When Jay Fuhrer first started talking to his conservation colleagues about a different approach to protecting and building soil, he ended up eating lunch alone. But eventually the Burleigh County Soil Health Team helped launch a movement that’s showing how farming, the environment, and local economies benefit when people stop accepting soil as a degraded resource. More… Read More →
By building soil biology via managed grazing, Langdon Collom is learning that expanding a farm’s capacity doesn’t always require horizontal expansion — sometimes you can simply go vertical. More Information • LSP’s Grazing & Soil Health Web Page • Match Made in Heaven: Livestock + Crops • Sustainable Farming Association • Midwest Grazing Exchange • Minnesota Cropland… Read More →
Soil, cows, ecology, economics: to milk producer Derek Schmitz, they are all linked, and that feeds his optimism even as tough times cast a shadow over dairy farming. More Information • LSP’s Grazing & Soil Health Web Page • Soil Health Academy Case Study: Derek & Taylor Schmitz • Regenerative Livestock Systems Symposium: April 5, 2024 You can… Read More →
A 30-farm study is comparing the impacts regenerative vs. conventional practices have on soil’s resiliency. Extreme drought has churned up some exciting results. More Information • Sand County Foundation Soil Health Initiative • LSP Soil Health Web Page • Ear to the Ground 288 features the Cotter farm, which is participating in the study. • Ear… Read More →
The landowners Jeremy and Jessica Holst rent from like to see a green landscape — no wonder the dairy farmers’ rotational grazing system is considered a neighborhood asset. More Information • LSP’s Soil Health & Grazing Web Page • LSP’s Conservation Leases Toolkit • LSP’s 2023 Field Day Special Report: “A Long, Hot Summer” You can find… Read More →
With their dairy farm at the epicenter of the worst drought in over a century, the Vergin family adapts through diversification, flexibility, and making deposits in the soil bank. More Information • LSP’s Soil Health & Grazing Web Page • LSP’s 2023 Field Day Special Report: “A Long, Hot Summer” • LSP Farm Transition Profile on… Read More →
An innovative program for promoting soil health and extending the grazing season came at just the right time for farmer Alan Bedtka. More Information • Ear to the Ground No. 326: Rooting Out Nitrates • Land Stewardship Letter article on Olmsted County Groundwater Protection & Soil Health Program • LSP’s 2023 Field Day Special Report:… Read More →
A pasture walk on the Nikki and Cody Meyer farm shows the value of farmer-to-farmer learning. More Information • LSP’s Soil Health & Grazing Web Page • LSP’s 2023 Field Day Special Report: “A Long, Hot Summer” • Nikki Meyer’s Grazing YouTube Page • LSP’s 2023 Pasture Walk Schedule You can find LSP Ear to… Read More →
When a tiling company suggested burying more pipe to deal with drainage issues, Tom Finnegan opted instead to go to the root of the problem. More Information • LSP’s Cover Crops page • LSP’s Grazing page • LSP’s No-till page • Sign-up for the Soil Builders’ Network You can find LSP Ear to the Ground… Read More →
These beginning farmers are accessing land without owning it — one megawatt at a time. More Information • LSP’s Farm Beginnings Course • Farm Beginnings in other Regions: the Farm Beginnings Collaborative • Land Stewardship Letter article on Josie Trople & Arlo Hark • Fresh Voices: the Ear to the Ground podcast series on beginning farmers You can find… Read More →
