Conservation Programs Need Trusted Local Advisors
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Some farmers might be leaving money on the table by not enrolling in a conservation or carbon sequestration program. But farmers are right to be skeptical of these programs administered by people who don’t know them or their operation. Eric Dinger, CEO of LandOption, says he’s found the local trusted agronomic advisor to be the missing link in a lot of these programs.
Dinger… “ I was on a trip in South Georgia talking with farmers and producers about a carbon program that we had started with Arbor Day Carbon. It wasn't going all that well. And I called my dad back home in southwest Minnesota and dad had just taken a Pivot Bio dealership. And I would say, ‘Dad, I'm having a heck of a time getting these guys interested in what I'm doing.’ And he would say, ‘Man, that stinks. I've added 5,000 acres this week.’ Then I was on a second trip doing the same thing—called Dad and said, ‘Man, this is just going to take forever. I’ve got to talk to each of these guys five or six times before we can build the kind of relationship we need in order for me to ask them to participate in our program.’ He said, ‘Yeah, I'm already at 30,000 acres.’ While I was on one of those trips just thinking, ‘Man, all I need is somebody with your trust and credibility in southwest Minnesota, but I need them in southwest Georgia.’ He was like, ‘Well, obviously they're there. Go find them.’ And so then you kind of set out on a new path to find those trusted advisors, those trusted stakeholders in rural communities, and that, it just wasn't easy to find a network of those people to tap into. And so that's what we're building with Land Option.”
LandOption wants to become the go-to tool for farmers to enroll in programs that fit their operations.
