Note: This is the 11th installment in the 12-part “A Sense of Where You Are” series.
Be careful who you invite onto the farm, especially if it’s a return visit. Jon and Carin Stevens learned that lesson in late August when a nationally known soil health expert walked their fields and grubbed up some samples during a field day sponsored by the Minnesota Soil Health Coalition, U of M Extension, and the state department of agriculture, among others.
The Stevenses’ farming context is that they are raising corn and soybeans pretty much on the edge of where such row crops can be raised successfully in Minnesota. They have 750 crop and pasture acres in Pine County. To get a sense of how far north that is, there are times when they’ve had to use tillage to fix damage black bears wreak on their fields. And as Jon puts it, the low-lying landscape of the farm can be pretty unforgiving when it comes to compaction, turning into a layer of “concrete” so hard that water can barely penetrate.
Traditionally, operating in such a harsh environment has prompted Maple Grove Farm to rely on moldboard plowing and other forms of intense tillage to tame the soil. But during the past half-dozen-years, the farmers have made some significant changes to the operation, including utilizing more no-till practices and cover cropping. And Carin has added a cow-calf herd, which they rotationally graze. Overall, the Stevenses have developed a rotation that involves, for example, four years of grazing their beef herd on forages, and then taking advantage of the fertility added by the manure and legumes to grow two years of cash crops like corn and soybeans on the former grazing paddocks.
The farmers have noticed dramatic changes to their fields as a result of this integration of row crops, livestock, and perennials. Water is infiltrating better, their beef herd is thriving, and their input costs have dropped.
“Those food grade soybeans over there had no purchased phosphorus and potassium applied to them this year,” said Jon, pointing to a lush stand of the legume. “It’s working.”
Still, the couple was nervous about having Jay Fuhrer be the main speaker at their field day. While a staffer with the NRCS, he was instrumental in developing the Burleigh County Soil Health Team in North Dakota. That team, which consisted of farmers like Gabe Brown, as well as government natural resource experts and scientists, played a key role in sparking the current soil health revolution we’re seeing in this country and beyond. Today, Fuhrer travels widely as a soil health consultant and speaker. By coincidence, he had visited Maple Grove Farm seven years ago, just as the operation was beginning to make major changes to the way it managed soil. Back then, Fuhrer could barely get his shovel in the ground to take samples.
So, when he hiked the operation’s fields in 2024, there was some trepidation as to what he’d find. This time, the shovel slid in easily, unearthing dark clumps of soil with good aggregate structure.
“What I’m really seeing here is that the bar has been raised when it comes to soil health on this farm,” Fuhrer said. “I think they’ve done a really good job of connecting the cropping system and the grazing system. Maybe seven years from now we can look at it again.”
Brian DeVore edits the Land Stewardship Letter and produces the Ear to the Ground podcast.
Give it a Listen
- Ear to the Ground 353: 7 Years Later (Jon Stevens)
- Ear to the Ground 354: Great Expectations (Jay Fuhrer)