Enrollment is now open for the Yahara Pride Farms Cost-Share Program. The deadline to enroll is Nov. 1, 2025, and is open to farmers in the Yahara Watershed which includes southern Columbia, Dane, and northern Rock counties.
The program is designed to help minimize the risk associated with trying new conservation
practices on the farm. One of the program goals is to provide farmers with value in hopes they
continue or combine endorsed practices for even greater environmental impact. In particular,
cover crops and low-disturbance manure injection have proven extremely effective in reducing
phosphorus loss from farm fields while increasing soil health and crop yields.
“The Cost-Share Program has been effective in encouraging farmers in the watershed to try
new things to benefit water quality,” said Jeff Endres, Yahara Pride Farms chair. “These
techniques have become best-management practices for the farmers who have tried them. We
would love to see additional farmers participate for the first time.”
YPF is committed to collecting and analyzing data from the Cost-Share Program. The results
from the 2024 Phosphorus Reduction Report indicated that farmers in the program reduced the
risk of phosphorus delivery to the Madison Lakes and the Yahara River by 33,252 pounds of
phosphorus. This represents an increase in reductions of 2,035 pounds (6%) compared
with the previous year.
Enrollment
Enrollment is simple. Contact [email protected] or 608.219.7922 (text or
call) to provide your address and request an application. An application will be sent to you. Fill
out the application and return it in the addressed envelope. Yahara Pride Farms will follow up
when forms are received to determine if any changes or adjustments are needed. A nutrient
management plan must be submitted for any acres enrolled in the program. Cost-share checks
are distributed at the Yahara Pride Farms Annual Watershed-Wide Conference, scheduled for
February 25, 2026.
Incentives
- Strip tillage: $15 per acre up to 100 acres (maximum payment of $1,500 per farm).
- Low disturbance manure injection: $25 per acre up to 125 acres (maximum
payment of $3,125 per farm); To qualify no extra fall tillage is allowed other than
low disturbance deep tillage or strip tillage. - Cover crops:
a. $50 per acre for up to 100 acres of over-wintering crops. Must be planted
by October 20.
b. $35 per acre for up to 60 acres of non-over-wintering crops. Must be
planted by October 1.
c. $35 per acre up to 60 acres of deferred fall killing of alfalfa until spring;
Requires waiting until spring to kill alfalfa (hay) in fields that will be rotated
into other crops or re-seeded. - Low disturbance deep tillage and cover crop planting: $55 per acre up to 50 acres.
- Winter headland stacking: $10 per yard up to 400 yards. Requires spring/summer
application. Spring is defined as when the ground is no longer snow covered or
frozen. - Composting manure: $10 per yard up to 400 yards.
- Establish new hay stands with no-till seeding of alfalfa or grass in spring or fall:
$35 per acre up to 75 acres. - No-till planting into alfalfa, soybean or corn stubble, or cover crops: $30 per acre
up to 65 acres.
