickory and oak trees, some of it is oak savanna, pastures and grazing animals. I love it.”

McFarland joined her family’s Hawkeye Buffalo and Cattle Ranch near Fredericksburg more than a decade ago. After three years of co-managing the family farm with her father, McFarland took over the operation. She now manages bison and beef cattle grazing on woods and pasture, raises oats and hay, and works with a tenant who rents their cropland for corn and soybeans.

I always dreamed of returning to the farm after I had my time traveling and working somewhere else,” McFarland said. “But I never dreamed of being the one of the siblings who took over. It was just the right timing for me for a lot of personal and family reasons.

McFarland, who wasn’t formerly trained in agriculture during her education, said that she had a lot to learn when she moved home. “I was an English major, so I started reading up on grazing research, connecting with other farmers who wanted to use conservation practices, went to a lot of conferences. It doesn’t take very long before you understand that everyone points to rotational grazing on diverse pastures as a good place to start,” McFarland said.

To help accomplish her goal of building fence, expanding permanent pastures, and interplanting more diverse grasses and forbs, McFarland turned to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resource and Conservation Service (NRCS)’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). EQIP 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.

“For me, there wasn’t just an environment perspective, I was also working with NRCS to help make my small business viable,” McFarland said. “I was gonna have to invest in infrastructure on my farm, and NRCS helped me to have the cash flow to make changes that have had positive impacts.

McFarland used the EQIP funding to subdivide pastures, install fence, plant more diverse pastures, build a watering system to better direct grazing animals, and more. “I’ve been happiest about how my farm has stood up to the deep drought we’ve been going through, as well as during flash floods. My pastures and woods hold their soil, and that makes me a better neighbor to the other farmers in my community,” McFarland said.

Farmers interested in integrating conservation practices like McFarland on their 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.