Andy Cotter and Irene Genelin bring an eclectic background to farming. He studied mechanical engineering in college and she was a French major. They met while competing as elite unicyclists and were national champions in the pairs competition (think ice dancing on one wheel), as well as individual world champions in various categories. They also… Read More →
The call came in the night. On the end of the line was the panicked voice of Tyler Carlson, a 26-year-old beginning farmer who was starting a grazing operation in west-central Minnesota. It seems that while making a long-distance move of the cowherd he had just purchased a few days before, a baby calf had… Read More →
The call came in the night. On the end of the line was the panicked voice of Tyler Carlson, a 26-year-old beginning farmer who was starting a grazing operation in west-central Minnesota. It seems that while making a long-distance move of the cowherd he had just purchased a few days before, a baby calf had… Read More →
If you are the sort who likes to be outdoors, self-reliant and working close to the land, what Anna Racer and Peter Skold did for five summers might sound ideal. They worked at a camp in northern Minnesota where they took teenagers into the wilderness for six weeks at a time. But there comes a… Read More →
When it comes to farming, oftentimes things don’t work out as planned—and sometimes that’s a good thing. Take for example Greg and Nancy Rasmussen, who on a recent fall afternoon are checking on some newly arrived chicks gathered under heat lamps in their barn. When the Rasmussens enrolled in the Land Stewardship Project’s Farm Beginnings course… Read More →
Ready for the Next Step (part 1) Jon Kaiser is less than a year away from paying off his Farm Beginnings livestock loan. He smiles when he says this, because it means he’s just a little bit closer to making farming more than just a fantasy. “I’m surprised I’ve come this far,” says the 35-year-old… Read More →
On a January evening in western Minnesota, Carol Ford braves 20-degree temperatures and a wind that’s packing snow as she walks the few yards from her house to the garage. Once inside, she approaches a door with a colorful, hand-painted sign above it that reads: “The Door into Summer.” She opens the door and, sure… Read More →
This Gateway into Farming Hinges on Small Grains, Livestock & Soil Health With its pool table topography and coffee-colored soils, southern Minnesota’s Nicollet County perennially ranks as one of the top producers of corn and soybeans in the state, and land prices reflect it — in 2019 the average annual non-irrigated cropland rental rate in… Read More →
Blue Dasher Farm’s Jonathan Lundgren talks about bugs, biodiversity and, of course, cow pies.
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 →
