SWOF Farmer Spotlight: The Allyn Family Farm

This month, the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund (SWOF) is highlighting the work of the Allyn Family in southern Indiana. The Allyn Family has been farming for over 100 years, with three generations actively working on the farm today: Grant, his father Matt, his uncle Mike, and his grandpa David. They grow corn, soybeans, and wheat. Hear from Grant Allyn below as he shares how his family's conservation efforts to reduce erosion and increase efficiency are protecting their investments and bringing more value to their operation through their participation with SWOF.

Tell us a bit more about your family’s farming operation and how it has evolved over time.

We’ve been farming for many, many years, but my grandpa, David, is the one that really turned it into a commercially scaled operation. My dad and uncle joined in the mid-90s, and it’s grown exponentially from there. I’m really just getting started in my role, but the philosophy I’ve always been taught is that we try to be as efficient as possible, both with our time and what we spend on inputs.

A little over a decade ago, we started investing in our planter technology and equipment. The computerization and advancements of precision ag in recent years have really helped us increase efficiency and become more successful. About that time, we also started experimenting with reducing our tillage. We tried a bit of strip-till, but weren’t really doing too much. With the help of SWOF, we’ve been able to make more widespread reductions in our tillage. We’ve also been experimenting with cover crops.

Together all these efforts are helping us become more sustainable and resilient as weather patterns change, but they also save us time and money in labor. Twenty years ago, we needed about 10 people to run the farm. Today we have a total of six people working every day.

Young wheat plants thrive after reducing their tillage in one of the Allyn’s fields in southern Indiana

What initially drew you to our program and what has it been like to work with Tyler and the SWOF team?

We’ve had several companies approach us in the last couple of years about carbon, but we just were never sure about them. It seemed like they didn’t have a very good system set up either, so we held off. When we came across the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund, it seemed like a very good opportunity for us to earn more for some of the things we already wanted to do. The program is reliable and trustworthy, and after speaking with Tyler, we advanced with it last winter.

And it's been really great to work with you. Tyler made everything so easy. We just provided him with data and he helped us input it all. It was very simple and easy. I really didn't have to spend much time on it, since we already have most of it through John Deere Operations Center. The first-year contract worked out well. We just got our second payment a month or two ago. We don’t have any complaints about it. I don’t really see any reason why someone wouldn’t want to work with you.

Cover crops and reduced tillage are working together to keep soil in place on this rolling field in southern Indiana.

How have the practice changes impacted your operation?

Our biggest motivator in trying to incorporate and scale more conservation efforts into our operations has been erosion. Some of our land is flat, and some of it’s on slopes. Despite our best efforts on the slopes, including several 100,000 dollars’ worth of tile over the years, it just always washes a little bit there. As time went on, we realized this was an issue we still needed to address. Even if we only lose a half an inch a year, for example, that’s a problem. You might say, well that’s not very much, barely noticeable. But the tile is just a few feet deep, depending on where you are in the field. So not only are we still losing topsoil, but eventually, the tile that we spent all that money and time to put in the ground is going to be exposed. Decreasing our tillage has really helped with this.

Then last fall we also got more serious about experimenting with cover crops. We were hesitant on covers for awhile because, of course, any time you put something else in the ground, it has an effect on your commercial crop. But it worked really well this last year on the smaller areas where we tried cover crops. We’re still pretty new to them, but we had better success with them than without them. We’re going to keep working on that this year and do some more.

Then the added income we’ve received for making these changes from SWOF has helped to offset some of those costs. It doesn’t cover everything, but it’s almost enough to offset some of our seed costs and labor associated with it. It’s been beneficial for sure. 

Young corn plants are doing well after reducing their tillage in this southern Indiana field.

Any advice or words of wisdom you’d like to share with other farmers that are considering on-farm conservation practices?

I guess I’d say that everyone has a different philosophy or goal for trying this stuff, and that’s okay. And something might work better for subject A than subject B, but don’t be fearful of that. Do what’s best for your land’s unique challenges. We’re seeing less frequent, but more severe rainfall events. It’s even more important to implement farming practices that will help our long-term resiliency. With SWOF’s financial incentives, they can really help you achieve some of that.

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, enrollment in the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund is open for 2024. By enrolling your acres in our program, you’ll receive agronomic support and earn financial incentives for the environmental outcomes of your on-farm conservation efforts. Get started today by signing up for a free estimate!