Cover crops nearly fell off Laurie and Jim Isley’s checklist a few years back when added costs pushed their budget to the limit on their Michigan farm. Cost-share help from the Farmers for Soil Health initiative has changed that calculation, offering technical assistance and up to $35 per acre in payments to help with seed and seeding costs. “We can absolutely be environmentally sustainable, but the bottom line is we’re not going to stay in business unless we are profitable,” Laurie Isley said.
The Farmers for Soil Health effort operates in 20 states and is designed to lower the upfront barrier to cover crops while providing on-the-ground advice. The program’s “no look back” policy accepts long-time adopters as well as new users, and contracts are annual with the option to re-enroll up to 2,000 acres per operation. State advisers help growers choose species, seeding methods — including drone options — and termination timing so producers aren’t left guessing how to make the practice work.
Isley points out that even small trial acres can matter: a 100-acre start still qualifies for the cost-share and the technical support that accompanies it. That practical, short-term support is what convinced her operation to bring cover crops back into rotation.
Cover crop support
On the revenue side, east-central Indiana farmer Matthew Chapman has leaned into specialty high-oleic soybeans, expanding from 20% to his entire soybean acreage. Premiums in his region ranged from $0.75 to $1.25 per bushel last year, and Chapman said the contracts — backed by checkoff investments and industry partners — have produced significant returns for growers. He warns growers to plan ahead for storage, harvest timing and a fall weed program when contracting high-oleic beans.
Markets for high-oleic soybeans are shifting: some of Chapman’s 2026 crop will go to dairy feed where beans are roasted, cracked and fed whole, and the United Soybean Board projects roughly 50% by 2027 of U.S. high-oleic output could be used in the dairy sector. Industrial uses are also expanding into asphalt, bioplastics and specialty hydraulic oils, creating multiple demand pathways for growers who meet quality and delivery terms.
Markets and carbon
Carbon intensity (CI) scores and renewable-fuel markets are another area where growers see opportunity, though federal modeling and market rules are still evolving. USB-funded research and university work are helping quantify practices that lower emissions; one Iowa State finding noted that earlier planting can reduce nitrous oxide emissions, which affects CI. Chapman and others stress that participation in CI and fuel markets requires solid farm data and careful record-keeping since producers are essentially selling their performance information.
Kansas grower Charles Atkinson and the others say flexibility remains essential: rotations, no-till, cover crops, occasional tillage and varied chemistry choices give farms options when weather or pests change plans. Programs like FSH, EQIP and CSP, plus state and watershed initiatives, reduce early risk and help more growers add conservation tools to their operations. Isley, Chapman and Atkinson shared these experiences in a May 7, 2026 webinar hosted by Agri-Pulse in partnership with the United Soybean Board.
Photo - assets.farmjournal.com
