Interest in regenerative agriculture may be on the rise, but it’s no secret that breaking out of the conventional model involves risk.

“Every farmer I’ve talked to wants to do better for their land, community and families,” says Emily Heaton, University of Illinois crop sciences professor. “They just don’t have a lot of opportunity space to try new practices with today’s commodity marketplace and large operating loans.”

Jonathan Coppess, University of Illinois ag policy professor, agrees, asserting that farm policy, payments and insurance largely only support corn and soybean production.

“If you listen to policy debates in D.C., you’d think farmers only farm one crop — and that’s not reality,” Coppess says, explaining the need for farmers to engage with legislators and commodity associations to see change in Washington. “Narrow policies have real implications for on-farm management decisions and crop rotations.”

Building the financial model

To help improve financial barriers for nonconventional farmers, Compeer Financial developed the Emerging Markets Program.

“For this particular segment of agriculture, the collateral might be different, the cash-flow patterns are different, and frankly, the borrowers are different,” says Paul Dietmann, Compeer Financial senior focused lending specialist for the Emerging Markets team.

Related:After the impact: A regenerative revolution

The centerpiece of the program is a microloan up to $75,000, plus business planning, flexible interest rates and a grant to attend conferences for both networking and education opportunities.

Dietmann says the Emerging Markets program has experienced exponential growth across his Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota territory. He credits this to both COVID-19-era interest in direct-to-consumer products, and land prices forcing farm families to adopt alternative income streams on existing acreage.

“Consumers are driving some changes through demand,” Dietmann says. “It’s a really exciting time in agriculture as community-oriented and entrepreneurial young people enter the ag landscape.”

Heaton, Coppess and Dietmann all advise that getting started slowly and carefully with the help of trusted peers is the biggest key to success when breaking into regenerative or specialty markets.

“One thing I’m noticing is we’re finally starting to come out of the social legacy of the ’80s farm crisis,” Heaton says. “Younger farmers tend to talk to each other more, share information and are less threatened by each other.”

SOIL MAXIMIZER: “Work with someone who truly understands your goals and resource concerns for the highest probability of success and reduction of potential hurt if things don’t work out,” says Luke Jones, speaking about what helped him make the regenerative switch. “There are not failures, only learning opportunities.”

Create a community

And that’s exactly why Will Glazik, Paxton, Ill., organic farmer, started the Idea Farm Network.

“When you get into fringe farming techniques, it’s hard to find peers,” Glazik says. “This way, you can connect with farmers in your same boat.”

The Idea Farm Network is a community for nonconventional farmers to share ideas, questions and concerns. The group interacts via email or in-person events about topics like crops, livestock, vegetable production, perennials, fertilizers, markets and machinery. To join, visit the Google Group site and click “Ask to join group.”

Glazik’s family has been in the organic space for over a decade, raising livestock, corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, cover crops, rye, black beans, milo, sunflowers, pumpkins and red clover. For Glazik’s parents’ generation, farming differently was seen as taboo.

“For the first 10 years, my parents didn’t tell anyone they were organic,” Glazik says. “Luckily, we lived on a dead-end road surrounded by trees so no one could see how we farmed.”

Fortunately for the Glaziks and others like them, times and opinions have changed. The Idea Farm Network has since grown to over 1,500 members across the state.

Similarly, Practical Farmers of Iowa is an organization of diverse and sustainable farmers who aim to build resilient farms and communities. PFI boasts over 5,000 members across Iowa and surrounding states, through farmer-led information sharing in crops, livestock, horticulture, small grains, energy and local foods.