Farmers for Soil Health Offers Updated Payments

Cover crops are a known way to improve soil health and long-term profitability, but the potential for yield drag keeps many farmers from trying them out. Farmers for Soil Health seeks to accelerate the adoption of cover crops by offering an incentive – and this year, that incentive grew.

FSH, supported by the soybean checkoff, is a farmer-led, 20-state program with a newly updated payment structure. Farmers can now receive $35 per acre each year for up to 2,000 cover cropped acres, regardless of cover crop history. Previously, participants signed three-year contracts that started at $25 per acre and decreased each year, and the process was complicated by past cover-cropping.

“The goal of these changes was to create consistency with other programs and reduce grey area for farmers,” says Jennifer Simmelink, Kansas FSH program administrator. “It’s really opened it up for more farmers to participate.”

This program offers farmers a way to offset expenses in order to build soil health. Cover crops can improve water infiltration, reduce herbicide and pesticide use, prevent soil erosion, and reduce nutrient leaching. This is crucial in years like this one where rain seems to come all at once or not at all. Building a soil structure that can capture and hold moisture, reducing evaporation and soil erosion, creates a more resilient farm.

“We’ve been cover cropping about 15 years,” says Charles Atkinson, Great Bend farmer who represents Kansas on the United Soybean Board. “Even in an intense rotation where each field only has a cover crop on it every four years, we’ve still seen a noticeable difference in soil structure and its ability to take in water.”

In addition to financial assistance, FSH provides technical assistance to farmers who are unfamiliar with cover cropping. Participants gain access to local technical advisors who provide boots-on-the-ground guidance for successful implementation.

Enrollment is open for cover crops that will be seeded in 2026, and closes on August 31. To enroll, visit farmersforsoilhealth.com.