What happens when you get out of the car and wade into a prairie? A scientist and a soil expert talk about this biome’s under-appreciated beauty, its outsized benefits, and how grazing can fuel its ecological energy.

Other Ear to the Ground Podcasts on Prairies & Farming:

• Episode 25: The farm as natural habitat.

• Episode 66: A Minnesota farm helps make up for the loss of prairie (part 1).

• Episode 67: A Minnesota farm helps make up for the loss of prairie (2nd of 2 parts).

• Episode 105: How beef producers Mary Jo and Luverne Forbord bank on biodiversity to manage economic and environmental risk.

• Episode 136: How can we get more farms to integrate prairie into row-cropped fields?

• Episode 156: An LSP-sponsored ‘BioBlitz’ in Minnesota’s Simon Lake area provides a kick-start for utilizing grazing to revitalize natural habitat.

• Episode 168: Rural residents and naturalists team up to “BioBlitz” grassland and learn about its relationship to clean water and vibrant communities.

• Episode 171: Using conservation grazing to revitalize a prairie.

• Episode 182: How rotational grazing on one farm is improving profits, wildlife habitat and community relations.

• Episode 197: A row-cropped field is converted back to prairie by Jessica and Shane Blair, benefiting the environment and livestock.

• Episode 200: Birds and other biological indicators provide evidence that an Iowa farm is a “working ecosystem.”

• Episode 228: During a tallgrass prairie “BioBlitz,” farmers, a wildlife expert, and an LSP organizer discuss how livestock can benefit natural habitat and the community at large.

• Episode 234: How the Tallgrass Prairie Center is helping farmers introduce a little wild perenniality into a domesticated working landscape.

You can find LSP Ear to the Ground podcast episodes on Spotify, Stitcher, iTunes, and other podcast platforms.