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Searched for: seeking organic farmland to rent or buy iowa

Digging into a Soil Health Test

A streak of creativity brightens the landscape when farmers join forces with scientists to investigate “the standard” of what we thought we already knew. Take, for example, the fresh look at how soil functions—collectively called soil health—that has been the talk of Land Stewardship Project workshops and field days the past five years or so.…  Read More

Seeking Farmer: Iowa

Ryan is seeking a farmer to work for him on his 50 acre conventional dairy farm in Waterloo, Iowa.  Ryan has a dairy parlor that is setup for sheep or goats, along with numerous buildings for housing animals, and acreage available for pasture or haying. Current tenant is retiring after the 2025 season.

A Graphic View of Diversity’s Power

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a good infographic can be the equivalent of thousands of pounds of soil. That thought occurred to me recently while viewing the cool illustration below. Produced by scientists who are studying the effects of adding some targeted diversity to row-cropped fields in central Iowa, it tells…  Read More

Talking Conservation in Our Farm Leases

With a single phrase, we can put conservation to work on rented land. And that would have a major impact from a landscape point of view: more than half the crops in Minnesota and Iowa alone are produced on rented acres, and every one of them could be saving soil, water, habitat and money with…  Read More

Farm Transition Profile: The Goal Standard of Farming

One day in 2014, a man stopped by Bill and Bonnie McMillin’s farm tucked away in the hills of southeastern Minnesota’s Wabasha County and offered to pay cash for all 160 acres, lock, stock and barrel. Such an offer can be tempting. After all, Bill and Bonnie had worked hard over the previous few decades…  Read More

A Sense of Where You Are: Against the Grain

Part 12 in a Series

Note: This is the 12th installment in the 12-part “A Sense of Where You Are” series.  In case Allen and Kathleen Deutz need a reminder of one of the main reasons corn dominates the landscape in their part of southwestern Minnesota, they need to look no further than the massive Archer-Daniels-Midland ethanol plant that rises to…  Read More