Soil & Water Conservation Society 2026 Annual Conference (St. Louis, MO)
American Farmland Trust staff are attending the 81st Annual Soil & Water Conservation Society (SWCS) Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. Look for our booth #04 in the exhibit hall.
Conference and General Info
List of all the AFT contributions to the 2026 SWCS Conference. Catch all the presentations and panels featuring AFT staff. | |
Information about AFT's mission and how we reach our goals. | |
New first-of-its-kind certification program designed to differentiate products made with ingredients grown in the US. |
Program Resources & Tools
Designed for farmers, ag advisors, and conservation planners, the P–SHEC tool estimates the potential long-term costs and benefits of adopting certain soil health practices. In just 10 to 20 minutes, this county-level tool can answer questions about the potential impact of soil health practices on crop yield and net income, or how the practices may mitigate the effects of drought. The machine-learning modeling tool breaks up the results into recurring and long-term (10-year) economic costs and benefits. The tool works in 41 states and 1,964 counties for 10 commodity crops: barley, corn, cotton, tobacco, sorghum, oats, peanut, sugar beet, soybean, and wheat. AFT welcomes input on the tool features, help developing “representative farmer scenarios” for a cost-effectiveness analysis, offers to disseminate the P-SHEC tool to potential users, and requests for in-depth or tailored presentations. | |
Compelling, easy-to-read two-page soil health economic and environmental case studies featuring “soil health successful farmers.” These case studies can be used by farmers and the greater members of the farm conservation community to learn about the costs and benefits of adopting soil health practices and the potential for a return on investment. In turn, the information gives farmers confidence to adopt soil health practices to lessen agriculture’s impacts on water resources, address climate change, and increase farmer resilience and viability. | |
Guides to Row Crop & Grazing Literature on the Economics of Soil Health | A series of two-page guides highlighting the economic costs and benefits of farmers adopting soil health practices for crop and grazing land. The first three guides on corn, soybean, and small grain rotations are delineated by methodology: Budget Analyses, National Surveys, and Research Trials. The second series of guides is focused on grazing practices, including the benefits and costs of transitioning from conventional to rotational grazing, the forage and soil health outcomes from seasonal grazing practices, and the economic, forage, and soil health benefits of patch-burn grazing and bale grazing. |
The Batch & Grow Cover Crop Program is a cover crop delivery model that removes barriers of adoption for farmers and streamlines the purchase of seed and planting of cover crops in a local area. AFT has developed this Roadmap to support other organizations as they explore opportunities to replicate this model in their local area. It offers a general framework and lessons learned for those considering the development of a Batch & Grow Cover Crop Program in their area. | |
The Growing Resilience Guidebook was designed to support learning for farmers operating specialty crop operations across Illinois. The guidebook aims to provide free resources on risk management strategies to small scale and specialty crop operations across Illinois that can boost resilience around business management and strategic planning. |
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