About
Our Approach to Conservation
At Heartland, our farmer-focused conservation sales model integrates conservation into farming operations by treating it as a business opportunity rather than an obligation. Our conservation agronomists work with farmers to adopt a suite of practices, tailored to each farm’s goals and unique properties. We leverage existing cost-share programs with private investments to remove administrative burdens and get conservation projects across the finish line. Our approach delivers real, durable conservation outcomes, thus maximizing both environmental and economic returns.
Our Vision
A landscape where there’s a streamlined adoption of conservation practices that reduce the loss of soil and nutrients, and where funding invested into conservation has an immediate and positive local impact that ensures long-term agricultural productivity.
The Endowment Fund
The Heartland conservation team's combined 25 years of experience working directly with farmers to implement conservation practices has led to the recognition that there is a lack of consistent, flexible, and long-term financial support for practice adoption. There are many farmers and landowners who desire to implement conservation farming practices but cannot afford the partial or full costs associated with those projects, even when participating in state or federally funded cost-share programs.
Our vision for the conservation endowment fund is that it would achieve the following:
- Consistently provide financial support to local growers in adopting conservation practices and structures
- Allow faster deployment of conservation projects, especially for those farmers and landowners who are waiting on public cost-share dollars
- Cover the “landowner match” that is frequently required by most publicly-funded programs
- Provide an opportunity for donors and investors to make a direct and lasting difference with their dollars.
- Ensure that conservation practices can be funded in perpetuity
Our History
Heartland Conservation Fund (HCF) was established as a non-profit entity in 2026, in partnership with Heartland Co-op. Heartland Co-op's commitment to conservation farming began in 1999 as a founding member of Agriculture's Clean Water Alliance (ACWA). Full-time conservation agronomists and an official team dedicated to scaling conservation implementation were established at Heartland Co-op in 2020. Since their formal inception, the conservation agronomy team at Heartland has made a huge impact on the landscape of Iowa, establishing conservation practices that have treated over 325,000 acres of row crops.
Forming a non-profit and creating an endowment fund allows conservation at Heartland to continue indefinitely and ensures that dollars that go to Heartland's conservation programming continue to be used for immediate, high-impact agricultural conservation projects.
Our Team
Ruth McCabe
Executive Director
Thomas Fawcett
Strategic Partnership Coordinator
Lydia English
Donor Relations and Marketing Coordinator
