How One Farm’s Focus on Soil Health Helped Make Row-Cropping Viable…& Fun The economic benefits of building soil health are a balancing act between immediate payoff and delayed gratification. In an ideal situation, the source of those quick profits will set the foundation for a longer-term investment that pays dividends. For example, Dawn and Grant… Read More →
When Nathan Vergin applied to work as an apprentice on Polyface Farm in Virginia back in the mid-2000s, he had to undergo a three-day “working interview.” Vergin, who grew up helping out on a sheep dairy near Northfield, Minn., passed the trial by fire, and went on to serve a two-year apprenticeship with the farm’s… Read More →
RED WING, Minn. — Are you a farmer or landowner thinking about the next steps for your farm and the legacy you would like to leave on the land? The Land Stewardship Project’s Farm Transition Planning Workshop Series provides an opportunity to reflect on the future as well as to do some active planning. The… Read More →
OWATONNA, Minn. — Farmers, landowners, and anglers can learn how to buck the damage caused by extreme weather to soil and water during a program on Saturday, Jan. 25, being hosted by the Izaak Walton League’s (Ikes) Owatonna chapter and the Upper Mississippi River Initiative (UMRI). The workshop begins with registration at 9 a.m. at… Read More →
How one land grant experiment station is helping farmers integrate livestock and crops in a way that creates resilient soils…and a resilient food system.
Excessive erosion on her farm prompted Jeannie Hill to have a hard conversation with her renter. But first, she did some homework.
Earlier this week, at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis., U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue made the following remarks in regard to the economic crisis facing many small and mid-sized farmers, especially dairy farmers: “In America, the big get bigger and the small go out. I don’t think in America we, for any… Read More →
LEWISTON, Minn. — Composting and soil biology will be the focus of a Land Stewardship Project field day on Thursday, Sept. 12, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., at the Lewiston dairy farm of Dale and Carmene Pangrac and Kim and Andy Olson (19300 Trestle Drive). The field day will explore the soil microbial universe… Read More →
Ross Cooper and his family raise canning and grain crops on their Century Farm in Spring Valley in southeastern Minnesota. Shortly after his son was born, Ross converted to no-till to cut down on the amount of time he was spending in the tractor. More recently, he has begun integrating cover crops into the farming… Read More →
When considering significant changes to the way one farms, there’s nothing like a couple acres of convincer, a template for the potential offered up by tapping into the land’s ability to build soil health in an economically viable manner utilizing livestock and perennial plants. Mark Erickson points out just such a personal proving ground on… Read More →
