Enrollment open for INfield Advantage: Opportunity to test cover crop benefits

INDIANAPOLIS — Enrollment for the INfield Advantage program is open until Aug. 1. The program offers Indiana farmers resources and tools to try cover crops on their farms and evaluate the results before deciding to adopt the practice.

With emerging carbon market opportunities, INfield Advantage provides farmers a chance to prepare their farms for participation in these new markets.

“I understand that making changes to your farm can be risky and expensive,” said Jim Douglas, a farmer from Flat Rock and Indiana Soybean Alliance board chair.

“So, INfield Advantage will equip farmers with tools and resources to test cover crops and collect data from those fields. INfield Advantage offers a unique opportunity for farmers in Indiana to manage the economics of adopting new conservation practices on their farm that can improve both their environmental footprint and their bottom line.”

Indiana Soybean Alliance presents the program in partnership with the Indiana Corn Marketing Council, Indiana State Department of Agriculture and Truterra LLC.

Truterra is a digital platform that helps farmers, ag retailers and food companies to target and measure sustainability progress and return-on-investment in real time, field-by-field.

In the program, the tool will be used to benchmark farmers’ current practices and track progress and improvement over time in the cover crop split-field trial.

Twenty acres of cover crop seed will be provided by Beck’s Hybrids, and farmers may be eligible to receive a $200 sign-up incentive upon enrollment.

“Soil health and water quality initiatives are increasingly important to the long-term resilience of agriculture and environmental quality,” said Bruce Kettler, director of ISDA.

“Thanks to our many partners, we are excited to again offer a cover crop trial that gives farmers the means to collect on-farm data, reduce risk of trying new management and provide the means to make sound agronomic choices while improving the environment.”

To learn more about the program, visit infieldadvantage.org or email covercrops@isda.in.gov.