Excess nutrients from farms in Iowa and across the Midwest are a major challenge, polluting local waterways and ultimately impacting the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico.

To address this, the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund incentivizes farmers to adopt practices that improve water quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In this episode, Adam Kiel, Managing Director of the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund, discusses how the Fund works with farmers to implement both in-field practices like cover crops and no-till, and edge-of-field solutions such as saturated buffers and bioreactors.

Fifth-generation farmer Nick Hermanson shares how he uses the Fund to support conservation on his Iowa farm, incorporating innovative practices that protect the Skunk River watershed while maintaining his farm’s profitability.

Through outcome-based payments, the Fund encourages sustainable agriculture, rewarding farmers like Nick for measurable environmental benefits. The initiative has rapidly scaled, expanding from a pilot project in Iowa to now enrolling farms across 25 states and targeting one million acres in 2024.

waterloop is a nonprofit news outlet. This episode is part of the Mississippi By Nature series supported by the Walton Family Foundation and outfitted by Patagonia.