Covering America from Coast to Coast

Update (2026): This project is enrolling producers in the Great Plains and Midwest. AgSpire runs producer enrollment on behalf of the project — see Covering America at agspire.com or millbornseeds.com.

This project increases on-farm crop rotations via a holistic management soil health protocol that results in identity preserved specialty grains and oilseeds, as well as a new category of climate-smart cover crop seed. The climate-smart specialty grains and oilseeds project will encourage farmers in the Northern Great Plains and Upper Midwest to raise climate-smart oats, rye, flax, buckwheat, and winter camelina and develop related climate-smart markets.

Project plans to provide technical assistance and direct financial climate-smart practice incentive payments or producer premiums for CS commodities. Partners plan to provide each underserved or small-scale producer participant a whole farm analysis enrolling more of their acres in working land conservation programs.

The project plans to use COMET-Planner to quantify GHG benefits from both the contract specialty grain and oilseed fields and the resulting cover crops planted from their production. This project plans to grow five specialty crops (oats, rye, flax, buckwheat, and winter camelina) in a comprehensive climate-smart manner.

Millborn Seeds plans to connect cover crop seed users. A target of 25% of total acres each year are planned to be reserved for underserved or small producers, ensuring that at least 25% of the incentive payments for the per bushel premium will go to these two producer groups.

Additionally, an underserved rate is planned to be used for cover crop or perennial forage planting adoption, and technical assistance is planned to be provided to all participants on an individual basis. Each underserved or small producer are planned to receive a whole farm analysis from AgSpire on how more of their acres could participate in additional working lands conservation programs, beyond the enrolled acres in this project.

Covering America is enrolling producers in the Great Plains and Midwest wanting to incorporate practices that focus on soil health, farm resiliency and productivity to raise specialty grains, legumes, or oilseed crops.

Participating farms commit to planting an equal acreage of multispecies cover crops or forage alongside their specialty oilseeds or grains. In addition, they must adopt the following practices:

• Reduced tillage or no-till — preserve soil structure and enhance water retention.

• Diverse crop rotation — maintain a minimum of a three-crop rotation for soil health.

Eligible commodities

Oats, Rye, Wheat, Peas, Buckwheat, Flax, Millet, Barley, Triticale, Sunflowers, Radish, Rapeseed, Grain Sorghum, Safflower.

• Technical Assistance — AgSpire experts will streamline program enrollment and will provide one on one guidance for selecting cover crop and forage seed mixes and implementing conservation practices best suited to your operation. Select producers will have the opportunity to try biochar as a soil amendment.

• Incentive Payment — In addition to growing the specialty grains and oilseeds, participating farmers will receive incentive payments for planting equal acreage of a multi-species cover crop or forage planting.

• Commodity Premiums — A 10-20% premium payment for verified grains and oilseeds will be offered for eligible commodities grown that are purchased by Millborn through the program.

The commodity premium is quoted as a percentage of commodity value rather than a per-acre or per-unit rate, which is why payment.basis is recorded as "Other (see terms)".

Your data, your privacy

No individual data will be shared outside of the project. AgSpire will retain only aggregated data to protect your privacy while ensuring the program's success.

Cost and payments

Signing up with AgSpire and enrolling in any of our programs is completely free for farmers and ranchers.

Once contract conditions are met and practices have been verified (usually through a verification visit, testing for outcomes, and/or physical verification such as receipts), AgSpire will make payments to producers, which are distributed quarterly.

Producer enrollment runs through two routes:

• Millborn Seeds — complete the interest form on the Covering America program page and a Millborn team member will be in contact with you.

• AgSpire — fill out the Producer Profile and an AgSpire advisor will contact you with more information and next steps. Questions: info@agspire.com, or call or text (605) 675-7255.

Enrollment involves GPS mapping and soil sampling (up to twice per year) to measure progress and verify practices.