Note: This is the 3rd installment in the 12-part “A Sense of Where You Are” series. History is a critical piece of context. All too often, farming practices are carried out without taking into consideration past practices and their subsequent impact. Regenerative farmers often say they are “listening to the land” when making management decisions.… Read More →
Note: This is the 4th installment in the 12-part “A Sense of Where You Are” series. Jerry and Nancy Ackermann’s context is this: for around four decades, they have been raising corn and soybeans in southwestern Minnesota’s Jackson County, a region dominated by the kind of flat, fertile fields that regularly churn out impressive yields… Read More →
Note: This is the 6th installment in the 12-part “A Sense of Where You Are” series. When your context is farming in the city, everything is a little faster, denser, and louder. “We grow everything very intensively,” said Elyssa Eull on a warm evening in early September while she stood near the entrance to California… Read More →
Bob Quinn says regenerative farming and rural economic revitalization go hand-in-hand. For him, it all started with a handful of “King Tut’s wheat.” (First in a three-part series on small grains and community-based foods.) More Information • Episode 3 in Ear to the Ground Small Grains Workshop Series: “Landon Plagge — Small Grain-Big Opportunity” • Episode 2 in Ear… Read More →
Note: This is the 7th installment in the 12-part “A Sense of Where You Are” series. Here’s some troubling context in the land of plenty: in 2023, 18 million U.S. households were food insecure at some time during the year, according to the USDA. That figure is up from 17 million in 2022. Food insecurity… Read More →
Note: This is the 8th installment in the 12-part “A Sense of Where You Are” series. So, here’s a chicken or egg situation to ponder: when launching a farming operation, when should you approach the local NRCS office about applying for funding to set up infrastructure such as a high tunnel or a rotational grazing system?… Read More →
Note: This is the 11th installment in the 12-part “A Sense of Where You Are” series. Be careful who you invite onto the farm, especially if it’s a return visit. Jon and Carin Stevens learned that lesson in late August when a nationally known soil health expert walked their fields and grubbed up some samples… Read More →
MONTEVIDEO, Minn. — The bankruptcy and subsequent shutdown of the Pure Prairie Poultry processing plant in St. Charles, Iowa, has once more laid bare the dangers and the inadequacies of our industrial farming structure. “Too big to fail” is no longer just a condition of the financial sector, it is now a concept that is reaching… Read More →
Do You Care About the Future of Your Rural Community? Do You Want to be Heard? Do you favor a farm and food system that relies on small and medium-sized operations that contribute to local economies while building healthy soil? Are you concerned about the corporate takeover of the farm and food system in your community? Do… Read More →
As of today— April 10 — due to the outbreak of COVID-19, nearly 350,000 Minnesotans have applied for unemployment benefits. That is already more than the total number of applicants in all of 2019. Nationally, 16.6 million Americans have applied for unemployment benefits in the past three weeks. In the wake of a global pandemic,… Read More →
