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Truterra launches Stewardship Incentive Program

Farmers in eastern Iowa could get paid to use sustainability practices through a first-of-its-kind economic incentive program.

Spencer Herbert with Truterra, a stewardship solutions provider and subsidiary of Land O’Lakes, says they have entered into a public-private partnership with Dubuque County, the Dubuque Soil and Water Conservation District, and local ag retailer Innovative Ag Services.

“We’ll be working with growers in Dubuque County to benchmark their sustainability practices, and then offer them rewards in the form of an economic incentive to model what incorporating new practices would be like.”

He tells Brownfield the Stewardship Incentive Program will leverage Truterra’s Insights Engine platform.

“We take a look at a grower’s agronomic practices, their stewardship practices, their conservation practices, on a field-by-field and acre-by-acre basis. And we have what we call a Truterra Insights Score, which is an overall measure of that sustainability on a specific field.”

Herbert says payments to farmers hinge on improving their Truterra Insights score.

“It would be a $2.50 per-acre incentive per point increase in that score.”

He says Dubuque County officials wanted to partner in the pilot program because soil health, water quality, water quantity, and climate impacts are all critical to protecting their watersheds.