Kelly Nelson rides an all-terrain vehicle to navigate places other vehicles can’t reach on farms. The research farm is located in Novelty (Tadeo Ruiz Sandoval/Missouri Business Alert).
Every day, Missourians pay a small tax with each purchase they make that’s been supporting conservation efforts in the state. And now that Missouri is in a drought alert, those dollars are helping farmers prepare.
Since 1984, Missourians have approved the tax, which is one-tenth of a percent on every purchase, every 10 years. In the 2024 fiscal year, the tax generated around $137 million, which was evenly split between the state park system and the Soil and Water Conservation Program.
Revenue from the tax makes up 99% of the conservation program’s budget. It has been used to help people mitigate drought and heavy rainfall’s effects on farmland. Its story, though, began at a time when one of Missouri’s biggest threats was erosion.
A history built on dirt
In the 1930s, the United States faced a catastrophe that uprooted 400,000 people. A heavy drought and poor land management practices in the Great Plains region like intensive plowing left the soil vulnerable to being blown away by wind.
And when that wind came, it swept up the dirt with such force that dust storms could engulf entire towns. At one point, a giant dust storm 1,500 miles long and 600 miles wide dragged itself across the Great Plains. Eventually the storm reached Chicago and dropped 12 million tons of dust on the city. The New York Times reported the size of the cloud darkened the city’s sky in five hours.
The Dust Bowl showed the importance of soil conservation. In response, new agencies were created and developed practices to address drought and water quality, among other things.
And in 1982, Missouri was facing a big challenge.
Land in the state was losing nutrients in its soil through erosion. According to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the state had the second-highest erosion rates in the nation. Lawmakers decided to act.
Merle Doughty, who was president of the Missouri Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts at the time, was advocating for more support to the program. He met with then Missouri House Rep. LeRoy Braungardt, who introduced the sales tax bill in 1983. A year later, Missourians voted the bill into law.
Since then, the Soil and Water Conservation Program’s main focus has been working with farmers across the state to better prepare their land for harsh weather conditions.
Program takes root with farmers
Jim Plassmeyer is the current director of the Soil and Water Conservation Program, which is part of the Department of Natural Resources. His team’s cost-share programs have helped farmers implement conservation practices. They are completely optional for farmers, who can contact their county’s district to send an agent to assess their land.
“It’s all about the producers coming to the district saying, ‘I have a resource concern I need to need to address. Can you help me?’” Plassmeyer said.
Kenny Reichert, a Chariton County farmer, was one of the first to reach out shortly after the tax passed into law. He said he grew up on a corn and soybean farm that needed help with its soil practices. His family didn’t know much about conservation then, but they wanted to learn.
“I was always looking for something, but I didn’t know what it was,” Reichert said. “The cost share helped show me there was an avenue to get conservation accomplished.”
On his farm, Reichert would come to plant cover crops. When rain falls, it does so at a high speed that dislodges the earth like tiny explosions. The soil’s nutrients move with it. When a crop is planted, its leaves serve as an umbrella, protecting the dirt from impact. The crop’s roots also help the soil retain its structure and absorb more nutrients for the plant.
Reichert said he saw an improvement in crop yield on his farm. He later joined the Chariton County Soil and Water Conservation Board in north-central Missouri to help other farmers. It’s one of 114 Soil and Water Conservation Districts in the state — one in each county.
Plassmeyer said since 1986, more than 193 million tons of soil have been saved from eroding. In this fiscal year, the program treated more than 361,500 acres. But the team doesn’t work alone.
The science of a sustainable future
Kelly Nelson’s office consists of more than 1,500 acres of experimental farmland at the Northern Missouri Research, Extension and Education Center. He’s an agronomist for the University of Missouri. At the Lee Greenley Jr. Memorial Research Farm, he works with a team of faculty, staff and graduate students to develop practices that conserve water and soil resources while enhancing the resiliency of cropping systems.
Nelson said water and soil are connected, and that effective practices incorporate both. He has worked on a terrace system that regulates water runoff.
“(Soil) is like a sponge,” Nelson said. “You can run water on your sponge, and until it gets saturated, it doesn’t run out. If you pick up your sponge, it will drain out a certain amount of water. That is the ability of soil to hold water. Once you fill it all the way up, water can’t go anywhere, so it’s going to run off.”
In the system, cover crops are planted on inclined land, which guides the water down into a gravel-covered patch. The gravel is 6 inches deep, leading to larger chunks of stone above a pipe that directs the water to a reservoir. The gravel makes the pipe inlet hard to see, which is why it’s called a “blind” inlet.
The water is then stored and can be used later. When it rains too much, a second inlet in the reservoir releases the excess into a natural waterway.
“The next generation can look back and say, ‘Hey, they had a vision, and they took care of us,’” Nelson said. “We can preserve that for generations to come.”
Nelson said the blind inlets that were installed cost approximately $1,000 per acre. Already existing research on similar systems has reported the inlets reduce soil loss by 60%. Landowners don’t have to front the whole cost themselves, though, as the Water and Soil Conservation Program offers cost-share programs.
‘We’re the government, and we’re here to help’
The program also offers cost-share assistance for practices that focus on grazing, irrigation management, animal waste and more.
Through it, Reichert was able to add Nelson’s blind inlets to his own farm.
“I wouldn’t go back in a heartbeat to the way we used to farm,” Reichert said. “There’s conservation benefits, economic benefits, fuel benefits. I don’t use the fuel I used to 40 years ago.”
Reichert is still trying to share the benefits with farmers around him. Oftentimes, though, he finds it difficult to convince others to adapt from practices that have been around for generations. Reichert said he understands the difficulty of straying from traditional practices. It’s up to everyone to decide what to do with their property; he just hopes people do what’s best for their land.
“We’re doing the same thing our grandparents did,” Reichert said. “We just have the research behind us now to show us why it works.”
Plassmeyer credits the sales tax for the conservation program’s innovation in soil research. It allows the program to access steady income, rather than relying solely on federal grants. Because the tax is voted on every 10 years, it enables the program to develop long-term projects.
Missourians have approved the tax each year it has been up for a vote. In 2016, the tax passed with 80% of the vote, winning approval in every county. It will be up for re-election again in 2026, and Plassmeyer hopes people support the program’s funding.
“You know, you hear a lot, ‘We’re the government, and we’re here to help,’” Plassmeyer said. “Well, that is true to the word in this program.”
This story originally appeared in the Columbia Missourian. It can be republished in print or online.