SWOF in Action: A Young Farmer's Growing Success with Regenerative Practices
Farming requires continuous learning and experimenting to drive additional value. As we celebrate National Farmer’s Day, we’d like to introduce Riley Schnell, a young Iowa farmer whose adoption of regenerative cropping practices has brought increased value to his family’s farming operation. Riley just enrolled for the third consecutive year with the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund® (SWOF). His journey serves as a great example for fellow farmers of how regenerative practices can boost both the bottom line and environmental sustainability.
Riley recently took over managing his family’s farm in central Iowa from his grandfather, Rolland Schnell, a past president of the Iowa Soybean Board of Directors. The farm has been in their family for generations and at the time, was utilizing no-till on about 60% of their acres. In 2021, Riley and his grandpa enrolled their acres with SWOF to implement cover crops. Riley has now reduced the tillage on the remainder of the farm and is also in his third year of utilizing a corn, rye, bean relay cropping rotation. This produced another revenue stream for his farm—a budding cover crop seed business. Riley credits several key factors in his success:
Riley and Rolland Schnell
“I’ve wanted to be a farmer all my life. My grandfather has been very involved with the Iowa Soybean Association and has always been supportive of conservation efforts. In college I started thinking about some of these things and wanted to give some of them a try. My grandfather was encouraging and so we tried the relay cropping on just 3 acres the first year. The next year we did 10 acres. For our third year, we’ve really expanded thanks to the financial help from SWOF. Now we have everything enrolled with you.”
So much of farming is about calculating risk. Riley said his grandfather’s backing and the financial help of SWOF helped give him the confidence to take the leap with these new practices.
“I think my grandpa was trying to encourage me as a young farmer, but SWOF definitely played into that confidence as well. When you’re looking at your balance sheet, that extra funding helps a lot. Plus, you guys are just so easy to work with.
For me, I’m trying to figure out how I can better utilize my acres to make more without really having to find any new landlords. How can I be more efficient? We’ve utilized planes for years, but now we’ve invested in some better equipment by using drones. I’ve also got a drill now. So, the added funding and support from SWOF has really helped in making these changes. But really, it’s much easier to make that investment when you’re doing this on 70 acres instead of 10. That cost is spread out and the timing of how I do things is much more streamlined. It makes it much easier.”
As he takes the helm this year, Riley said ensuring the legacy and resiliency of his family farm is also at the forefront of his decisions.
“This is very important for me. My grandfather is passing this farm on to me. We started farming together 50/50 two years ago as I prepared to take over. This next year will be my first time running things completely on my own. Building the resilience of this farm and improving my soil health—these are all very important to me. And SWOF is helping me with that.”
With many regenerative agriculture incentive programs to choose from, we asked Riley why he chose to partner with SWOF.
“You guys have some of the best rates I’ve seen. I tell others that you’re the best bang for the buck, but also just how easy it is to integrate your program into my own operations. I didn’t have to buy any seed from you. The fact that I could enroll so few acres at first to get my feet wet—well, everyone on your team was just so supportive of that. I also don’t have to sign a big ten-year contract commitment. The year-to-year depending on how things go is so nice! A lot can happen from one year to the next in farming. Being able to make those decisions on what’s best for my operations each year like that is critical.”
These innovative endeavors are improving the overall profitability of his operation while also helping the environment. Because of his stewardship practices, Riley has generated 838 metric tons of greenhouse gas reductions and removals this year from the atmosphere. He has also prevented 16,555 lbs. of Nitrogen and 903 lbs. of Phosphorus from leaving his fields.
When asked if he had any advice to share with fellow farmers on adopting conservation practices, Riley’s humility was evident. He said, “I’m still a young farmer. I’m only in my third year with this, but I would say just try it. Have the courage to try it, even if it’s only on a couple acres like we did.”
If you’ve been thinking about trying or expanding a conservation practice, such as reduced tillage, implementing a cover crop, or adding a crop rotation, we echo Riley’s advice and encourage you to just try it. Managed by AgOutcomes, a subsidiary of the Iowa Soybean Association, the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund keeps farmer support at the forefront of all efforts. By enrolling your acres in our program, you’ll receive agronomic support and earn financial incentives for the environmental outcomes generated from your conservation practices. You can find lots of helpful information on the Farmer Resources page of our website, or reach out to us with your specific questions at contactus@theoutcomesfund.com.
Riley and his young family.