Conservation Planning & the Farm Progress Report

As the supply chain and consumers are looking for more sustainably produced products, understanding the environmental impacts of field management and having a tool to help communicate conservation efforts is important.

The Farm Progress Report utilizes data you most likely already collect to showcase the benefit your current and planned field management has on nutrient and sediment reduction to our local waterways and carbon capture resulting in reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

Incentive Rates

Producers are required to participate in 1 Farm Progress Report meeting but may be asked for additional meetings if needed to develop a quality report. Farm agronomists/crop consultants are high encouraged to participate in the meeting.

  • Accurate Whole Farm SnapPlus $5/acre (max of $1500 or 300 acres)

  • Farm Progress Report Meetings +$625 One-Time Incentive Payment

  • Advisement and training on your farm’s data

Implementation Cycle

Measurement Tools

Phosphorus and Sediment Runoff Reduction

To measure and communicate benefits to local water quality made by conservation efforts on the farm, the Farm Progress Report team will pull data from SnapPlus, the Soil Nutrient Application Planner already used by Wisconsin farmers as part of their Nutrient Management Plan.

To learn more about SnapPlus visit: https://snapplus.wisc.edu

Carbon

To estimate and communicate Greenhouse Gas reduction through carbon capture from field practices, the Farm Progress Report team will run COMET-Planner for your farm based on the field data within SNAPPlus. COMET-Planner utilizes emission reduction coefficients to generalize greenhouse gas emission from soils. The Farm Progress Report will be a good introduction to the impact conservation efforts can have on your farm. A more in-depth calculation tool may be required for farms interested in exploring carbon markets or required to track carbon for their supply chain.

To learn more visit: http://comet-planner.com/

Enrollment

Ready to start farming Climate Smart? To begin enrollment, review the Conservation Planning & Farm Progress Report program requirements. When you are ready to enroll, move to Step 2- filling out the required paperwork. Simply download, fill out, and scan and email or mail to Fox-Wolf. Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance will respond within 2 weeks upon receipt of application. Timeline is dependent upon verifying eligibility through USDA-FSA.

Step 1: Review Practice Requirements and Eligibility

Before filling out the required enrollment paperwork, please review the Farm Climate Smart program requirements and eligibility to determine if you qualify.

Program requirements and eligibility can be found in the Requirements and Eligibility document. If you have questions regarding eligibility, contact your County Land Conservation Department Climate Smart staff.

Step 2: Download and Fill Out Documents

To begin enrollment, download and fill out the Producer Application, Privacy Information Release Request, and Field Enrollment forms. To download, click the image and follow the download instructions prompted by your browser.

All documents may be filled out online or by hand. Either way you decide to complete the application, the documents must be signed and dated by hand or as an encrypted digital signature.

Practice Requirements and Eligibility

Click to View or Download

Producer Application Packet

Click to View or Download

Requirements

General Requirements

  • The Farm Progress Report relies on the availability of complete, accurate, whole farm data. Producers must work with their agronomist or crop consultant to update their SnapPlus database and sign a SnapPlus Data Release for the entire farm’s database* to be shared with Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.
  • Participation in a minimum of one Progress Report Meeting. Additional meetings may be required if submitted data needs to be refined.
  • Willingness to talk openly about field management, runoff, and future planning.

*Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance is not subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and will maintain control of SnapPlus files, including databases, reports, and maps. County Land Conservation staff will participate in Farm Progress Report meetings and review the associated field management, but the underlying data and associated files will not be shared electronically.

SnapPlus Requirements

  • Complete, accurate, and updated whole farm SnapPlus database
    • Farm field, cropping, and soil test data for a minimum of the previous two years, the current year, and the future two years for a total of 5 years of accurate data. Depending on the goals of the producer, additional years/data can be provided to learn more about the farm’s history and/or projected conservation.
    • Producers enrolled in the Continuous Cover System will be required to have 6 years of accurate data.
    • SnapPlus must be free of errors and should reflect the reality of the farm’s operations. Producer should meet with their agronomist/crop consultant prior to the submission of data to ensure Snap is accurate.

Frequently asked questions

Farms that are located within the 21 counties of the Fox-Wolf Basin (see map) are considered eligible. Farms located within the watershed boundaries will receive priority. Fox-Wolf will evaluate applications based on suitability and availability of technical assistance and reserves the right to decline enrollment from farms in counties outside the core (Brown, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Outagamie, Shawano, Waupaca, Waushara, and Winnebago) watershed boundaries.

Additional requirements apply, as outlined in the Requirements for Enrollment section above.  For scenario-specific questions, please contact Fox-Wolf at climatesmart@fwwa.org or your County Land Conservation Climate Smart staff listed below.

Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities is a USDA program “committed to supporting a diverse range of farmers, ranchers, and private forest landowners through Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities. This effort will expand markets for America’s climate-smart commodities, leverage the greenhouse gas benefits of climate-smart commodity production, and provide direct, meaningful benefits to production agriculture, including for small and underserved producers.  USDA is investing more than $3.1 billion for 141 projects through this effort and all the projects require meaningful involvement of small and underserved producers.”

For more information, please visit USDA’s Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities website.

No, farms of all sizes are eligible to apply.

Producers must be enrolled with FSA (have a Farm ID) before signing a contract. If a producer is not currently enrolled, they can become enrolled and then participate in the project.

Technical support to assist with FSA enrollment is available, through this program, by Wisconsin Farmers Union.  Please see the Contact Information section below to be connected with Wisconsin Farmers Union directly.

One initial meeting is required for enrollment producers with County staff and Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance. Additional meetings may be required or requested depending upon producer’s interest and/or circumstances. Contact County Land Conservation Department or Fox-Wolf Climate Smart staff to determine requirements for your situation.

For producers enrolled in the Continuous Cover System, meetings will occur following year 1 (two cropping seasons).

Following the submission of an application, Fox-Wolf will process the paperwork and determine eligibility. This process will take a minimum of 2 weeks. Turnaround time is dependant on the availability of FSA.

If a producer is eligible, a County Land Conservation Department Climate Smart staff member will follow up to continue the application. Producers will be asked to review agreements and sign required enrollment contracts.

Contact Information

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

Project Management

Tim Burns
(920) 841-0104
┃tim@fwwa.org

Dedicated County Land Conservation Climate Smart staff are located in 8 counties throughout the Fox-Wolf Basin. Contact the staff person in the county nearest to you to determine program eligibility and to begin enrollment.

Brown County

Brent Levash
(920) 391-4620
┃brent.levash@browncountywi.gov

Calumet County

Autumn Gomez-Tagle
(920) 849-1493
┃autumn.gomeztagle@calumetcounty.org

Fond du Lac County

Justin Loehrke
(920) 414-0096
┃justin.loehrke@fdlco.wi.gov

Outagamie County

Andy Kiefer
(920) 832-5073
┃andy.kiefer@outagamie.org

Shawano County

Bill Koepke
(715) 526-4620
┃bill.koepke@shawanocountywi.gov

Waupaca County

Stefan Stults
(715) 258-6245
┃stefan.stults@co.waupaca.wi.us

Waushara County

Kaylee Overby
(920) 787-0443
┃kaylee.overby@wausharacountywi.gov

Winnebago County

Eric Bertram
(920) 232-1958
┃ebertram@winnebagocountywi.gov

Have a question?

Need help enrolling? Maybe a question about eligibility? Confused about program requirements?

Fill out the Contact Us form and we will get back to you as soon as we can!