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A Sense of Where You Are: Seeking Signs of Life

Part 4 in a Series

By Brian DeVore
January 18, 2025

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Note: This is the 4th installment in the 12-part “A Sense of Where You Are” series. 

Jerry and Nancy Ackermann’s context is this: for around four decades, they have been raising corn and soybeans in southwestern Minnesota’s Jackson County, a region dominated by the kind of flat, fertile fields that regularly churn out impressive yields of row crops utilizing conventional production methods. So the Ackermanns would be forgiven for pretty much raising crops the way folks always have in their neighborhood. Such production methods rely on tillage, exposed soil, and killing off weed and insect pests with chemicals.

Jerry Ackermann’s agronomist is a bit mystified at how little spraying is needed on his farm. “Something is working,” the agronomist told the farmer.

But the Ackermanns also bring the context of being long-term stewards to the table. “I was always taught you try to leave the ground in better shape than when you took it over,” said Jerry during a late-August field day the couple hosted.

So they’ve long implemented no-till practices to protect the soil from eroding. And it became clear a few years ago that just armoring the soil wasn’t enough, that biology also needed to be built up utilizing the living roots cover crops can provide. As a result of these soil health practices, they’re seeing better water infiltration and increased organic matter levels. The farmers have also been able to maintain high yields, despite the fact that they’ve reduced nitrogen fertilizer applications over the years.

During the field day, which was sponsored by the Soil Health Coalition, Practical Farmers of Iowa, and Pheasants Forever, Jerry emphasized how less tillage and more resilient, self-reliant soil has allowed them to cut their spending on fertilizer, fuel, tile drainage, and tillage equipment.

“I look at cover crops as an investment and not an expense,” Jerry said. “I’m using the money I’m saving on fuel and labor to pay for the cover cropping, and I feel I’m still 40 or 50 bucks ahead.”

Particularly striking is how, since they’ve adopted no-till and cover cropping, the Ackermanns have experienced fewer problems with pest insects. Jerry comes across as a no-nonsense row crop farmer, one who crunches the numbers and notices cause and effect. But he made it clear that when it comes to the complex, often mysterious, interactions that result from building biological life on his farm, he’s willing to step back and just enjoy the results. In fact, his agronomist is a bit mystified at how little spraying for insect pests needs to be done on the Ackermann farm.

“Whether it’s beneficial insects that’s controlling the bad bugs or whether it’s your soil practices, I don’t know,” Jerry recalled the agronomist once telling him. “But something is working.”

Sometimes the answer is as simple as this: life generates more life. During the field day, Stephanie McLain, a soil health specialist for the Minnesota office of the NRCS, showed the results of some insect trapping she had done on the Ackermann land that week. What was particularly exciting for her was that beneficial insects that feed on the “bad bugs” were found not just in a patch of wetland habitat the farmers have restored, but in the cropped fields as well — the ecological boundaries between the domesticated and wild parts of the farm were porous.

“In agriculture, we often focus on killing things,” said McLain later. “These farmers who get into soil health realize it’s not about death, it’s about life, and it’s about building this ecosystem.”

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

Give it a Listen

  • Ear to the Ground 351: Less Tillage, More Money (Jerry Ackermann)
  • Ear to the Ground 352: Land of the Living (Stephanie McLain)

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: A Sense of Where You Are • beneficial insects • corn-soybean production • cover crops • crop diversity • Jerry and Nancy Ackermann • no-till • soil health

Upcoming Events

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May 2025

Thursday May 29

9:00 am – 12:30 pm
Storytelling for Sales: Digital Marketing for Sustainable Farmers
Thursday May 29
9:00 am – 12:30 pm
Storytelling for Sales: Digital Marketing for Sustainable Farmers
Zoom Online

Storytelling for Sales: Digital Marketing Best Practices to Get Your Farm’s Next Customer is designed to help farmers grow their customer base by sharpening their storytelling and digital marketing skills—whether they’re selling through farmers’ markets, CSAs, or direct-to-retail. This Greener Pastures and Meet the Minnesota Makers workshop will cover how websites and social media can actually convert viewers into buyers to creating content that builds community loyalty.

This workshop is also designed for ag educators, professionals, and partner organizational staff who support farmers directly and want to be well-versed on the marketing best practices to support direct-to-consumer farms. 

For details and to register, click here.

Saturday May 31

10:00 am – 12:30 pm
Multi-species Pasture Walk
Saturday May 31
10:00 am – 12:30 pm
Multi-species Pasture Walk
872 320th Ave, Frederic, WI 54837, USA

The NW Wisconsin Graziers Network, River Country RC&Dand UW-Madison Extension invite you to a multi-species pasture walk hosted by JohnsonFamily Pastures LLC. The farm is located five miles east of Frederic in PolkCounty. This educational event willemphasize direct marketing, multi-species grazing, part-time family agricultureand silvopasture development. Light snacks and refreshments will be provided.

TheJohnson Family Pastures farm is home to Chris and Tamara Johnson and their twochildren. They raise grass-fed beef, silvopastured goats, and recently raised anumber of other species. The farm consists of about 160 acres of gently rollingpastures, silvopasture, and forest. Use of both temporary polybraid fencing andhigh tensile permanent fences allow for rotational grazing of small ruminants andout-wintering of beef cattle. Use of long-term farm transition strategies, cost-shareprograms, silvopasture development with goats, regenerative grazing, cattlehandling facility and bale grazing will be discussed along with answering anyand all questions from pasture walk participants.

An extensive and diversified direct marketing programhas been developed by Tamara and Chris that has included farmer markets, e-maillists, newsletters, website ordering, on-farm freezer storage, and other strategiesand tools to support direct sales and services for their customers.  Come and learn all about their successfulapproach.

For more information,contact Chris Johnson at 920-960-4475 or Lynn Johnson 715-225-9882 at NW Graziers.

June 2025

Wednesday June 25

2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
LSP-PFI Grazing Field Day at Hoosier Ridge Ranch
Wednesday June 25
2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
LSP-PFI Grazing Field Day at Hoosier Ridge Ranch
Hoosier Ridge Ranch, 15998 Wabasha County Rd 26, Altura, MN 55910, USA

Over the last 50 years, livestock have left many farms. Eric Heins is doing the reverse: bringing cattle – and their poop, pee and hooves – back to his land. Come see how Eric is using his Normande-shorthorn crosses in a variety of grazing situations. During this Land Stewardship Project-Practical Farmers of Iowa field day, you can view permanent pasture, where Eric (like everyone) is battling the cool-season grass takeover. You’ll also learn how Eric is using his cattle in cover crop mixes, prairie and woodlands.

Since purchasing the farm in 2020, Eric has converted the cropland to pasture. He also custom-farms a diverse rotation of crops, covers and small grains on neighboring farms, including an established prairie on Iowa Department of Natural Resources land. A possible bonus: Eric is hoping to have virtual fence collars by the time of the field day, but no guarantees!

A meal featuring Hoosier Ridge Ranch burgers will follow the field day.

See & Discuss

  • Cash-flowing the conversion to pasture on owned versus rented cropland
  • Stockpiling pasture for winter grazing
  • Mechanical buckthorn clearing for silvopasture
  • Grazing agreements on DNR prairie and neighboring cropland
  • A sudangrass mix after a canning pea crop
  • An extended rotation with oats, barley and Kernza

For details and to register, click here.

Saturday June 28

4:00 pm – 8:00 pm
LSP's Boots & Roots: A Celebration of Land & People
Saturday June 28
4:00 pm – 8:00 pm
LSP's Boots & Roots: A Celebration of Land & People
Dream Acres, Co Hwy 8, Spring Valley, MN 55975, USA

Join Land Stewardship Project members and supporters to kick-start the Driftless summer with an evening of good food, good music, and good times. We’ll have activities for all ages that will get you out in nature, exploring the connection between our region’s farms and your community’s food, land, and water. Bring a side or dessert to share for dinner, and the Dream Acres wood-fired oven will provide locally-sourced pizzas and flat breads. Dinner will be followed by live music and contra dancing by the Crater City String Band.  

To reserve a spot, click here.

Camping sites are available at nearby Masonic Park and Forestville Mystery Cave and Lake Louise State Parks. Camping at Masonic is rustic,first-come-first-serve, free, and does not require a reservation. Fillmore County, who manages the park, only asks that you call the dispatchers at507-765-3874 when you arrive with your vehicle information and phone number in case of emergency. State Park reservations cost $25 a night and can be made online.

July 2025

Tuesday July 15

5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Organic Fruit & Vegetable Field Day
Tuesday July 15
5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Organic Fruit & Vegetable Field Day
1805 Dudley Ave, Falcon Heights, MN 55113, USA

Join U of M researchers and Extension for updates on organic fruit and vegetable research and tour the Student Organic Farm and the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station in Saint Paul. Topics include: organic insect management, integrating livestock into vegetable farms, new crops for Minnesota, irrigation strategies, and more. Free to the public.
 
For details and to register, click here.

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