SWOF Original: How We Verify Outcomes

By Corey McKinney, Senior Monitoring and Verification Manager 

A cornerstone of the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund’s collaboration with farmers is that we produce outcomes that can be quantified and verified. Conservation and sustainability are not buzz words for us, and we are committed to making tangible steps towards improving the agriculture industry.  

It makes sense then, that our verification process is vital to ensuring our program operates as intended. We are equally committed to operating with transparency, so that both outcome buyer partners and farmer partners are aware of what goes on behind the scenes. 

While we believe that data and technology are powerful agronomic tools, there is no way to replace standing in a field, touching the soil in your hands, and observing with your own eyes. That’s why a SWOF staffer visits every field enrolled in our program to verify that the contracted practices are in place.  

Fields enrolled in our program are verified in spring, but occasionally, depending on the practices implemented, there may be an additional fall verification as well. This potential second verification can be helpful if environmental conditions haven’t been ideal (for example: low moisture, early freezes etc.)  

During this visit, the SWOF staff will observe multiple field characteristics such as tillage, cover crop presence and height, residue percentages, livestock grazing, and more. They will also take two geo-referenced photos. The first will be of a “known area” that can then be used to extrapolate calculations on cover crop coverage and percent residue. The second is a wider shot of the known area within the field. Both photos will be included in the compliance report that producers and outcomes buyers receive.  

Sometimes, in-person verification doesn’t provide us with all the information we need to mark a contract compliant. This is why, in our contracts, we let producers know that they may be required to provide additional documentation at the time of verification to confirm that they’ve met contract obligations regarding practice implementation. 

Below you will see two example documents. The first is the verification report users get from our farmer web portal after we perform in-person field verification. The second is a great example of additional documentation that may be requested from producers to verify practices.

SWOF Field Verification Report

Detailed Cover Crop Invoice

In this case, the additional documentation is an applied map for oat cover crop. Other documentation types that may be requested of producers include fuel invoices, planting dates, nutrient application records, and other documents that help verify field operation. As you can see, these two documents work well together because the SWOF report shows the contracted practice and field boundaries and the cover crop invoice aligns very cleanly with it, clearly demonstrating that the producer is in compliance with their contract.  

If you have any additional questions about our verification process or any documentation that you may need to have on-hand to help confirm contract compliance, feel free to reach out to me via email at corey@theoutcomesfund.com