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In the latest edition of the No-Till Farmer podcast — brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment, listen to our conversation with Iowa no-tiller and executive director of the Conservation Technology Information Center, Ryan Heiniger. 

Ryan is also joined by his son Matt Heiniger — who is a senior in high school — and the two of them discuss the new cover crop business they started together called Clear Water Cover Crops, as well as what it has been like to go from father and son to business partners.

 

     
   

   

     
   

   

The Conservation Ag Update Podcast is brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment.

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Full Transcript

Welcome to the latest edition of the No Till Farmer podcast brought to you by Yetter Farm Equipment. I'm John Dobberstein, senior editor of No Till Farmer. In our most recent edition, listened to our conversation with Iowa No Tiller and Executive Director of the Conservation Technology Information Center, Ryan Heineger. Ryan is also joined by his son, Matt Heineger, who is a senior in high school, and the two of them will discuss the new cover crop business they started together called Clearwater Cover Crops, as well as what it's been like to go from father and son to business partners.

All right. Today I'm joined by Ryan and Matt Heineger. Guys, thanks for joining me. And maybe if you want to just start this off, introduce yourself and give a little bit of background about where you're located.

Good afternoon. Thanks for having us. Yeah, Ryan Heineger. I'm a fourth generation farmer here in Southeast Iowa, literally just yards away from the Mississippi River North of Burlington, Iowa, and joined by my son and my business partner.

Matt Heineger. Go to school, senior at Minneapolis Community School.

Awesome. Well, yeah, I think some of our audience should be familiar with Ryan from previous articles and different coverage we've done on farmers for soil health and things of that nature. Obviously a CTIC guy as well. But today we're going to be talking about something kind of interesting. The two of you have recently started a new business. You want to give us a little overview about that and then we'll dive into some of the details?

You bet. Well, as you know, and of course a lot of farmers wear multiple hats and we're no different here. So this summer was kind of an exciting development in our own journey for soil health and advancing cover crops. And we decided to take the leap and try to help other neighboring farmers in Des Moines County and a couple of the adjacent counties here in Southeast Iowa that of course don't have the time, maybe don't have the equipment to put covers, but do have the desire. So therefore we decided to dip our toe into the custom cover crop world. We're fortunate to buy a piece of equipment at an auction right before the 4th of July and then went tractor shopping as well. We can unpack that some more. But like Matt said, he's a high school senior and he lives and breathes all things farming.

And I've probably made plenty of mistakes as a parent, but he definitely has the soil health and conservation bug in him as well. So that's something I'm proud of. And if this gives him a chance to spend even more hours in the tractor out in the field in the fall and post graduation gives him a side hustle, that'll definitely be a win.

Awesome. Yeah, Matt, I'm curious, how long have you been involved on the farm? Has it been a long time since you were real young or have you just more recently got into it?

Ever since probably we moved back, I really started hanging around the farm more and especially during harvest right in the combine.

So that was 2013, decided to move the family home. I had chased my career, lived out of state for about 15 years and wanted to raise Matt and his sister Autumn as the fifth generation, so that farm legacy had a greater chance of continuing. Of course, that's something they're going to have to decide for themselves, but he definitely has the farming bug from a very early age and has been riding along like a lot of kids do in the fall or in the spring and got them out on the hay rack doing the square bale thing for a number of summers as well. And so despite even that and spending time up in a hot hay mouth June, July and August, still had the bug. And so this is just another chapter that we're proud of and exciting.

Very cool. So Clearwater cover crop, I guess where did the idea start from? And was it something that you guys immediately thought of doing together or did one of you go to the other to say like, "Hey, I've got this idea." Walk me through that process a little bit.

I want to see and hear his version first.

Well, he's always done, after it rains, go out to the field, low spots seeing soil runoff and always having that soil in the water. And that's kind of where the clear water comes into place, in the name, the brand. So after buying the cedar, started working together on the brand and the name.

So we started tossing around a couple different opportunities, and yeah, that's a good reminder of where that comes from. So it is something that we enjoy doing to really learn. It's not very high-tech, but just taking an old mason jar or something and driving around after heavy rain and checking our own fields, how are they doing? And sometimes they're gin clear, sometimes they're still a little bit murky. And ultimately that's, to me, one of the goals for that farm legacy is to pass it along in better condition. And of course that means trying to keep as much of that viable topsoil and hopefully even grow to it, grow the organic matter, grow the resilience of the farm operation.

Would you say a lot of the growers that are kind of nearby you guys, is there a lot of people in the regenerative ag space doing cover crops and no-till, or are you guys kind of the outliers for the area that you live in?

Great question. We were not the first to start using covers, but I would say overall on the adoption scale, we're still probably on the low side, even compared to the rest of Iowa. But on the encouraging side, we are seeing more and more covers. This fall has been a little bit on the drier side, so there could be seed sitting in dry soil just waiting for the right conditions to germinate. But I would say the trend has been directionally positive and upward in the area. We still have a fair amount of livestock producers, still a fair amount of cattle right here in Southeast Iowa. So I think that also bodes well as people are looking at that, of course, being a profitable enterprise these days. And of course, every research study that I've ever seen says that if you want that instant ROI, put your livestock out on covers.

And so I think that represents a growth opportunity for us as well. So we're the first, but hopefully we'll be adding to that by removing that one more barrier. People don't have the time, don't have the equipment.

Yeah, that's a good point. I'm curious too, obviously you guys have a lot of farming experience and a strong ag background, but how have you found the business aspect of this to be so far? Are either of you have business backgrounds or is that part of it kind of new to you guys?

What do you think?

It's definitely new to us.

So of course, being involved in the farm and also running the Conservation Technology Information Center, certain amount of business acumen in that regard. But I would say this was new, setting up an LLC, just going through different insurance efforts to make sure we recovered there, and of course, having equipment on the road. And one of my goals for this also is just to give him that firsthand experience versus just inheriting a business in a different sense that he really is on the ground floor and can go through all those steps firsthand to understand that it is, of course, far more complex and a lot more workload than just simply filling a tender with seed and hitting the auto steer button to get across the field. And he's taken to that. He's, I think, appreciated that element of it. And I think there's something to be said about just learning by doing.

You can certainly read and understand things from watching webinars or going to business school, but just going through the motions himself gives him that firsthand experience and certainly would be remiss if I didn't also touch on that we had applied for the Practical Farmers of Iowa Cover Crop Business Accelerator program back in June of 2025. And fortunately, we're accepted. So we're in this year's cohort working through with a number of other startup companies, getting different coaching elements, marketing tips and tricks as well. Actually, one of the latest things that we just put the finishing touches on this week was the logo soon to be unveiled for Clearwater Cover Crops.

We'll come back to the episode in a moment, but first I'd like to thank our podcast sponsor, Yetter Farm Equipment. Looking for innovative solutions to maximize your farm's productivity? Look no further than Yetter Farm Equipment. We're dedicated to providing farmers with the highest quality equipment, from road cleaners and closing wheels to fertilizer management, strip till units, installed devastators. Yetter has the tools you need to optimize your farming operation. Visit yetterco.com to learn more and find a dealer near you.

So for those who aren't familiar with it, I guess talk a little bit about that accelerator program, what it does, how it helps you guys, and makes things a little easier.

You want to take the first stab? Remember some of the details?

Well, just startup costs, like you got 5,000 for startup of your choice, what to put that for. That was a big hope.

Yep. So it's of course meant to reduce the barriers to entry a little bit, whether it's the legal support that's needed or the capital and equipment costs. In our case, we were starting from scratch. We decided not to use any of the farm operations equipment just so it was completely separate from a PNL standpoint. And so we put the first 5,000 towards an Unverferth 1245 rolling basket drill. And then like I said earlier, also went tractor shopping. So he now has the fun responsibility of being a co-signer on a loan and what that all consists of as well. But Practical Farmers has been great to work with. And so that 5,000 was a big part initially. And then going forward, we've got additional marketing support from them. Actually, one of their graphic artists is helping us with the logo. And then in 2026, we'll be able to earn additional resources by acre with a bonus, small incentive payment for each acre that we roll over on the custom world up to, I think, about 1,600 acres as the cap for that next year.

So this year was just getting our foot in the water literally and starting to build a customer base, getting some testimonials, getting the bugs worked out in the equipment and setting us up for next year's success.

And so logistics-wise, do they assign you a team or a person that's working with you as well?

Yeah, we have a lead staff member from Practical Farmers, as well as coming up in January at their state conference, as well as later this winter at the Iowa Ag Expo. They're going to get the cohort of past and current farmers and other custom applicators together for just networking, sharing best management practices, and getting us together to learn and share experiences, sharing what works, and hopefully allowing all of us to be a little bit more successful.

Awesome. Yeah, I want to go back too for a second, Matt, you mentioned that you're a senior in high school. And I think back to when I was a senior in high school, it's a busy time. There's schoolwork. I had hockey team practice I was on. There's a lot of things that you're juggling, but you're working on the farm. I'm sure you got schoolwork too. And how do you juggle all these responsibilities?

Probably just to get the schoolwork done during the day so you don't have maybe as much homework to do during when you get home so you have more time to go sit in a tractor.

It was definitely some late nights. There were some early AM trips by the time we shuffled equipment back and eventually got home. Like I mentioned earlier, it's been relatively dry, but we had a few sprint exercises to get more seed in the ground before the rain did come. That, of course, some of our clients, some of our farmers that we've been helping support were anxious to ensure that our covers would get off to a good start. So he was definitely burning the candle at both ends.

That's awesome. I'm sure, I mean, it sounds like a lot of great experience and definitely something that a lot of kids your age maybe don't get exposed to that soon, so that's pretty cool. I'm curious too, I want to hear each of your separate answers on this. What has been the most fun and the most challenging part about just the whole business so far for each of you?

The funnest part would be just driving, riding the tractors, going to see new fields and just cover new ground. It's always exciting when you get to pull up to a field and unfold and go. One of the more challenging things, when we first bought the cover crop cedar, there was a valve in one of the hoses that it wasn't assembled right. And so just trying to get that all figured out and squared away. Took quite a few tries and a few calls to Umberfurth to get that squared away, but got it figured out and was able to then get it working correctly.

You stole my answers. Yeah. On the frustrating part, just like any new piece of equipment, it's getting things figured out. So when it is go time, things are operating as efficiently as possible. And thankfully, we did get that accomplished really before the peak of the season hit in late September. On the rewarding side, I think just watching him in his element and getting these life experiences to be a successful entrepreneur and to be able to be a little bit of a support system for him, but also just moving that relationship now that he's an adult and going from father-son to just business partner, I think that's something that both right here and now has been rewarding, but also just I think once a couple years tick by looking back, that'll be even more rewarding as something that we did together.

Absolutely. So you talked a little bit about what the next few months and into next year might look like for you guys. If you could fast-forward five years from now, what do you want this to look like and what's the goal for the long-term for the project?

Well, five years ahead. Well, maybe becoming a seed dealer, selling our own seed would be definitely neat to do that.

Yeah, there's some growth opportunity to that for sure. One thing that we kind of joked about when we were out in the field together, he did probably 90, 95% of the acres this fall, and once in a while he tolerated me being in the cab with him, but we kind of joked in a fun way how great it would be if we were actually running a couple different rigs because the business had grown and outstripped the supply and availability of just having one rig to maybe having both of us be rolling.

Yeah.

Yeah. Very, very good goals, good answers. All right, well, I'll wrap up with a fun question. I think it's a fun one anyway. And I think, Ryan, I may have asked you this before last time I had you on, but I'm curious, what is each of your first memories of agriculture? If you can think all the way back to when you're younger, what's your youngest and earliest memory of farming?

Probably walking beans. If I had to trace back to an experience, a memory where, especially I was hands-on before I was independent enough or dad or grandpa trusted me enough to run solo in a piece of equipment. It was just with a bean hook in my hand in June or July. Of course, hot mornings, sometimes full of dew and getting wet, but doing that was probably one of, if not the earliest memories that I have. And before he gives his answer, I'll just also share one that kind of relates to our coming full circle story and deciding to move the family home in 2013. We were living in Bismarck, North Dakota at the time for a couple of years. And of course, they've got a diversity of crops, so they might be harvesting wheat midsummer all the way through corn harvest and sunflower harvest late fall, but he had such an infatuation with all things farming and tractors and combines, we would go out randomly in the countryside and just approach farmers.

Sometimes we would be out hunting, for example, in the morning. So he was four and five years old at the time. We'd get done hunting and then just driving around, we'd see harvest taking place. And not once did we ever get turned down for a ride along in a buddy seat. And so he could just go get literally his tractor fix as young boy. And I think that just kind of reinforced to me that he was born with the farming bug. But I'm curious what you remember.

Only one of my first early memories of being in that ag field was just riding along in the combine and always falling asleep and then banging your head against the window as you try to fall asleep and waking you back up. That's definitely probably my earliest memory.

Awesome. All right. Well, guys, thanks for joining. I'm excited to see what comes with the business and what the future holds for it. So thanks for the time.

Kain, thank you so much. We'll keep you posted.

Yeah, please do.

That's it for this episode of the No Till Farmer Podcast. We'd like to thank Ryan Heineger and his son, Matt, as they discuss the new cover crop business they started together. We also want to thank our sponsor, Yetter Farm Equipment for helping us make this podcast possible. A transcript of this episode in our archive of previous podcast episodes are both available at notillfarmer.com/podcasts. For Ryan, Matt, and our entire staff here at No Till Farmer, I'm John Dobberstein. Thanks for listening. Keep on no-tilling and have a great day.