If you live and farm along the James River Valley, you know what ground scarring looks like. Running about 710 miles and draining more than 20,000 square miles of area in North Dakota and South Dakota, the James River drops about 5 inches per 1 mile on its way to dumping into the Missouri River.

That’s not much, and the low gradient leads to a lot of backwashing into the river, low land flooding, compaction and saline issues for farmers who operate in the river’s footprint.

Ryan Eichler ranches near Lake Preston, S.D., in southern Kingsbury County, and he knows the James River well. “In this area, farmers have so much ground scarring and saline-impacted areas that nothing grew,” he explained at a recent online Forage Field Day sponsored jointly by the Nebraska Extension and South Dakota State University Extension. “Producers are constantly asking: ‘How could we make those acres more productive? We put the same level of inputs on those acres, but nothing grew.’”

Finding solutions

Eichler also serves as director of producer programs for a farm sustainability platform, AgSpire, which works with producers such as those in the James River Valley to implement regenerative and conservation-based practices.

“One of our founders studied the saline-impacted areas, looking for practical and natural solutions to heal the ground. He designed a mixture to plant to field borders that included saline-tolerant species,” Eichler said. “He planted saline-tolerant alfalfa, clovers and grasses and, in 12 months, the landscape changed, even after one growing season.

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“Looking at what the ground produced in the past, he made only a small change, but it made the ground more productive and increased the amount of forage that was produced by those acres, and now had opportunities to hay the ground.”

That’s what AgSpire does. “It offers funding opportunities for farms and ranches to increase resiliency, grazing opportunities and forage production, for instance,” Eichler said. “AgSpire designs and implements voluntary, incentive-based programs that are producer focused. This can improve resilience, efficiency and profitability, using expert technical assistance on the ground.”

As of the end of 2023, the company estimates on its website that it has supported projects on 1.4 million acres in 22 states.

Much of AgSpire’s work was with producers on conservation practices, such as establishing a first cover crop or perennial grass pasture, Eichler said. That early focus was on the integration of livestock into these acres, with the bulk of the work in cattle and livestock grazing. Now, practices have expanded into cover cropping, crop rotations, no till and reduced till, along with rotational grazing management.

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Shifting system

AgSpire’s approach also represents a shift in how sustainability premiums are shared with producers. In the past, premiums have been based on how animals were raised or acres where a crop was grown, so there was increased value because of label premiums to consumers such as organic, grassfed or nongenetically modified organisms, for instance.

Today, sustainability is more centered on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and rewards for farmers for GHG abatements, removal, reduction and avoidance, Eichler said.

“Most food and ag companies have set public GHG 2030 and 2050 reduction goals. That’s great news for farmers and ranchers who are putting carbon back in the soil and sequestering it where it belongs,” Eichler said. “There may be production premiums for these practices, but more likely, income will come from a payment based on outcome, using a mass balance approach.”

Under that system, private companies source enrolled and verified commodities from “geographic supply sheds,” Eichler said. “Throughout all these companies, most of the privately funded sources have a ‘supply shed’ with a known quantity of commodity that is grown that they source from, with each one assigned a specific geography.”

But private incentive programs are only the beginning, he said. Conservation spending through the farm bill is expected to increase $60 billion between now and 2033 in the 10-year outlay. In addition, the Inflation Reduction Act added $19.5 billion for conservation programs, and those funds can be spent past 2026 but before fiscal 2031.

“Conservation practices will be ramped up considerably in the next four years,” Eichler said. “This is a tremendous opportunity for producers to use these funds for conservation work.”

Pulling it together

Since 2022, the Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities, through the USDA, dedicated $2.8 billion over 70 selected projects in the first pool, Eichler said. Some of the programs AgSpire offers receive funding through these grants.

AgSpire’s role with producers is to pull it all together in a whole farm system, to help farms and ranches maximize the influence of the practices, Eichler said. “We want to be a trusted adviser to them to improve efficiency and help them meet their goals,” he said. They also can help producers work through existing Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service codes to understand cost share and incentives through these programs.

There are currently five or more programs available through AgSpire for enrollment, with each containing specific guidelines, practices, verification systems and incentive payments, but the company is expanding into new pilot projects in different geographies outside the Midwest as well.

You can learn more at thesustainagnetwork.com.