Conservation: A Driving Force in Agriculture

Conservation: A Driving Force in Agriculture

For over 29 years, Brent Hall has been a dedicated adviser for growers, helping them identify opportunities to improve their operation in a multitude of ways. Along the way, Hall became a leading voice in sustainability, diving headfirst into the topic as it grew in importance in his area.

"Conservation became a huge driving factor," Hall recalls. "It became evident that we needed to take steps to protect soils."

His journey started in trying to figure out how farmers could incorporate better nutrient efficiency and use in their soil health plans. With no-till and strip-till being common practices in his area, he focused his work on nitrogen reduction.

"We started working through some projects and on-farm trials at small scales, experimenting with split-applying [nutrient applications]," Hall says. "It became evident that split-applying was going to be something that would benefit growers, so we started making some moves that direction."

As Hall worked to find ways to bring the idea to scale and reduce the front-end cost for growers, he convinced his cooperative to purchase a portable soil nitrate tester and a topdress machine, both of which were incredibly helpful in working with farmers to implement the approach around Iowa and improve nutrient efficiency.


Fast forward to today and Hall is still passionate about sustainability, working as the Central Region Account Manager for Truterra where he advises farmers on issues related to water quality, nutrients, carbon farming, and soil health across Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and eastern Kansas.

"I sit down with our ag retailers and their teams and say, 'OK - how can we help propel these growers to the next level?'," Hall explains. "It's great to be able to help growers and look at different practice changes with them. Every grower wants to protect the soil, and we want to sit down with them, help problem solve, and help make some headway towards that."

"Brent is used to working with farmers one-on-one to produce more from less," says Laura Kowalski, Head of Global Sustainability at Primient, a lead partner in the Primient Sustainable Corn Fieldprint Project that Hall is involved in. "A key part of his work involves listening to farmers discuss their operations, including their frustrations, and identifying resource efficiency changes that could benefit not only their bottom lines, but also their mental health." Brent Hall
Central Region Account Manager
Truterra A part of Hall's work includes helping farmers to utilize their farm data in ways that help them meet their goals. The Fieldprint Platform®, integrated with the Truterra Sustainability Tool, is a valuable resource in this effort, used on its own and in conjunction with the Primient Sustainable Corn Project.

"The Platform helps generate a stewardship score and gives growers a benchmark of where they're at," Hall explains. "It gives them the opportunity to do some hypotheticals and create a baseline, which helps aid conversations with growers thinking about making a transition."

"You have to know where you started, and the Platform has been really fundamental for us in that way," adds Jill Wheeler, Sustainability Impact Lead at Truterra.

Hall is also very passionate about education, knowing the importance of peer-to-peer learning. This passion drove him and Linn Coop to develop a Farmer Peer Group and continues to drive his work in teaching other advisers about sustainability.

"At the end of the day, growers must have that group of trusted folks to help them make the right decisions," says Hall. "That's where we're going to be successful-we have to get that group of trusted advisers and keep them educated on everything 'sustainable' to pass it along to farmers."

"We saw early on how important advisers [like Brent] are to making these changes," says Wheeler. "Sustainability is not going to move anywhere unless you get this group of very influential people on board."

"At the end of the day, growers must have that group of trusted folks to help them make the right decisions. That's where we're going to be successful - we have to get that group of trusted advisers and keep them educated on everything sustainable to pass it along to farmers."

Brent Hall
Central Region Account Manager
Truterra