Growing, Marketing, and Measuring the Climate-Smart Impacts of Organic Grain & Field Crops

Update (2026): Marbleseed and its partners continue this work under the USDA Advancing Markets for Producers (AMP) initiative. Note: they are at capacity for interested producers for 2026. Details: marbleseed.org.

This multistate project plans to enroll field crop farmers already engaged in organic grain production or desiring to transition to organic systems. Each participating farmer would receive an enrollment incentive for the duration of the project that would compensate them for their time, farming expenses, implementing climate-smart agriculture practices like cover crops and diverse crop rotations, attending regional Grower Summits, assisting with monitoring greenhouse gas benefits on their farm, and working with Field Service Coordinators.

Each producer would also work with field service coordinators and marketers to develop an Individual Marketing Plan, aimed at promoting the commodities that they are producing.

Marbleseed has not yet published its eligibility rules. In its own words: "More information, including enrollment and eligibility requirements, will be posted on this page as they are developed."

And for the moment there is nothing to enroll in anyway: "We are at capacity for interested producers for 2026."

What the page does establish about who this is for:

• Individual producers, enrolled through Marbleseed — not a public application round. The project "will engage organic grain producers and producers looking to transition to organic production," and each participant is paired with a field service coordinator. You start by filling out the organic grain interest form, after which "You'll be contacted by a Marbleseed staff member."

• You must be growing grain or field crops, and either already certified organic or working toward it. The project "intentionally centers National Organic Program (NOP) regulations and Organic System Plans (OSPs) as the primary framework for technical assistance and producer compensation," and the incentive is framed around "the expenses associated with maintaining organic certification and continuous improvement associated with organic certification" — so certification, or a credible transition to it, is the practical test.

• Geography is the project's 14-state footprint: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky.

No acreage minimum, income limit, years-of-experience requirement, tenure or ownership test, or beginning/veteran/socially-disadvantaged restriction is published. One interaction worth knowing if you already use NRCS cost-share: "project funds will not be used to pay for or duplicate NRCS-defined practices, cost-share programs, or implementation expenses," so this is meant to sit alongside those, not replace them.

Your actual next step is to ask. Contact Mercedes Talvitie, mercedes.talvitie@marbleseed.org, 888-906-6737 x707, to be told whether you would qualify and when the next enrollment opens.

No award amount, payment rate, or cost-share percentage is published on the program page.

Marbleseed states only that "Each participating producer will receive an enrollment incentive for the project's duration that will cost-share the expenses associated with maintaining organic certification and continuous improvement associated with organic certification."

What the incentive does and does not cover is spelled out: payments "support producer-led organic systems planning, documentation, and decision-making required for organic certification, transition, or market expansion, rather than prescriptive practice installation or engineering standards," and "project funds will not be used to pay for or duplicate NRCS-defined practices, cost-share programs, or implementation expenses." So this stacks alongside, not on top of, NRCS cost-share.

The project runs three years, and participants also work with field service coordinators on technical assistance and an individual marketing plan at no charge.

Before you plan around this: "We are at capacity for interested producers for 2026." For the actual incentive schedule, contact Mercedes Talvitie, mercedes.talvitie@marbleseed.org, 888-906-6737 x707.

More information will be posted on the website as they are developed. For more information, reach out toMercedes Talvitie.