Empowering Farmers to Navigate the Farm Bill

The collaboration between Decision Innovation Solutions (DIS) and the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation is a significant effort aimed at supporting Iowa farmers in navigating the complexities of the Farm Bill.

The Farm Bill is a critical piece of legislation that provides various programs to support the agricultural sector, including the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs.

DIS partnered with Iowa Farm Bureau Federation to develop decision tools aimed to help farmers understand their options and make informed choices between the ARC and PLC programs. These tools include:

  • Data Analysis: Extensive analysis was conducted for all Iowa counties to compare the potential benefits and drawbacks, and includes projections of revenue and price scenarios based on historical data and market trends
  • Interactive Tools: These tools include interactive calculators that allow farmers to input their specific data (such as expected yield, crop prices, and other relevant information) to see projected outcomes under both ARC and PLC programs

Testimonials

  • “I have had the pleasure of working with the professional staff of Decision Innovation Solutions on a number of projects over the years. In your most recent work, I was once again totally impressed with the end product your team delivered. It was not only delivered on time, but even more importantly, the analysis and recommendations were solidly supported by the research that underpinned the report. Thank you for the work and thank you for the insights your team delivered.”

    Kirk Leeds, Iowa Soybean Association

  • “Decision Innovation provides very thorough analysis of key information that allows the client to make the best use of the data. We were able to easily incorporate the data provided into our marketing strategies to offer a clear snapshot of our industry’s impact on the Iowa economy. I would highly recommend Decision Innovation Solutions!”

    Ron Birkenholz, Iowa Pork Producers Association

  • “Decision Innovation Solutions’ (DIS) knowledge and background in agriculture made them a natural fit to help us quantify the economic impact and volume of the animal food industry. The team at DIS was easy to work with, knowledgeable and thorough. Their excellent work has provided us a valuable resource to educate lawmakers, staff and the general public about how the animal food industry supports jobs, builds the economy and about what animals eat. DIS went above and beyond our expectations by not only delivering the study, but creating an interface so we could easily break the data down into usable chunks of information about states and congressional districts. The research has proved invaluable for our state and federal government affairs work and we look forward to working with DIS again in the future. DIS delivers on objectives, is flexible and accommodating of customer needs and ensures the quality of their product is unmatched.”

    John Stewart, American Feed Industry Association

  • “Our organization has a large database that hadn’t been kept up to date for years. We knew there was a solution to modernizing it and we also knew that solution was way beyond our in-house capabilities. Since I had known Spence personally for several years, it was an easy choice to reach out to DIS for this project.

    After meeting with the DIS team and feeling confident that all of the appropriate security and confidentiality measures were in place, they completed the project as they said they would, within the timeframe and budget that they had provided. Maybe more impressive though, was they reached out to us as they were completing the project and told us that they had a come up with a few more ideas on how to make the project even more accurate if we were okay with DIS extending the timeframe for another week. Since our project wasn’t time-sensitive the decision to let them continue working was a no-brainer. We were pleased with how the project turned out and would absolutely work with DIS again in the future.”

    President of a lobbying group

  • “Decision Innovation Solutions have been very responsive to our request for proposals. DIS has produced very timely, comprehensive, and usable reports for our soybean farmers in Missouri. Anyone looking for those type of reports should certainly consider the services of DIS.”

    Tony Stafford, Missouri Soybean Association

  • “Our experience with Decision Innovation Solutions (DIS) has been very positive. We’ve been involved in commissioning two studies and appreciate the high-quality work and professionalism of the DIS staff. The results of the economic contributions of agriculture study are an excellent tool to highlight the importance of agriculture in every county in the state.”

    Dan Cassidy, Missouri Farm Bureau

  • “Decision Innovation Solutions’ (DIS) knowledge and background in agriculture made them a natural fit to help us assess and study the state of agriculture in South Dakota. The team at DIS was easy to work with, knowledgeable and thorough. Their excellent work has provided us with a comprehensive picture of the agriculture industry and how it impacts our state. Their study has been utilized inside and outside of government to communicate the importance of agriculture to South Dakota and to help us plan for the future.”

    Lucas Lentsch, State of South Dakota

  • “Decision Innovation Solutions has been a very good provider of detailed, unique research and analysis for Iowa Farm Bureau Federation. I have found DIS to be very flexible as they have responded to our varied requests and research requirements. There work on models for farm program analysis, and biofuels analysis have provided great insights and information for our members. Their work on environmental and water quality analysis is superb. I strongly recommend them to anyone needing analytical work done on ag and environmental issues.”

    David Miller, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation

  • “Decision Innovations Solutions prepared a report about the economic impact of tractor rollovers in Iowa for I-CASH. They were excellent to work with and were always responsive to our questions. More importantly, they were genuinely interested in the issue and our desire to know about how farm fatalities affect family finances and tax revenues. They gave our project their full attention and produced an excellent, thorough report that has been very useful to us in our work.”

    Brandi Janssen, Iowa’s Center for Agricultural Safety and Health

  • “We have been working with Decision Innovation Solutions for the past ten years to perform economic analysis pertinent to crop and livestock farmers. Decision Innovation Solutions is an absolute pleasure to work with.They are friendly, accommodating and patient. Their staff brings impeccable technical know-how, expertise and creativity to every project they have completed for us.

    I’m always impressed with the service I receive when I interact with them. They listen carefully and ‘get it’ very quickly. They respond to questions almost immediately and address them very effectively. The Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers highly recommends Decision Innovation Solutions to any agricultural business looking to reach Iowa’s crop and livestock farmers.”

    Russ Behrens, Grinnell City, IA

  • “Our organization turned to Decision Innovations Solutions to tackle a complex, statewide analysis that relied on large datasets. The project involved the support of several other organizations in our industry’s network.The DIS management team proved to be highly responsive to our communication needs and flexible in working with the steering committee for the project. DIS has continued to excel in mapping out potential areas of analysis, communicating with our network of specialists, and remaining accessible. We have found that DIS consistently delivers on project objectives and is innovative in helping our organization deal with emerging issues.”

    Mike Doherty, Illinois Farm Bureau

  • “Feed Energy has used Decision Innovation Solutions to create and implement a decision tool to dramatically improve our supply chain management process. This is a much more sophisticated approach than we have used and couldn’t have been done without the capabilities of DIS. Their analytical work, ability to quickly understand the depth and breadth of our business needs, and the decision tool that was created have all been first-rate and extremely useful to our business. We continue to use DIS in this process and their continuing assistance is invaluable. I would highly recommend their services.”

    Mike Shindelar, Feed Energy Company

  • “Quality, timely data and research is extremely important in reaching our organization’s advocacy goals. I’ve had the opportunity to work with Decision Innovation Solutions through three research studies they conducted for us. In each study, DIS listened to our research and data needs and goals; asked questions; developed appropriate cost-conscious proposals; provided feedback; keep us apprised of the research progress; and ultimately provided an excellent finished product. The Decision Innovation Solutions team was also willing to work with us closely in handling media questions on the research. The results of our research have been cited repeatedly by other interested parties and the media. There is no greater satisfaction than sitting at a conference and having a speaker cite research results and data and knowing you played a role in that research. Research performed by Decision Innovation Solutions can make that happen.”

    Jay Rempe, Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation

  • “In addition to the data collection, analysis, and presentation capabilities of DIS, I appreciate their ongoing efforts to match our organization’s research interests with other partners on areas of mutual concern. Our participation in and results from the Multi-State Land Use Study are a clear example; the information was insightful, helpful, and affordable for all parties involved!”

    Tamara A. Nelsen, Illinois Farm Bureau

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