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A Sense of Where You Are

11 Examples of Viewing Farms in Context (Part 1 in a Series)

By Brian DeVore
January 21, 2025

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During a pasture walk, participants in LSP’s Driftless Grazing School discussed how to put soil health in context.

Note: This is the 1st installment in the 12-part “A Sense of Where You Are” series. 

On a sunny day in June, hundreds of ewes make their way through a narrow grazing paddock, flowing along the contours of a Driftless Area hill in southeastern Minnesota like a woolly river. Later in the growing season, a west-central Minnesota farmer shows off a flat-as-a-pancake field that had formerly grown hybrid poplars — it’s now being converted to another form of perennials that can be grazed by beef cattle. As trains rumble by just a few yards away, a vegetable farmer in the middle of Minneapolis grapples with the challenges of building soil health in the city. In western Wisconsin, a produce and chicken operation bases part of its marketing strategy on the idea that rural people deserve to eat healthy food as well. In central Minnesota, a dairy farming family realizes that building biology isn’t just good for the land and crops — it also improves quality of life. Seventy miles to the south, an organic farmer checks a massive whiteboard “spreadsheet” set up in his machine shed to schedule daily tasks at a time when climate change leaves little room for error. In southwestern Minnesota, a family converts row cropped fields to annual and perennial forages as their neighbors haul corn past their fields to the local ethanol plant.

Doing things in “context” is a big part of the regenerative farming discussion these days. In fact, the original “five principles of soil health” — armor the soil, minimize soil disturbance, increase plant diversity, keep living roots in the soil, and integrate livestock — now have a sixth companion: keep things in context. It’s not enough to adopt a practice that, for example, produces a marketable product, reduces labor, or builds good aggregate soil structure. One also needs to figure out where that practice fits in as far as the bigger, interconnected picture is concerned. Raising corn when prices are high makes sense when considering it as an isolated enterprise. But what’s the cost from a labor, input, and equipment point of view? And what happens when the market nosedives? Integrating cover crops into a corn-soybean operation is always a good idea if reducing erosion and building soil biology are the goals, but how sustainable is the practice if it doesn’t generate enough economic value to keep it going in the long term?

During the 2024 field day season, considering things in context was a major topic in pastures and crop fields, as well as in vegetable plots and high tunnels. See below for links to our special “A Sense of Where You Are” blog series, which provides firsthand reports from 11 of those field days. These are 11 mini-examples of farmers connecting the dots and putting them into perspective every chance they get. Taken as whole, they provide a glimpse at the potential regenerative farming has for revitalizing the land and our communities.

Brian DeVore edits the Land Stewardship Letter and produces the Ear to the Ground podcast.

Installments in the ‘A Sense of Where You Are’ Series:

  1. Introduction to the Series: A Sense of Where You Are
  2. Red Dresses & Magic Management
  3. In the Blood
  4. Seeking Signs of Life
  5. Forest for the Trees
  6. The Quickening
  7. Food Bank Booster
  8. First Things First
  9. The Big Picture
  10. The Snowball Effect
  11. 7 Years Later
  12. Against the Grain
Category: Blog
Tags: farmer-to-farmer • field days • regenerative agriculture • soil health

Upcoming Events

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August 2025

Friday August 8

4:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Roots & Rotation Grazing Field Day
Friday August 8
4:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Roots & Rotation Grazing Field Day
10470 190th St, Park Rapids, MN 56470, USA

Roots and Rotation is a summer field day series happening across Minnesota. These field days will discuss the use of livestock for soil health goals in different agricultural systems. 
 
Learn about the benefits of integrating livestock onto cropland and how to make it work on your operation. Hear from experienced farmers and Extension educators specializing in crops, livestock, and soil health. These events are for producers looking to elevate their cropland soil health and increase their forage resources. 

For more information and to register, see the Minnesota Grazing Lands Conservation Association website.

4:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Sunflower Social Farmer Gathering
Friday August 8
4:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Sunflower Social Farmer Gathering
22955 570th Ave, Austin, MN 55912, USA

Members of the Land Stewardship Project’s Austin Area Soil Health Hub are hosting a sunflower social on Tom and Kim Finnegan’s farm Friday, Aug. 8, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. This event will be open to all area farmers. Meet members of this peer-to-peer farmer group, see the beautiful sunflower fields, and learn about diversification.  

Farming should include a trusted network that ensures we are all successful. How could having a network of farmers that provide support, resources, and comradery impact your farm? 

On Aug. 8, gather with area farmers who are invested in soil health and sustainable practices, and are committed to learning from each other. Join us for an evening on the Finnegan farm for a hay ride around the sunflower fields and to learn more about their diversified farm. There will be a supper and lots of time to connect with farmers in the area.

RSVP here. 

Thursday August 14

6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
LSA-COPAL Ice Cream Social/Reunión de Helados!
Thursday August 14
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
LSA-COPAL Ice Cream Social/Reunión de Helados!
Sauk River Park, 206 5th Ave NE, Melrose, MN 56352, USA

Land Stewardship Action (the Land Stewardship Project’s partner organization) and COPAL (Communities Organizing Latine Power and Action) invite you to an ice cream social at Sauk River Park in Melrose on Thursday, August 14. There will be sweet treats and opportunities to connect with those in your community, many of whom you might not know yet. This is a time to come together over our shared vision for a better future rooted in community, diversity, fairness, health, and democracy.

If you’re able, please register ahead of time through the link below so we can get an idea of numbers. Feel free to pass the invite on to others in the community as well — the more the merrier!

You can register here. 
 
For more information, contact Land Stewardship Action’s Emily Minge at eminge@landstewardshipproject.org.

Friday August 15

9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Managed Grazing & Soil Health Field Day: Rush City
Friday August 15
9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Managed Grazing & Soil Health Field Day: Rush City
10815 555th St, Rush City, MN 55069, USA

Join the Minnesota Soil Health Coalition at Jon Steven’s Maple Grove Farm for a field day focused on managed grazing and other methods to build the health of soils. Connect with other farmers and learn from the leaders in Minnesota on soil health. Featured speakers: Tom Cotter, Brady Wulf, Myron Sylling, and Joe Ailts. Free lunch by Maxwell’s Southern BBQ. Details are here.

Saturday August 16

12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Soil Health Master Class: Morris
Saturday August 16
12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Soil Health Master Class: Morris
Old No 1 Bar & Grill, 412 Atlantic Ave, Morris, MN 56267, USA

Details are here.

View Full Calendar

Recent Posts

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  • Social Sustainability: Fostering Farmer-Focused Communities  July 24, 2025
  • A Healthy Hub of Activity July 21, 2025
  •  Beginning Farmer Program for MN, WI & IA Accepting Applications for 2025-2026 Course July 16, 2025

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