Ear to the Ground 149
Farm Beginnings grads talk about being in the “experimental/making mistakes” stage of their enterprise.
Farm Beginnings grads talk about being in the “experimental/making mistakes” stage of their enterprise.
A drive through Farm Country this winter is a revelatory experience. Revelatory in that the impacts of planting the landscape to monocultures of corn and soybeans and plowing the ground black as soon after harvest as possible are there for all to see. The revealer? All that “snirt” one sees in road ditches across the… Read More →
Gary Van Ryswyk’s concern for how his farming methods impact the landscape is obvious. A practitioner of a no-till system that avoids disturbing a field’s surface as much as possible, he is particularly focused on keeping soil in place. “None of us who farm want the soil to move—we care,” Van Ryswyk told me one… Read More →
As Midwestern farm fields take a long winter’s nap, evidence is piling up that even when the temperature’s above freezing, all that soil is basically in a bit of a stupor—so devoid of microbial life that it can’t even produce a decent crop without getting a hit of chemical inputs. The latest proof of this… Read More →
New farmers talk about how Farm Beginnings helps them balance demand for their products with keeping their businesses, and lives, sustainable.
A brother-sister team uses Farm Beginnings and Journeyperson to help transition from being landowners to active farmers.
Farm Beginnings applies the brakes to a young couple’s farming plans—in a good way.
An innovative grass-based system makes a farm friendly to livestock, wildlife and the bottom line.
This winter, when you reach for a nice, perfectly-shaped tomato in the produce section of your local supermarket, think of Lucas Mariano Domingo. For two and a half years the Guatemalan lived in the back of a windowless box truck with three other men while he picked tomatoes in the fields surrounding the Florida community… Read More →
A beginning farmer talks about how it can be difficult to get access to land—even in the middle of farm country.