Understanding Additionality and Ten Ways to Achieve Positive Environmental Outcomes in Agriculture
By Peyton Vest, SWOF Field Program Representative for Ohio and Michigan
In the realm of agricultural conservation and sustainability, the concept of additionality is frequently used. But what does it actually mean, and why is it so crucial in measuring environmental impact?
Additionality refers to the environmental benefits or outcomes that result from a specific action or project which would not have happened otherwise. In simpler terms, it’s about ensuring that the positive changes we see are due to the new efforts or practices being put into place, rather than what would have happened naturally or through past actions.
The Soil and Water Outcomes Fund (SWOF) requires farmer participants who are enrolling fields for the first time with the program to implement a minimum of one of the accepted conservation practices above the baseline operations. This requirement aims to ensure the environmental outcomes generated are above the current baseline and are a direct result of the farmer participant’s involvement with SWOF.
To re-enroll, farmer participants must maintain the additionality that was implemented in the crop rotation beginning at the intervention year. Additional conservation practices can be added, but are not currently required.
Why is Additionality Important?
Additionality provides a way to measure the effectiveness of conservation initiatives by confirming that the environmental outcomes achieved are directly linked to the actions taken by farmers. This approach helps to ensure that investments in conservation lead to real, measurable improvements in greenhouse gases, water quality, and other environmental metrics.
Here are ten ways to generate positive environmental outcomes on your working lands:
No-till-beans with a cereal rye cover crop in a SWOF enrolled field in western Ohio.
1. Embrace Reduced Tillage Practices
By minimizing or eliminating soil disturbance through practices such as reduced, minimum, strip, or no-till, you can help maintain soil structure, increase crop residue cover, and reduce soil erosion. These practices contribute to better water retention and lower sediment runoff, leading to improved environmental outcomes.
2. Plant Off-Season Cover Crops
By planting off-season cover crops like cereal rye or brassica-cereal mixtures, you can help protect soil from erosion, improve soil structure, and add organic matter. Cover crops also capture nutrients that might otherwise be lost, reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers.
3. Maximize Cover Crop Biomass Accumulation
Allowing cover crops to grow in the spring before termination or planting them in-season before the main crop harvest, can significantly increase biomass accumulation. This added biomass helps to improve soil health, enhance nutrient cycling, and increase the organic matter content in the soil.
4. Consider “Planting Green”
Consider planting into a standing cover crop. Relay cropping is also an option. Relay cropping involves planting a second crop into an established crop before the first crop is harvested. For example, you can plant soybeans into a field of standing rye. This technique not only allows for more efficient use of land but also improves soil health and provides additional environmental benefits by maintaining cover on the soil for longer periods.
By utilizing relay cropping to drill soybeans into standing rye, this farmer is harvesting rye in mid-July on this SWOF enrolled field in central Iowa.
5. Integrate Livestock into Cover Crop Systems
Grazing cover crops with livestock can help manage growth, reduce termination costs, and promote root development. Livestock can also help recycle nutrients back into the soil, further enhancing soil health and productivity.
6. Optimize Nitrogen Management
Effective nitrogen management is key to reducing environmental impacts. By selecting the appropriate nitrogen rates, timings, and forms, you can minimize losses through tile drainage. Additionally, diversifying your crop rotations can help reduce nitrogen leaching and improve overall soil health.
7. Utilize Cover Crops for Nutrient Management
Planting cover crops in late summer or early fall can help capture excess nutrients from fall-applied fertilizers, such as anhydrous ammonia, early fall-applied manure, or fall-applied DAP or MAP. This practice reduces the risk of nutrient runoff and loss, helping to keep valuable nutrients in the soil for future crops.
8. Reduce Herbicide Use Through Cover Crop Practices
By optimizing cover crop termination methods or using cover crops for grazing, you can manage weeds without relying as heavily on herbicides. This approach supports more sustainable farming practices and reduces chemical inputs.
Strip-till in wheat stubble in Northern Minnesota
9. Diversify Your Crop Rotations
By diversifying your crop rotation, you can improve pest and disease management, enhance soil health, and increase resilience to environmental stresses. Diversified rotations also help to break pest cycles and reduce the reliance on chemical controls.
10. Extend Crop Rotations for Greater Benefits
Increasing the length and variety of your crop rotations can lead to several advantages. Longer rotations can help reduce yield gaps, improve soil health, and increase crop residue accumulation while also minimizing price fluctuation risk.
Ready to Get Started?
We want to remind farmers that SWOF looks at additionality on a field-by-field basis. Maybe you’ve tried a cover crop or reducing your tillage on a small number of acres and are looking for a way to scale those practices across more acres. SWOF would love to help you do that, as all those new acres would be eligible for enrollment with our program.
If you’re ready to add or scale conservation practices on your operation, the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund is here to help. Our program offers financial incentives and agronomic support. Farmer enrollment is open for 2024. Contact Peyton with your questions at peyton@agoutcomes.com or sign up for a free program estimate today!
Peyton Vest
Field Program Representative, Ohio and Michigan
In his role as field program representative, Peyton provides enrollment assistance and agronomic support to SWOF farmers and referral partners throughout Ohio and Michigan. He graduated from Wilmington College with a Bachelor of Science in Agronomy and a concentration in Soil Science. After working at an implement dealership for a few years, he decided to focus on agronomy and soil health once again with his work. Peyton grew up on a small farm in southern Ohio that raised show pigs.