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Oats & The 3-Legged Stool of Farm Resiliency

This Humble Grain Represents One Commonsense Approach to Diversifying the Landscape

By Shea-Lynn Ramthun
November 16, 2024

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In case you haven’t noticed, the humble oat is having a bit of a moment. After decades of declines in oat plantings in Minnesota, acreage increased this year. Market demand for the small grain is up, a group of farmers are attempting to pull together funding for a major processing plant in southern Minnesota, and research is showing that this crop can serve as a key linchpin in a rotation that builds healthy soil and protects water quality. Finally, myself and other southeastern Minnesota farmers who are organizing around cooperatively marketing the grain were recently featured prominently in the Star Tribune newspaper.

As a beginning farmer, Land Stewardship Project soil health organizer, and rural resident who cares about the economic and environmental health of my community, I’m thrilled to see this small grain getting some big attention. It’s become clear that if we are successful in making it a key part of our rotation, it could serve as a three-legged stool that supports economic, agronomic, and environmental sustainability. The oat isn’t the GOAT, but it does have some pretty cool superpowers.

A forage crop emerges from a harvested oat field on Shea-Lynn Ramthun’s farm in southeastern Minnesota.

 

For example, on my farm I recently interseeded oats with clover — oats serve as an excellent protective “nurse crop” for forages while they’re getting started. I harvested the oats for the grain and the straw, and started rotationally grazing my beef herd on the forage a month later. This saved me two months of feeding hay, which resulted in a roughly $1,500 reduction in my feed bill for my herd of nine cattle. That’s a major boost for a beginning farmer who is trying to figure out how to integrate livestock back onto the land in a practical, economically viable manner. To top it off, because of the high feed value provided by the forage, I had to call the butcher and move up the slaughter date by six weeks. By the way, my customers said that was the best beef they’d ever had.

There are other economic benefits to diversifying the rotation with a crop like oats. When paired with a legume like clover, oats create a field environment where nitrogen can be fixed naturally. In fact, studies show that integrating small grains like oats into a rotation can boost corn and soybean yields by 5%, adding $30 per acre in farmer income. In addition, when integrated with legumes, oats can result in a $15 per acre savings as a result of reduced fertilizer costs. That’s important at a time when commercial fertilizer prices remain stubbornly high.

And it turns out less of a reliance on purchased nitrogen fertilizer means less nitrate pollution in our groundwater, a key issue here in southeastern Minnesota. Adding a single small grain like oats to a rotation can have a significantly positive impact on our air and climate, according to research conducted by the University of Minnesota and Iowa State University. That study found more diverse rotations used 56% less fossil fuels, generated 54% fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and had monetized damages from greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants that were 42% lower than the conventional corn-soybean system.

The other farmers I work with through LSP’s Soil Builders’ Network have found that oats can play a key role in building soil health profitably. Oats provide cover for the soil and fibrous living roots beneath the surface at a time when row crops like corn and soybeans are just getting their growing season started. The beauty of oats is that, unlike some experimental “third crops” out there, they have a long history on Midwestern farms — oats have been grown on our farm for six generations, for example. Growing this grain does not require a major shift in equipment or handling and storage facilities. And oats can play a complementary role in our existing corn-soybean rotation.

What I’ve found is growing a crop like oats may not produce profitable returns immediately (like corn and soybeans can in good years), but it creates a good investment in the soil and my bank account over several growing seasons. That’s key to long-term resiliency when volatile price swings plague mainstream commodity crops like corn and soybeans.

What I’ve found is growing a crop like oats may not produce profitable returns immediately, but it creates a good investment in the soil and my bank account over several growing seasons.

There are big picture economic benefits to increasing the presence of oats here in Minnesota as well. With a growing consumer trend toward healthy, sustainable foods, oats present a prime opportunity to build a resilient, locally driven supply chain for an in-demand product. Oat sales climbed almost 45% during the 2022 growing season, according to one market research analysis. The $5.16 billion market for oats in the U.S. is projected to have a 7.8% mean annual growth rate between now and 2030.

So what can be done to get more oats growing on more Minnesota farms? For one, farmers like me need to be guaranteed a consistently profitable market if we are expected to take the risk of growing this crop. Two out of the top 10 companies with the largest oat market shares are based in Minnesota. Ironically, those companies, General Mills and Grain Millers, source most of their oats from Canada; in fact, the U.S. is the biggest importer of oats in the world. What if our homegrown companies bought more homegrown product?

The potential for rural Minnesota is huge. Consider this: farmers who are proposing a processing facility in Albert Lea that could handle 30,000 acres of oats annually estimate that each oat-producing acre would use 50 pounds less purchased nitrogen per year. Now what if we expanded this environmental (and economic) opportunity by having additional oat processing facilities located in other parts of Minnesota? One estimate is that three oat processing facilities would support 500 small to mid-sized farms through the addition of a profitable third crop while creating dozens of new jobs.

Are oats some sort of magical silver bullet? No, but they do represent one commonsense approach to diversifying our landscape while building economic, agronomic, and environmental resiliency. Let’s take advantage of oats’ moment in the sun while we have the chance.

LSP soil health organizer Shea-Lynn Ramthun is a Farm Beginnings graduate and raises crops and livestock in Minnesota’s Goodhue County.

Category: Blog
Tags: beginning farmers • crop diversity • integrating livestock • nitrates • oats • rural economic development • small grains • soil health • water quality

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Saturday May 31

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Multi-species Pasture Walk
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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

Saturday June 21

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Farm-Scale Deep Winter Greenhouse Tour
Saturday June 21
1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Farm-Scale Deep Winter Greenhouse Tour
Owl Bluff Farm, 12314 County Road 4 Houston, MN 55943

The University of Minnesota Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP) and Owl Bluff Farm will co-host an open house to celebrate the completion of the state’s first farm-scale deep winter greenhouse. The event, held on the farm about 45 minutes east of Rochester, is free and open to the public. RSVPs are required at z.umn.edu/OwlBluffOpenHouse.

Wednesday June 25

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LSP-PFI Grazing Field Day at Hoosier Ridge Ranch
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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.

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4:00 pm – 8:00 pm
LSP's Boots & Roots: A Celebration of Land & People
Saturday June 28
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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.

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Tuesday July 15

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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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