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Red Rooster Ranch: Spreading the Cover Crop Message

By Connor Dunn
November 6, 2020

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Staff from the Land Stewardship Project’s Bridge to Soil Health Program have been getting out and visiting farms the past few months. These visits are primarily to: network and meet with farmers in our Soil Builders’ Network, see what practices people are trying out on the landscape, determine what farmers want more information on, and look for ingenuity in the countryside to share with the wider farming community.

One farm I visited recently is Red Rooster Ranch, run by Mervin and Cherlyn Beachy. Ensuring healthy soil is a fixture of everything they do on the farm. Mervin first got into soil health by getting interested in the nutrient density of the food he was growing, and the connection between healthy soil and healthy humans.

One way they regenerate the soil on the farm is through growing and selling cover crop seed locally. The farm is full of different cover cropping experiments and rotations. This year, in the field corn, they did a side-by-side interseeding trial comparing cover crop mixes with and without early cultivation in the corn.

They have tried all sorts of different rotations in their fields, including oats followed by warm season cover crops for their livestock. Cover crops are not just used in their larger fields, the gardens have buckwheat/cowpeas growing in-between the sweet corn rows, cereal rye between the green beans, and various warm season cover crop mixes on fallow parts of the garden.

Mervin also works as a certified forage specialist for Bryon Seeds out of Indiana. He serves as a consultant to farmers looking for the right rotations and forages. Through his relationship with Bryon Seeds, Mervin has access to a wide array of cover crops — including mixes from Europe.

“Europe seems to have fine-tuned a lot of their cover cropping, as it is required to grow covers and have an extended crop rotation. They have specific cover crop mixes for growing corn, or wheat, or any other crop,” says Mervin. He has been trialing out these mixes in small plots side-by-side, so it is easy to compare and for people to come and see for themselves.

The Rock Creek and Upper Cedar River watersheds, of which the farm is a part, have been focal points for reducing erosion and improving water quality. Different watershed groups have asked Mervin to speak at events about soil health and cover cropping. Mervin has been drilling cover crops for the past five years and now annually custom seeds cover crops on about 2,000 acres, mostly cereal rye, for neighboring farms. Just prior to my visit, Mervin and Cherlyn hosted a field day on their farm. Attendees could see the cover cropping mixes and experiments in person.

When asked how we get more people to become interested in cover crops, Mervin responds, “Well, that’s a million dollar-question, I would suggest things like longer rent agreements, so extended rotations and diverse covers can be used, and so farmers can see their return on investment. Corn and soybean markets can be stressful, but focusing on soil health can be a game changer for reducing inputs and yield variability.”

Mervin adds, “It starts with things like this, having a conversation with one farmer, who then talks to five other people and then it spreads.”

Connor Dunn is a former LSP soil health organizer.

Category: Blog

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June 2023

Tuesday June 13

11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Forever Green Webinar on Kernza
Tuesday June 13
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Forever Green Webinar on Kernza

The Environmental & Economic Clusters of Opportunity (EECO) grant provides an ecosystem services payment as well as risk management payments to growers enrolled in the program for winter barley, hybrid winter rye, winter camelina, and Kernza. Join us for an introductory webinar series on these four crops where we pair University researchers and Extension professionals with farmers who have trialed these crops on-farm. The June 13 webinar on Kernza features Jake Jungers (UMN assistant professor), Prabin Bajgain (UMN assistant professor) and Jay Peterson (farmer, Blooming Prairie, Minn.)

To sign up for the June 13 webinar on Kernza, click here. These presentations will be recorded for future viewing if you’re not able to make it.

5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Upper Sioux State Park Land Return Listening Sessions & Planning Forward
Tuesday June 13
5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Upper Sioux State Park Land Return Listening Sessions & Planning Forward

On April 5,there was a historic town hall meeting in Granite Falls where regional residents and Upper Sioux Community members came together to learn about the Upper Sioux Community’s history, relationship, and desires for the return of the Upper Sioux Agency State Park to the Upper Sioux Community. We also were able to ask questions of Minnesota Department of Natural Resources representatives and local elected officials, as well other community members. A proposal to return the state park land to the Upper Sioux Community was officially passed by the Minnesota Legislature during its recently concluded session.

We were encouraged by how we saw our neighbors respond to this proposal, being for the most part supportive of the return.We also heard how important and precious access to green spaces is to all of us who live here, and that many of us have deep connections and relationships with that park.

Please come and share your stories of connection and relationship to the Upper Sioux Agency State Park; we want to understand and honor our connection to this place and channelour passion for the area. We want to think as a community where we might be able to create new public access acres in the river valley with the funds allocated for replacement.Let’s beready and united to advocate locally for these green acres!

Join us on Tuesday, June 13, and/or Wednesday, June 28, at the Granite Falls Kilowatt Community Center (600 Kilowatt Drive, Granite Falls, MN 5624), from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., for a light meal, and to share our stories and link arms to create new parkland in western Minnesota.

This event is free and open to the public, but food can only be guaranteed for those who register in advance. Please clickhere to register for June 13and/orhere to register for June 28.

Please contact Robin Moore atrmoore@landstewardshipproject.orgor 320-321-5244 if you have any questions.

This event is organized and hosted in partnership with The YES! House with Department of Public Transformation.

Wednesday June 14

11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Forever Green Webinar on Hybrid Winter Rye
Wednesday June 14
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Forever Green Webinar on Hybrid Winter Rye

The Environmental & Economic Clusters of Opportunity (EECO) grant provides an ecosystem services payment as well as risk management payments to growers enrolled in the program for winter barley, hybrid winter rye, winter camelina, and Kernza. Join us for an introductory webinar series on these four crops where we pair University researchers and Extension professionals with farmers who have trialed these crops on-farm. On June 14, there will be a webinar on hybrid winter rye. Presenters include Jochum Wiersma (UMN Extension small grains agronomist) and Richard Magnusson (farmer, Roseau, Minn.)

To sign-up for the June 14 webinar on hybrid winter rye, click here. These presentations will be recorded for future viewing if you’re not able to make it.

5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Building Community for Land Access: 'Meeting the African Farming Community'
Wednesday June 14
5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Building Community for Land Access: 'Meeting the African Farming Community'

We are in a moment where African farmers and gardeners, many who have farmed in their own countries and have been growing in community garden plots here, didn’t believe or know that they could be farming on a larger-scale. Now they are organizing and obtaining practical and financial training to aid in finding land and developing business models that will let them farm collectively in a community (e.g. cooperatives).

We want to make sure that landowners KNOW about these skilled farmers and the work they are doing to provide food to their communities and beyond. They are seeking training in order to farm as a business and want to develop relationships with landowners in order to obtain land access. We also want the wider community to learn about these groups of farmers and think about how they can support African local food producers where they live.

We know that this is a community-building process, and this series offers one way to start. We encourage people to join us for the entire series in order to build strong relationships with other participants! We are planning four sessions: register for the second one below.

June 14, 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.: Online gathering where Minnesota landowners and land-seekers have a chance to share their stories and perspectives. You will have an opportunity to learn more about the “other side’s” perspective as landowners and land-seekers. Learn more about the challenges facing beginning farmers around land access as well as how landowners approach finding the next generation on their land. ·

  • Online: open to everyone, Minnesota focused.
  • Panel of two to three land-seekers and landowners sharing their stories.
  • Small groups with mixed landowners and land-seekers sharing their stories and getting to know each other.

Register here.

Friday June 16

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
LSP Farm Bill Friday: Consolidation
Friday June 16
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
LSP Farm Bill Friday: Consolidation

This summer, join the Land Stewardship Project for Farm Bill Fridays — a one-hour series of educational webinars to learn about how the Farm Bill impacts many different food system issues, including consolidation, regional food systems, and climate and conservation. During these webinars, you will also have the opportunity to take action to demand a more just and resilient Farm Bill for Us!

Each webinar will focus on a different issue and feature policy experts and LSP farmer-member speakers. Click on dates to register.

June 16 — 1:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m.:Farm Bill Friday focused on Consolidation

June 23 — noon – 1 p.m.: Farm Bill Friday focused on Regional Food Systems

July 14 — noon – 1 p.m.: Farm Bill Friday focused on Climate & Conservation

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