Dirt Rich: Recent Episodes
Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota
Seasonal conversations on food and farming.
Produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota. www.sfa-mn.org
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Or, "The Hog Man of Brandon."
Patrick Toomey is the Sustainable Farming Association's new Grazing Education Lead. In this episode we get to know Patrick through the story of his career, which brought him to natural gas fields in Wyoming, the InterTribal Buffalo Council, Holisitic Management, private consulting, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
In this conversation with Jonathan Kilpatrick, you'll get a sense for Patrick's approach to farmer-to-farmer consulting and hear a couple of things to keep in mind for spring grazing.
Speakers
Jonathan Kilpatrick, SFA Farmer Education Director
Patrick Toomey, SFA Grazing Education Lead
Resources mentioned in this episode
Holistic Management
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or making a gift at www.sfa-mn.org/support.
Prescribed burning is an accessible, if intimidating, conservation and management tool for farms and private lands. This episode’s guests bring decades of first-hand experience of strategically and safely using fire to help meet their ecological goals.
The benefits of burning can compound: curbed tick or liver fluke populations can reduce herd mortality that would otherwise be a blow to your bottom line, for example. Minnesota rancher Mike Sams notes that parcels that he’s burned have a “faster green-up” and more vigorous growth afterwards.
Implementing a fire regime on a property of course requires careful planning, and there is an increasing amount of resources and support available for farmers and landowners. A network of Prescribed Burn Associations – “neighbors helping neighbors” – and professionals can help you navigate risk management, access proper equipment, and build your skills and confidence alongside peers. Listen to find out how prescribed fire might work on your farm!
If you're interested in learning about additional tools for brush management, check out episode 76: Managing Buckthorn and Brush for the Long Haul.
Speakers
Jennifer Grommes, Southern Minnesota Program Manager, Great River Greening
Jason Andersen, Minnesota Prescribed Fire Coordinator, Pheasants Forever
Bryan Simon, Working Lands Consultant for SFA & owner-operator of Lakeside Prairie Farm
Mike Sams, owner-operator of Y4 Ranch
Resources mentioned in this episode
Pheasants Forever “Find a Biologist”
Minnesota Prescribed Burn Association
This episode was recorded in partnership with Great River Greening. Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or making a gift at www.sfa-mn.org/support.
After returning to the family farm, Ethan Johnson opened Amo Creamery and farm store near Windom, Minnesota at the end of 2025. In this episode, he shares the dairy history of both his family and the region, his education and career, and how he was gradually drawn "like a magnet" back to the farm to build a community-tied creamery from the ground up.
Ethan Johnson, Amo Creamery
Mary Fischer, Southwest Community Organizer, Sustainable Farming Association
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota. The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or making a gift at www.sfa-mn.org/support.
Ryan Hough and his brother run a diversified crop and cattle operation in Barnesville, Minnesota. They began their “soil health journey” roughly 10 years ago, and are constantly learning and refining the ways they integrate livestock into their cropping system in order to build the health of their soil and profitability.
Kim Melton combines her background in agriculture with conservation through her work as the Soil Health Coordinator for the Red River Basin Commission, a nonprofit that stewards the basin that stretches across the borders of Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Canada.
The two frequently work together on implementing soil health practices (Kim is known to even hop in the sprayer to get program paperwork signed). Listen in for ideas for your operation, no matter your experience level with soil health. And, join us in Barnesville on November 18 for the "Harvest Celebration: Growing Profit and Conservation together." Click here to learn more.
Ryan Hough, Barnesville farmer
Kim Melton, Soil Health Coordinator, Red River Basin Commission
Jonathan Kilpatrick, Farmer Education Director, Sustainable Farming Association
Some resources mentioned in this episode:
NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
NRCS Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP)
NRCS Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)
Minnesota Soil & Water Conservation Districts
Ranching for Profit
Working Cows Podcast
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota. The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or making a gift at www.sfa-mn.org/support.
Jonathan interviews Joel Barr of Abraham’s Table Farm in Sandstone, Minnesota. Since the time of recording, Joel has also joined SFA’s team of consultants as our Market Garden & Farm Management Systems Consultant!
Joel and his wife Megan have been farming for over a decade, producing vegetables, eggs, beef, and chicken for their community through a CSA and other direct markets across east central and the Metro areas of Minnesota. They don’t believe in just selling food, they’re committed to providing real nourishment through nutrient-dense products to the families they serve. We’re going to dive into how they successfully manage multiple enterprises, and the systems they’ve developed to make it all work and still achieve a great work-life balance.
Speakers
Jonathan Kilpatrick, Farmer Education Director, SFA
Joel Barr, Abraham's Table Farm; Market Garden & Farm Management Systems Consultant, SFA
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Jean-Martin Fortier (JM)
Eliot Coleman
John Kempf
Dan Kittredge
HMI (Holistic Management International)
Andre Voisin
"The Lean Farm" by Ben Hartmen
Making Work Visible
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota. The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or making a gift at www.sfa-mn.org/support.
"Nature is never done."
Buckthorn removal has been a long, uphill battle for folks managing their woodlands and prairies – whether it be for recreation, farming, or aesthetics. And buckthorn is just one species in a much larger brush management problem that we see across Minnesota and the Midwest.
Today’s roundtable of guests bring expertise in ecological restoration, forestry, silvopasture, and agriculture. They'll discuss the historical context of degraded savannas and woodlands and the buckthorn problem, and present a working lands approach to these pervasive challenges with a long-term view...including insights on saving time, labor, and money.
Speakers
Tyler Carlson, Silvopasture & Agroforestry Project Lead, Sustainable Farming Association (SFA)
Jim Chamberlin, Conservation Outreach Specialist, SFA
Jennifer Grommes, Southern Minnesota Program Manager, Great River Greening
Bryan Simon, Silvopasture & Agroforestry Project Consultant, SFA
Resources mentioned in this episode
Dirt Rich Episode 23: Oak Savanna Origins w/ Stephen Thomforde
Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS)
Minnesota Soil & Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs)
MNL Seed Mixes
SFA's Agroforestry & Silvopasture Webpage
This episode was recorded in partnership with Great River Greening. Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or making a gift at www.sfa-mn.org/support.
Planning to host an event on your farm can quickly become complicated, even as a one-time or annual occasion. Jerry Ford (SFA) and Brett Olson (Renewing the Countryside) give experienced guidance on site planning, food and health regulations, risk management and liability, ticketing, vendors and more! At the very least, you're going to learn where not to put a port-a-potty.
Resources:
Jerry Ford - jerry@sfa-mn.org
Brett Olson - brett@rtcinfo.org
On Farm Food Events/Come and Get It!
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (MISA) Blazing Trails
Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety & Health Center (UMASH)
Come & Get It! On Farm Food Service Manual
Farmstay Manual (needs updating - but may be useful)
Link to course work
Liability statutes: Statutes, Rules and Laws
Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) liability signs for sale: 1 free sign for members
The Come & Get It project was designed by Renewing the Countryside in partnership with The Sustainable Farming Association and Minnesota Farmers Union.
Funding for Come & Get It was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the organizers and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USDA.
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
Jared Luhman returns to the mic to interview Bruce Tiffany, a fourth-generation row crop farmer in Redwood County, Minnesota. Bruce knows those rolling hills along the Redwood River intimately: he has farmed over 54 seasons there. He currently grows soy, corn, and rye.
Motivated by a desire to minimize inputs and to do right by previous and future generations, Bruce has shifted his practices to minimize tillage and keep a living root in the soil. He's found that even in fields with a dozen or more soil types, he's reaping better-than-average yields for his area -- while spending less to make it happen.
Bruce invites listeners to reach out with questions at annbruce@redred.com.
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
Dan Kittredge grew up on a homestead with a family deeply engaged in the organic movement. Over the years, he worked on farms across the globe and learned from permaculture, biodynamic, agroecology, indigenous, conventional, and microbiological perspectives.
With a foundation in both the practical and the philosophical, he created the Bionutrient Food Association (BFA) in 2010, who makes it their mission to "increase quality in the food supply." If you've heard of the concept of "nutrient-dense foods," you might already be familiar with some of BFA's work.
The Sustainable Farming Association (SFA) is excited to be partnering with BFA to host Kittredge for a two-day "Biological Systems, Soil Health, and the Nutrient Density of Food" workshop on October 4 & 5, 2024 at Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed in Clearwater, Minnesota.
Don't worry about sitting in front of a slide presentation for the whole weekend -- the workshop will be highly interactive and suitable for anyone who grows anything. Bring your questions and expect to leave with a better understanding of living systems and practical tools to make a positive impact on your plant and soil health. Learn more and register here.
Dan Kittredge, Bionutrient Food Association Executive Director
Jonathan Kilpatrick, SFA Farmer Education Director
Resources:
Bionutrient Food AssociationBionutrient Institute The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
Two farmers on the SFA team share what they've learned over several years of operating CSAs and selling at farmers' markets.
Dan Zimmerli of Cedar Crate Farm (Waldorf) and Lauren Barry of Dancing Gnome Farm (Wabasha) talk about how they've grown their businesses, the tech that helps them day-to-day, and how they design their farm stands at the market to boost sales and build relationships with customers.
Dan Zimmerli, SFA Specialty Crop Lead; Cedar Crate Farm
Lauren Barry, SFA Finance Director; Dancing Gnome Farm
Jonathan Kilpatrick, SFA Farmer Education Director
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
Click here to learn more and register for the upcoming workshop with Charlotte Smith. Charlotte Smith swore she would never return to farming after a very difficult family farm bankruptcy while growing up. Spoiler: After some time working in the corporate world, she started a farm in 2009. She found that the time management, hiring, and interpersonal skills she had learned also really benefited her farm business. Others noticed too, and in 2013 she started teaching marketing to fellow farmers. According to Smith, the longest-standing principle of marketing is connecting in person. Digital marketing is not a substitute, although it is a very valuable tool that she helps farmers learn to use productively. Challenging a common farmer belief of "I don't like people, that's why I became a farmer!", she believes that as farmers build relationships and connect in person with others, they start thinking about people and their farm product differently, and they start showing up better. Sales follow. If you like what you learn in this episode, you may want to join our upcoming workshop! Learn more and register for the April 18, 2024 workshop with Charlotte Smith in St. Joseph, Minnesota: https://sfa-mn.org/events/three-crucial-steps-to-build-your-profitable-farm-with-charlotte-smith/ Charlotte's recommendations:MailchimpMailer LiteFlodeskSquarespaceWixSquareCharlotteMSmith.comCharlotte Smith
Jonathan Kilpatrick, SFA Farmer Education Director
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
Dan Kittredge grew up on a homestead with a family deeply engaged in the organic movement. Over the years, he worked on farms across the globe and learned from permaculture, biodynamic, agroecology, indigenous, conventional, and microbiological perspectives.
With a foundation in both the practical and the philosophical, he created the Bionutrient Food Association (BFA) in 2010, who makes it their mission to "increase quality in the food supply." If you've heard of the concept of "nutrient-dense foods," you might already be familiar with some of BFA's work.
The Sustainable Farming Association (SFA) is excited to be partnering with BFA to host Kittredge for a two-day "Principles of Biological Systems" workshop on January 26 & 27, 2024 in Elk River, Minnesota. Don't worry about sitting in front of a slide presentation for the whole weekend -- the workshop will be highly interactive and suitable for anyone who grows anything. Bring your questions and expect to leave with a better understanding of living systems and practical tools to make a positive impact on your plant and soil health. Learn more and register here.
Dan Kittredge, Bionutrient Food Association Executive Director
Jonathan Kilpatrick, SFA Farmer Education Director
Resources:
Bionutrient Food AssociationBionutrient Institute The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
Derek Schmitz has never dreamt of being anything other than a farmer. He also really doesn't like doing field work. An adaptively managed, perennial grazing dairy just makes sense.
In this conversation Schmitz shares how fellow dairy farmers helped him get started, and how genetics, observation and building his own farm team through the Minnesota Dairy Initiative have been key to his success -- and has even reduced his labor by about half.
Jonathan Kilpatrick, SFA Farmer Education Director
Derek Schmitz, SFA Minnesota Dairy Initiative Coordinator
Resources:
-MDI Website-Newman Turner books-"Farm as Ecosystem" by Jerry Brunetti-"Dirt to Soil" by Gabe Brown-"Building a Profitable Dairy Herd" The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
Jeff Duchene is a Grazing Specialist for the Minnesota NRCS, which offers both financial and technical assistance to producers to help them meet their land management goals and address their natural resource concerns.
In conversation with host Jonathan Kilpatrick, Duchene shares how his formal education combined with years of learning directly from producers has been foundational in his career: "I think every producer I've worked with over the years I've learned something from."
The pair also discuss the process of applying for NRCS programs like EQIP, and pointers and resources available to help navigate the current drought.
Jonathan Kilpatrick, SFA Soil Health Lead
Jeff Duchene, NRCS Grazing Specialist, Minnesota
Resources:
NRCS website
Cropland Grazing Exchange
Midwest Grazing Exchange
MN NRCS YouTube channel
September 2023 Grazing School
Send us an email at info@sfa-mn.org.
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
Five SFA farm consultants from across Minnesota discuss how they are approaching and planning ahead for drought conditions on their varying grazing operations. While conditions have changed since this conversation was recorded in early June 2023, their goals and decision-making strategies are evergreen.
Listeners are welcome to reach out with questions. Drop us a line! SFA also offers our members on-farm coaching and consulting. Get started here.
Drought can be a real source of stress for farmers. Minnesota has resources to help you cope. Reach the Minnesota Farm and Rural Helpline at 833-600-2670, or text FARMSTRESS to 898211, or email farmstress@state.mn.us. More information and additional resources are available here.
Jonathan Kilpatrick, Soil Health Lead
Derek Schmitz, MN Dairy Initiative (MDI) Coordinator
Angie Walter, Central Minnesota Education Coordinator, DGA; Agricultural Water Quality Certification Project Outreach Coordinator
Doug Voss, Grazing Lead
Tyler Carlson, Silvopasture & Agroforestry Project Lead
Resources:
Contact your county’s FSA office for more information on opportunities and deadlines described in this episode.
Cropland Grazing Exchange
Midwest Grazing Exchange
Minnesota Department of Agriculture Drought Resources
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
Jonathan Kilpatrick and Jared Luhman return to the mic to explore farm financial health.
Doing a thorough business analysis can help you clearly identify specifically where your profits and losses lie across your enterprises, and in turn help you make confident decisions for your farm’s future. In their experience, the time you take to get a handle on your numbers usually pays itself back quickly in labor and input costs.
The pair walk through some definitions, the components to consider in a financial analysis, on-farm examples, and provide a foundation for listeners to gain a clearer picture of their farm business.
Find information about SFA's on-farm consults here, and Ranching for Profit School here. And, join us at an event to learn and connect with fellow farmers and food supporters!
Jonathan Kilpatrick, Soil Health Specialist, SFA
Jared Luhman, Soil Health Lead, SFA
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
We’re switching it up today! Jonathan Kilpatrick moves into the host seat and interviews Jared Luhman about the history of farming in his family and about his time working for Sustainable Farming Association.
A pivotal moment for the trajectory of the family farm came when a visiting student told them they were working too hard. The listening and learning (and traveling!) that followed laid the groundwork for how Jared and his father farm today.
Jared also discusses the common perception of regenerative agriculture practices being in opposition to profitability, and how he likes to work through those tough conversations.
Check out SFA’s Soil Health Case Studies here.
And, join us at an event to learn and connect with fellow farmers and food supporters!
*This episode was recorded prior to the passing of soil health leader and Ohio farmer Dave Brandt. There are many recent tributes to his legacy, including these pieces from No-Till Farmer and NPR.
Jonathan Kilpatrick, Soil Health Specialist, SFA
Jared Luhman, Soil Health Lead, SFA
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
In 2022, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) opened the state's first Emerging Farmers Office. Lillian Otieno and Assistant Commissioner Patrice Bailey of the MDA Commissioner’s Office share how it came to be, the value it brings to our agricultural landscape, and the impacts they are seeing.
SFA’s Executive Director Lucinda Winter hosts this discussion, exploring the connections with SFA’s work and how individuals can plug in.
For anyone who is unfamiliar with the Emerging Farmers Office or what “emerging farmer” means, this is a great conversation to listen to to get a sense of the Office's approach to helping Minnesota’s farmers find success.
Links mentioned in the show:
Emerging Farmers Office
Emerging Farmers Working Group
Ag Census
Patrice Bailey, Assistant Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Agriculture
Lillian Otieno, Commissioner’s Office, Minnesota Department of Agriculture
Lucinda Winter, Executive Director, Sustainable Farming Association
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
Organic dairy grazier Angie Walter shares her experience using PaddockTrac, a grazing tool being developed by the University of Missouri. Angie's family runs a 100-cow organic dairy in Villard, Minn., grazing 80-100 acres at any given time. Theirs and 12 other Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship farms are piloting the PaddockTrac through an NRCS cooperative agreement.
The PaddockTrac device, which is in the prototype phase, mounts to the front of a UTV or 4-wheeler and uses sonar waves to measure forage height in pastures. Once the data is saved and uploaded, its app generates a grazing wedge.
The Walters drive their pastures weekly, using their eyes and the data from the grazing wedge to get a fuller picture to base their grazing management decisions from. As organic producers, it also aids in necessary record keeping for quantifying what the cows are eating.
PaddockTrac could hit the market in early 2024. Read more about the DGA/PaddockTrac project here.
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
Angie Walter, Central Minnesota Education Coordinator, Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
We're back! Dirt Rich kicks off its fourth season with the second part of Jared Luhman's interview with Dan Zimmerli (check out part one here). The two get into the business management side of the farm -- employees, task tracking, data management and record keeping -- and how the Zimmerlis have leveraged it all to improve efficiency, profitability, and quality of life for them and their staff.
Dan and his wife operate Cedar Crate Farm southeast of Mankato, growing produce for their CSA members. He also works for SFA as a soil health educator for fruit and vegetable producers.
Resources mentioned: Lean Farm, Harvie, Microsoft To Do, Cornell Small Farms online courses
Schedule update: Dirt Rich is moving to a monthly release schedule. We will continue to release on Wednesdays
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
Dan Zimmerli, SFA Community Organizer and Outreach Coordinator, Cedar Crate Farm. Contact at dan@cedarcratefarm.com or dan@sfa-mn.org
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
This will be the last episode of season 3, and 2022! Thanks for listening, and we'll see you back in 2023 with another episode on vegetable production with Dan, conversations on new grazing technology, and other great interviews!
Jared Luhman and Dan Zimmerli in conversation about vegetable production logistics from planting to harvest on Cedar Crate Farm. They discuss equipment, planning tools, pack shed layout, seed bed prep, food safety considerations, Lean Farm techniques and more. You just might get ideas for the next growing season!
Dan and his wife operate Cedar Crate Farm southeast of Mankato, growing produce for their CSA members. He also works for SFA as a soil health educator for fruit and vegetable producers.
Check out our first episode with Dan Zimmerli, Episode 33: Growing a CSA from 8 to 80, here.
What’s a finger weeder?
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
Dan Zimmerli, SFA Community Organizer and Outreach Coordinator, Cedar Crate Farm
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
Jared Luhman, Doug Voss, Kent Solberg, and Jonathan Kilpatrick discuss what's on their mind in the ag world at this point in the season.
As we approach winter in the Midwest, folks are looking ahead and planning for next year. The team highlights the many opportunities for making changes on the farm in the next season guided by the principles of soil health.
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
Doug Voss, SFA Grazing Lead
Kent Solberg, SFA Senior Technical Advisor
Jonathan Kilpatrick, SFA Soil Health Specialist
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
Katie Feterl and Jared Luhman discuss SFA's on-farm consulting offering, how you can support our work, and highlight two big upcoming events: Annual Conference and Midwest Soil Health Summit.
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Contact Jared Luhman about consulting at jared@sfa-mn.org. You can also visit our Staff Page.
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Give to the Max: November 17, 2022 (Giving open through the end of November). You can also support by giving through the SFA website or becoming a member at any time.
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SFA Annual Conference: February 11, 2023 in St. Joseph, MN. Visit the webpage to learn more, register, and see exhibitor and sponsor information.
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Midwest Soil Health Summit: March 8-9, 2023 in Alexandria, MN. Visit the webpage to learn more, register, and see exhibitor and sponsor information.
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
Katie Feterl, SFA Communications Director
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
Originally released November 16, 2020.
Winter can be the most expensive time to own a cow in the Midwest. As the season changes, five of our staff who also raise beef and dairy cows gathered to share the ways that they’ve found to reduce the cost (and labor) of wintering cattle on their unique operations. All five live in different parts of Minnesota and run pasture-based farms, some raising organic dairy, some grass-fed or grass-finished beef.
While there’s no one-size fits all management style to wintering livestock, the team discusses a variety of practices that have worked for them, including bale grazing, stockpiling perennial pasture to extend the grazing season, and the timing of calving. They’ve also found benefits extending beyond the cost savings of quality winter feed: Doug Voss finds that by bale grazing, he also saves on labor and improves the health of his herd. And farmers certainly don’t need to outwinter their cattle 100% of the time to start seeing the benefits--just making a few changes can show cost savings, a boost to herd health, and improvements in soil biology.
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
Angie Walter, Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship Central Minnesota Education Coordinator
Doug Voss, SFA Grazing Lead
Tyler Carlson, SFA Silvopasture & Agroforestry Lead
Kent Solberg, SFA Senior Technical Advisor
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
Chad Crowley firmly believes that for those who want to get into dairy or farming in general, grazing is the way to go.
That route has certainly gone well for him. He was told many times that he couldn’t find success in farming because he didn’t grow up on one, but today he and his wife Melissa farm in southeast Minnesota as part of Enchanted Meadows Farms.
Enchanted Meadows is an organic, pasture-based dairy in La Crescent. The Crowleys were hired by owners Art and Jean Thicke in the early 2000’s. After prior experience working at a high-production dairy, the grazing dairy model allowed for the lifestyle that Chad and Melissa were looking for. They stayed on for several years, and the Thickes began gifting them calves to “build sweat equity” in the farm business. If they ever left Enchanted Meadows, their growing herd could move on with them.
Twelve years in, the Thickes concretely initiated a farm transition, selling the Crowleys one of the farms and splitting ownership of the herd. “Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do it,” says Chad. The four continue farming together, and good communication and planning has helped the partners through inevitable times of disagreements.
Listen in as Chad Crowley offers a candid conversation on getting into farming and non-family farm transitions in this episode with Jared Luhman.
Chad Crowley, Enchanted Meadows Farms
Jared Luhman, Soil Health Lead, SFA
If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, please consider supporting Dirt Rich and SFA's work by donating or becoming a member at www.sfa-mn.org.
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Scott Haase farms in Blue Earth, Minnesota, raising crops with his brother Brent and raising pasture and woodland pork under Blue Dirt Farm. Their German ancestors “walked here from Wisconsin back in the 1860’s,” and they still farm some of the land where those ancestors homesteaded.
Like most in the area, the Haase family farm is still a fairly conventional corn and soybeans farm. They have made some changes, including going completely no-till on their soybeans and reducing tillage overall, and adding cover crops to their management. The soil in the region feels difficult to manage for most, but Scott thinks “tillage here just begets more tillage” and the transition has been worth it.
In his conversation with host Jared Luhman, Scott discusses the challenges and joys of raising Mangalitsa pigs on pasture, including pasture rotation, marketing, inventory management, processing, and fencing technology. He has long range goals for the land, and is mindful of the risk of burnout. “It’s very hard and you need support from customers and the community at large” he says, reflecting on the value of farmer-to-farmer relationships and knowledge that he’s built through SFA and other networks.
His passion and self-admitted stubbornness keep him moving forward: “I really want to make an impact on more land than just my own farm…I’ve really gotten excited about finding things that work on the land and sharing those with people and providing really high-quality products.”
Scott Haase, Blue Dirt Farm
Jared Luhman, Soil Health Lead, SFA
Cannon Valley Butcher's Block
The Meatery
If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, please consider supporting Dirt Rich and SFA's work by donating or becoming a member at www.sfa-mn.org.
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Following Dirt Rich's previous episode, 57: Fundamentals of Adaptive Grazing with Jonathan Kilpatrick, we thought it would be a great time to revisit our conversation on Adaptive Multi-Paddock grazing with Jared Luhman and Doug Voss.
If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org.
Over the years of establishing and fine-tuning their management systems, grazing has become absolutely key in both Luhman’s and Voss’ cattle and dairy operations. Beyond rotational grazing, Adaptive Multi-Paddock grazing (or AMP) has improved the ecology of their farms--not to mention saved the time, energy, and expense of hauling around feed and other off-farm inputs--by modeling their grazing systems after the natural movement of wildlife across landscapes. “There’s no substitute for what comes out the back of a cow or small ruminant,” Doug jokes.
Doug hasn’t used any off-farm inputs for years, and yet his yields continue to increase. The adaptive part of AMP is quintessential: not only is a successful grazing plan going to be unique and flexible to the context of a piece of land, but to the conditions that may come to pass during the season, be it a change in rainfall or a family wedding you need a couple days to travel to.
The number of variables to consider may be daunting, but as Doug reminds us, creating an adaptive grazing plan is more of a journey than a destination. In the interview, he shares some advice for those looking to start to graze as well as those looking to improve their management, covering fencing, watering systems, rest periods, and examples from Voss Farms.
The payoff is worth it. AMP grazing has brought Doug great peace of mind and more predictable income: “I have far fewer challenges where I’m not going to be productive or profitable on an acre of ground than I’ve ever had before.”
Whether you own a herd or land, there are a lot of good resources to help you get livestock applied appropriately to your land:
- SFA Soil Health resources
- SFA Silvopasture resources
- Technical Assistance Program for Graziers
- Nourishment by Fred Provenza
- SFA also offers technical assistance to farmers, with priority given to SFA members.
Doug Voss, Grazing Lead, Sustainable Farming Association, doug@sfa-mn.org Jared Luhman, Soil Health Lead, Sustainable Farming Association, jared@sfa-mn.org
Originally released March 17, 2021
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
Today, a presentation that our Soil Health Specialist Jonathan Kilpatrick gave on adaptive grazing at a recent field day. He’ll bring you through the fundamentals, always keeping in mind the importance of context in grazing management. Jonathan believes that grazing is one of the most powerful forces we can have to regenerate our soils. A topic overview:
- Why we adaptively graze
- How adaptive grazing plays a role in building soil health and resilience in our eco-systems
- Stocking density
- Measuring forage stand density and dry matter/acre
- Calculating herd needs
- BRIX
If you have any questions for Jonathan or other SFA team members, you can always reach out to us. Find our contact details on our staff page at www.sfa-mn.org. We’re all happy to help.
Jonathan Kilpatrick, Soil Health Specialist, SFA
If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, please consider supporting Dirt Rich and SFA's work by donating or becoming a member at www.sfa-mn.org.
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Jared Luhman sits down with SFA's new Soil Health Specialist, Jonathan Kilpatrick.
Jonathan comes to Minnesota after several years in several states, where he built a diverse background in agricultural work. He grew up farming with his family, eventually building up a 250-300 member CSA vegetable operation with his brothers. Time in other parts of the country has been spent as an intern and apprentice at Polyface Farm, a manager of a nonprofit farm in Vermont, a grazier in Oklahoma, and more.
His experience with various farming enterprises makes him a great resource for SFA members. Jonathan will be doing work with soil health, grazing livestock, Kernza, and more. Get in touch with him at jonathan@sfa-mn.org or 1.844.922.5573 Ext. 712. If you haven't connected with the Sustainable Farming Association yet, know you are always welcome to reach out!
Jonathan Kilpatrick, Soil Health Specialist, SFA
Jared Luhman, Soil Health Lead, SFA
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
The Minnesota Garlic Festival returns to Hutchinson, Minnesota this Saturday, August 13! And that's got us thinking about seed garlic and planning ahead for the fall planting. Please enjoy this delightful conversation with two seasoned garlic growers, and consider joining us on Saturday for garlic food, fun, and conversations with farmers.
Originally released September 16, 2020.
“Minnesotans don’t like that garlic. They don’t eat that spicy stuff, dontcha know?” Jerry and Sunny and their sold-out-by-August harvest beg to differ!
Jerry Ford and Sunny Ruthchild are longtime friends in Minnesota garlic and organic farming. Sunny runs Merryweather Gardens near Walnut Grove, raising garlic, poultry, vegetables, and pigs who are happy to be the clean-up crew for her orchard. Jerry raises replacement dairy heifers, grass-fed beef, and garlic with his family at Living Song Farm near Howard Lake.
Before they get back out there to plant next year’s garlic crop, they’re taking some time to compare notes and philosophies as they prepare for the next season and climate unknowns. They get into:
- Site Selection - Jerry’s land is hilly, Sunny’s land is flat. They both make it work.
- Soil Prep - “If you need to add chemicals to the soil, you need a different site.”
- Timing of planting
- Seed garlic and varietal selection - Seed garlic grown in Minnesota does well in Minnesota.
- First-time growers & gardeners - Porcelain varieties are a great place to start
- Dip treatments - Nah.
- Their agriculture philosophies
- Mulching
- Being adaptable to change in markets and climate
Garlic is a high-value, premium crop here in Minnesota. As Sunny says, “the truth is, Minnesota can grow garlic. And the other truth is, people in Minnesota love good garlic, don’t let anybody tell you anything else.”
Jerry Ford - Living Song Farm, SFA Network Coordinator
Sunny Ruthchild - Merryweather Farm
Katie Feterl - SFA Communications Director
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Resources:
Minnesota Premium Garlic Project
Minnesota Garlic Festival & Virtual Directory
Dirt Rich Episode 6: Harvesting Minnesota Garlic
SFA Garlic Videos
There are many tests you can do yourself on your farm to measure soil health, and we've talked about some of them on Dirt Rich before (check out Episode 47: Four DIY Soil Health Tests). Today, Jared interviews Lance Gunderson of Regen Ag Lab on the utility of lab soil testing, particularly for farmers on a regenerative path.
Why do do a lab soil test? Which one? How often? What do you do with the results? In this episode, we learn about a handful of different tests and the scenarios they may be useful in. The farm's unique context is important, and recommendations are informed by a farmer's goals and resource concerns. In particular, Gunderson does a deep dive into the chemistry and biology (his forte) of the Haney Test and why it is so useful for farms working with or transitioning to regenerative practices.
Lance Gunderson, President and Co-Owner, Regen Ag Lab, LLC
Jared Luhman, Soil Health Lead, SFA
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Originally released July 15, 2020.
It’s about that time to plant for late season grazing. Kent Solberg and Doug Voss discuss the biological benefits of grazing complex cover crops (nicknamed “biological primers”), and walk you through the process of designing a seed mix that will fit the unique context of your farm.
As we know, things can change rather quickly, and remaining adaptable and having a “plan B” is always helpful. Sharing experiences with other producers in your area can help give you ideas and learn what might work best (or not at all!) on your farm. Other resources mentioned in this episode include:
NRCS Offices
Green Cover Seed Smart Mix Calculator
Midwest Cover Crop Council
SFA Soil Health Page
Doug Voss - Grazing Lead, SFA
Kent Solberg - Senior Technical Advisor, SFA
Katie Feterl - Communications Director, SFA
Reach out to Kent, Doug, Katie, or any other member of the SFA team here.
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Finnish farmer Thomas Snellman coined the concept of REKO Rings in 2013, and in the last few years they’ve begun to sprout in Wisconsin and Minnesota. This unique model of a local food market is connecting thousands of eaters directly to their local farmers using regional Facebook groups for each ring.
Each week, participating growers post what they have to offer and customers comment to initiate an ordering process. All payment happens in advance of the weekly pick-up day, where everyone meets at the same time and place to receive their orders from the farmers. The efficiency can save all parties time and money, while still allowing for authentic relationship building between farmers and eaters. It’s a straightforward foundation and each ring may operate a little differently, responsive to the needs of their community.
To explain how REKO works and how to go about starting one in your own community, three farmer guests and founding members of their own REKO Rings join the podcast:
Mehgan Blair, Canosia Grove, Twin Ports REKO Ring
Vanessa Wallock, The Victory Garden Farm, Ozaukee Area REKO Ring
Thelma Heidel-Baker, Bossie Cow Farm, West Bend REKO Ring
Host Katie Feterl, Communications Director, SFA
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
“I went in thinking I wouldn’t have to do a darn thing.” Farmer Dale Buendorf was well on his way to becoming certified through the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program at the outset, having implemented no-till and strip-till on his acres of corn and soybeans. While working with his certifier, Herman Bartsch, they discovered that there were just a few tweaks to make, including adjusting his nutrient management plan. Now, Dale says they are more responsible with where they apply nutrients and when, keeping it out of the groundwater. And, fewer passes on the fields has turned into a lot of savings in fuel costs. Dale was certified within six months, and also received endorsements in Soil Health and Integrated Pest Management!
“As the boots on the ground on these lands that we’re part of, I think it’s important that we do these things and be responsible and protect these resources that we’ve got.” Dale’s attitude is shared by many of the 1,200+ farmers who are certified. It is important to them to be good land stewards, and the recognition and resources they receive through certification is appreciated.
Caroline D’Huyvetter (Minnesota Department of Agriculture), Herman, and Dale share their experience with the certification program in this conversation, how it can work with landlords, and the five different endorsements that farmers can receive in addition to getting certified: Climate Smart Farm, Soil Health, Integrated Pest Management, Wildlife, and Irrigation Water Management. There’s more to those than the additional recognition: bridge payments for those with the Climate Smart endorsement are in the works.
Learn more about the Minnesota Ag Water Quality Certification Program here, and find out who to contact to get started here.
Dale Buendorf, Farmer in Faribault County, Minnesota
Herman Bartsch, South Central Area Certification Specialist for the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program
Caroline D’Huyvetter, Pesticide and Fertilizer Management, Minnesota Department of Agriculture
Katie Feterl, Communications Director, SFA
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
We're taking a break this week as we prepare for many in-field events coming up this summer. Check out our event calendar at www.sfa-mn.org to find out what's going on near you! With dozens of events going through the fall, there's something for everyone.
Also: we're on YouTube! Episodes 1-5 are available on the Sustainable Farming Association YouTube channel now, and we'll be uploading the full catalog over the coming weeks. If that's your preferred way to listen or share podcasts, you're in luck.
We'll have a new episode coming up later this month! Thanks for listening.
Katie Feterl, Communications Director, Sustainable Farming Association
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
As we approach our big field day at the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge that will demonstrate targeted grazing to restore oak savanna, we thought it would be a good time to revisit this episode with Tyler Carlson and Stephen Thomforde. This episode was originally released February 17, 2021, and its preceding episode is 23: Oak Savanna Origins.
Tyler and Stephen pick up their conversation on oak savanna from our last episode: How do we restore oak savanna? What does it take? Where have we been and what’s been missed in prior restoration attempts?
According to Stephen, “restoration is restoring the processes that maintain the desirable vegetation.” He dives into a variety of techniques used to do so including spraying, mowing, burning, baling, and grazing. Knowing what to take and what to leave is key in changing the trajectory of an ecosystem.
Stephen and Tyler also get into a popular question: do we really need fire? What is necessary to maintain the savanna once you have it where you want it? To parse out an answer to that question, Stephen walks us through historical and ecological perspectives. Considering the relationship between burning and grazing, the pair land on grazing as a primary tool and burning as a secondary tool to maintain savanna grassland; grazing reduces the necessity of burning.
The opportunity of farming and restoring oak savanna simultaneously is exciting, and Stephen looks forward to the growing cooperation between farmers and conservationists to build understanding and successful restoration work. He imagines the potential that could stem from bringing grazers back into the picture on more of the landscape, even in urban areas: a stronger local food economy, more meaningful jobs. The possibilities just might be as diverse as the ecosystem itself.
SFA’s Silvopasture & Agroforestry webpage: https://www.sfa-mn.org/silvopasture-agroforestry/
Silvopasture Learning Network: https://silvopasture.umn.edu/home
The name we were struggling to remember towards the end of the episode was Tom Barthel of Snake River Farm. Check out his work in Sherburne county with bison and other grazers here.
Stephen Thomforde, Stantec, Senior Ecologist
Tyler Carlson, SFA, Silvopasture & Agroforestry Project Lead
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
This episode is supported and funded by a grant from the Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). It is part of the “Oak Savanna Restoration through Silvopasture Project” in cooperation with University of Minnesota Agricultural Extension, Center for Integrated Natural Resources and Agricultural Management (CINRAM) at the University of Minnesota, and Great River Greening.
We wrap up our Farm Succession Miniseries with a conversation with Jim Molenaar, a longtime Farm Business Management educator and “farm boy.” Today, he works with 55-60 different farm families around St. Cloud through the Northern Agricultural Center of Excellence, counseling on areas such as day-to-day management, financials, and succession.
Molenaar’s top three essentials in the farm succession planning process are “communication, communication, and more communication.” In his conversation with Jared Luhman, he lays out some scenarios and helpful tools to frame your own approach to succession, retirement, and estate planning. Not that you have to go it alone– accountants and lawyers can be key third parties, and Farm Business Management educators/counselors like Molenaar are also available across the state of Minnesota.
While Molenaar grants that there is always urgent work to be done in a farm business and succession conversations can be difficult, starting the process early on rather than avoiding it can be quite beneficial. In his experience, making a plan is key to boosting the likelihood of success in a farm transition. One practice he recommends is creating a to-do list with specific people assigned to each task with a deadline. Taking minutes during any succession meeting is also a great tool that can help get parties on the same page.
Listen to Episode 49 and 50 to hear the first two parts of the Farm Succession Miniseries.
Jim Molenaar, Farm Business Management Educator, Northern Agricultural Center of Excellence, jmolenaar@sctcc.edu
Jared Luhman, Soil Health Lead, Sustainable Farming Association
Resources:
Southern Minnesota Center of Agriculture (Mankato)
Northern Agricultural Center of Excellence (Staples)
Compete directory in for FBM instructors around the state
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
Jerry Ford and Mariénne Kreitlow are the fourth generation on a farm with a legacy in conservation. Living Song Farm sits on highly erodible land near Minnesota’s Crow River, but the practices introduced in the 1940’s by Mariénne’s father, Willard Kreitlow, have generated topsoil for decades. Jerry and Mariénne share Willard’s land ethic, and have worked for several years to find a non-family fifth generation that will continue this legacy even before the farm was officially transferred to them in their 60’s.
In this second part of our Farm Succession Miniseries, Jerry Ford describes their goals for succession (including living on the farm even after retirement), financial situation, and his experience with the family and non-family transitions that have occurred in tandem. He also details the legal realities of a tangle of life estates, Transfer on Death Deeds, long-term care insurance, and other policies that have shaped their unique experience: “Don’t try this at home, kids. Have a lawyer.”
Our Farm Succession Miniseries will conclude next week, May 4. Stay tuned!
Jerry Ford, Living Song Farm, SFA Network Coordinator
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
Resources mentioned:
Land Stewardship Project
Renewing the Countryside
Sustainable Farming Association
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
Megan Roberts has experienced many farm transitions–as a non-farm heir to her family dairy farm, as an in-law in a family farm transition, and as an educator. Drawing on over a decade in personal and professional experience in farm succession and estate planning, in this episode she shares several points of consideration for families navigating tough conversations and the complex process of succession.
“Something I learned is that there’s never enough communication,” says Roberts. Even when family relationships are really strong and there are shared goals, farm succession planning isn’t simple and can provoke strong emotions. Roberts encourages families to “be inclusive” in their meetings and conversations on the future of the farm, inviting in-laws and non-farm heirs to be present and have a voice even if they aren’t ultimately decision makers.
Listen in for more of Roberts’ conversation with Dirt Rich host Jared Luhman, who is in the midst of a family farm transition himself, on other things to consider in succession: finances, estate planning and grief, maintaining relationships, security for the elder generation, and more.
This is the first of a three-part miniseries on farm succession. Look for Part 2 on April 27, when we’ll release an episode with Jerry Ford on a non-family farm transition.
Megan Roberts, Executive Director of the Southern Agricultural Center of Excellence, Farmer
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
Using livestock to restore landscapes may seem like a contradiction, but oak savannas thrive with disturbance. Grazier Doug Voss and PhD candidate Austin Yantes are involved in a project at the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, studying the results of carefully managed cattle grazing, tree thinning, and burning in striving to meet Sherburne’s ecological goals.
The Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge is located near Zimmerman, Minnesota on the Anoka Sand Plain. Prior to European settlement, the refuge was dominated by oak savanna. At that time, the disturbances the landscape was dependent on would have been indigenous fire management, dry soils, and elk and bison grazing. Since European settlement, 90% of the oak savanna is estimated to have been lost.
Yantes says that it’s worth restoring the oak savanna because of the landscape’s uniqueness. The dynamic patterns of disturbance can support a higher diversity of plant species, which provides good habitat for animals and insect species. By layering the tools of intensely managed cattle grazing, thinning trees, and controlled burning, the research project hopes to illuminate the most effective management practices to meet the refuge’s goals. “One of my favorite things about this project is it’s such a cool way to manage landscapes that integrates both livestock production but also ecological restoration and conservation goals,” says Yantes.
Hear how the research has been conducted and some of the initial results on this episode! Later on this year, we’ll reconnect with Austin and Doug to hear updates and more results as the season progresses. And, stay tuned to the SFA Silvopasture & Agroforestry webpage for upcoming field days at the refuge.
More information on oak savanna and grazing on the UMN Extension website.
Austin Yantes, PhD Candidate, University of Minnesota, Natural Resources Science & Management
Doug Voss, SFA Grazing Lead
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
Apologies for the rough audio quality of portions of this episode!
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
With springtime around the corner, this week we're revisiting our 2021 episode on managing spring grazing.
When is the best time to turn the cows out? Kent Solberg and Jared Luhman dig into this decision that sets you up for the rest of the grazing season. It can be awful tempting to get started as soon as we see green, but Kent illustrates how letting the pasture mature a bit more can extend the grazing season by one to two months.
Waiting for the third leaf stage, starting in a new paddock each spring, increasing plant diversity, and grazing about 30-50% of the plant height are all beneficial towards animal performance and forage production in the long term. Kent and Jared also discuss some tips for management once you start your grazing season. Of course, it always depends on the context of the land and your goals. This is adaptive management, after all. Listen in for more sage advice from SFA’s resident grazing expert!
More soil health and grazing resources are also available on the SFA website. Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead Kent Solberg, SFA Senior Technical Advisor; Seven Pines Farm & Fence (Verndale)
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Sarah Lindblom returns to Dirt Rich today to share four soil health tests that you can do at home to gain insight on the soil’s physical, chemical, and biological function. These tests can be valuable to gardeners and farmers at any scale, and can be done using simple materials from your recycling bin:
- Infiltration test - simulates a 1 inch rain event, demonstrates soil structure and indicates biological activity
- Slake test - simulates an extreme rain event, demonstrates soil structure and indicates biological activity
- Earthworm test - Indicates soil biological activity
- pH test - Helps you track soil acidity
Directions for each of these tests and a “Soil Health Report Card” to help you track your results are available on the SFA website. See Sarah demonstrate the tests in this video for a visual walkthrough.
Sarah also gives an overview of how the physical, chemical, and biological components of soil health and function are interconnected, and briefly discusses approaching soil health using systems thinking. The Venn diagram graphic she uses to illustrate is here.
Sarah Lindblom operates Solar Fresh Produce in Buffalo, MN and is entering her eighth growing season. She has run a CSA and a farm store and primarily grows produce, herbs, flowers, and raises bees and chickens. She is also the president of the Crow River Chapter of SFA.
Sarah Lindblom, Solar Fresh Produce
Katie Feterl, Communications Director, Sustainable Farming Association
Recommended reading:
Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows
Miraculous Abundance by Perrine and Charles Hervé-Gruyer
Permaculture Design by Aranya
The One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka
The Lean Farm: How to Minimize Waste, Increase Efficiency by Ben Hartman
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
Audrey Lomax manages the grazing enterprises of MNL, a Minnesota-based land management and restoration company that provides ecological products and services. One of the neat parts of her job is that she manages thousands of acres under solar arrays with their flock of 2500 Katahdin sheep. This service provides vegetation management and pollinator habitat in a regenerative way that otherwise would have been done mechanically or chemically.
We talk about the logistics of managing this type of an operation and discuss how other farmers can participate the same way. The potential of solar grazing for beginning farmers to build a land base is exciting and if you are interested in doing it, you won't want to miss this conversation. If you want to reach out to Audrey, you can reach her at Audrey.Lomax@mnlcorp.com.
Audrey Lomax, MNL Grazing Manager
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
Meat processing has long been a challenge for local food producers in Minnesota. In this episode, we discuss meat production and processing in the southeast part of the state with Eric Klein of Hidden Stream Farm and Dover Processing. Klein’s diverse array of businesses compliment each other, both improving soil health and supporting local foods and communities. He raises grass fed beef, hogs, pastured chicken and organic crops on Hidden Stream Farm. The farm markets products direct-to-consumer and has wholesale accounts throughout Rochester and the Twin Cities. They also distribute products from other farmers in their region, strengthening shared markets and providing more options to their customers.
Most recently, Klein and his family saw a need for more USDA processing in their region and started Dover Processing, which processes beef, pork and lamb for local farmers. They provide jobs for several families while providing opportunity for many other families in southeast Minnesota.
We discuss his farm business, the journey to starting their own processing facility, and all the challenges that come along with it. If you have considered doing any of this, this episode is a must listen! According to Klein, now is a fantastic time to start a meat plant, the demand is high and there are dollars available to assist from both state and federal sources.
Eric Klein, Hidden Stream Farm; Dover Processing
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
When Jared and Valerie Luhman's customers started requesting soy- and corn-free chicken, they decided to try making some changes to the way they raised their flock on pasture in order to see how they might sustainably meet this demand at a larger scale.
Grants from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and SARE supported upgrading their chicken tractor, feeding and watering infrastructure, and studying various outcomes of corn- and soy-free birds with birds eating corn- and soy-based feed. As their final report comes together, the Luhmans share the results of the project (including some nutritional analysis of the butchered birds), general observations of bird health and customer response, and more. For those considering adding this kind of enterprise to their farm, they have lots of recommendations for resources and considerations as you plan.
Resources:
Days Fed vs Average Butchered Weight Chart SARE Farmer Rancher Grant Minnesota Department of Agriculture AGRI Grant Greenbook 2021 - The Luhmans' project objectives begin on page 18.
Valerie Luhman, Grassfed Cattle Co.
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
Mehgan Blair and Nate Watters are two orchardists and hyper-local craft cidermakers in different Minnesota landscapes. Blair and her family steward a historic dairy farm with an heirloom orchard in Duluth: Canosia Grove. Icelandic sheep are their “land managers,” grazing and conditioning the soil for an eventual expanded orchard.
Watters and his family started their now 6-acre orchard from scratch, planting over 6,000 apple trees of many varieties near Dundas. They bottle their cider as Keepsake Cidery, also offering a cozy tasting room experience with noshes from nearby cheesemakers.
The two prioritize community partnerships, sustainability of land and people, and growing the heirloom apple and cider markets to financial sustainability–the major challenge of note.
Nate Watters - Keepsake Cidery, Dundas, MN
Mehgan Blair - Canosia Grove, Duluth, MN
Katie Feterl, SFA Communications Director
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
Kaleb Anderson is the third generation of his family farm in Goodhue, Minnesota, and grew up with a conventional ag background. Living in the Driftless region, soil degradation and erosion were always a big concern. Since moving back onto the farm in 2006, Anderson has adjusted practices and diversified the business. He would say that he’s still very much on his ‘soil health journey’ over a decade in: “The more I’ve peeled the onion back, the more I realize how much I need to learn.”
Anderson describes the operation now as “still conventionally based,” and grows corn, Kernza®, small grains like oats and rye. Grass-finished beef is the centerpiece, and he’s always looking for new crops to grow and ways to stack the cattle with other enterprises. Enter Kernza®.
Perennial-based agriculture had always intrigued Anderson, and when he caught wind of the developing crop Kernza®, he wanted to give it a try. At some point (memories are fuzzy), Anderson connected with Alan Kraus of Clean River Partners, who had also been intrigued by the concept of a perennial wheatgrass. Kraus’ own prior dairy grazing experience fueled his interest in measuring the success and profitability of grazing Kernza®.
What followed was an in-depth study on Anderson's farm. In this episode, Kraus and Anderson go through the findings, and the promise and uncertainties of Kernza® as markets develop. Spoiler: the study found that Kernza® was profitable for forage and grain production, and farmer and public interest are growing into well-attended field days, and festivals are on the horizon!
More resources:
Soil Health Case Studies Volume 3
The study
University of Minnesota Forever Green Initiative: Kernza
Kaleb Anderson - Farmer, Goodhue, MN
Alan Kraus - Conservation Program Manager for Clean River Partners, former dairy grazier
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
(Originally released October 28, 2020)
Kathy Zeman pasture-raises a veritable menagerie: goats, sheep, pigs, ducks, geese, turkeys, broilers, hens, meat rabbits, and honeybees graze her twenty acres at Simple Harvest Farm Organics. She grew up farming, and first got started on poultry with her brother for a 4-H project. “Nick’s Eggs” continues today, available at the Just Food Co-op in Northfield.
The array of animals she raises now ensures she never has to buy fertilizer--the manure production keeps pastures lush, and is a piece of her vision of resiliency and being self-sustaining. In fact, Kathy says that the grass actually grows back thicker and healthier behind a well-paced turkey tractor. Her Bourbon Red and Broad Breasted White turkeys happily graze in cattle panel hoop tractors, enjoying fresh grass once or twice a day safe from predators.
Kathy built her farm business on her values. She’s certified organic, and raises a heritage breed in part to keep the genetic diversity going. They’re “spendy,” but her customers are willing to pay for that fresher turkey flavor and the value of the environmental stewardship that the birds provide. “I always tell people when they buy from us, they’re really protecting these 20 acres. These little 20 acres on this planet are going to be no soil erosion, no water pollution, we’re not building antibiotic-resisting bacteria. That’s what they’re supporting.”
In addition to farming, Kathy Zeman is also the executive director of the Minnesota Farmers’ Market Association. That work aligns with her values, too. MFMA has been able to advance policy important to local foods. She describes farmers markets as the place “where community eats and meets.” They shorten food miles and keep money circulating locally. The community of people surrounding farmers markets are her crowd, too--resilient, boots-on-the-ground folks.
Host Jared Luhman’s conversation with Kathy Zeman naturally branches out from pastured turkey production and into thoughts about farm/land/life sustainability, pricing and food access, and the need for more BIPOC voices at the agricultural table. Listen in for comical stories, seasoned advice, and reflections on topics that are top-of-mind for many growers these days.
Kathy Zeman, Simple Harvest Farm Organics, Minnesota Farmers’ Market Association
Jared Luhman, Soil Health Lead of SFA
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
Dr. Anna Cates, the State Soil Health Specialist for the Minnesota Office for Soil Health (MOSH), discusses the roles and interplay of both scientific research and anecdotes in soil health education and implementation with host Jared Luhman. In her opinion, both are quite valuable in making the case for using soil health techniques on the farm.
In this episode, Dr. Cates shares the research she is doing with MOSH in several farmer’s fields. Tracking pairs of neighboring conventional and “soil health fields,” MOSH is looking at soil aggregates before and after rainfall. Listen into her conversation with Jared for an inside look at the soil health research happening here in Minnesota!
Interested in participating in MOSH's soil health research? Farmers can fill out a 10-minute survey on soil health, field workability, and quality of life here.
Dr. Anna Cates, State Soil Health Specialist, Minnesota Office for Soil Health
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
We're shaking it up a bit this episode! Cohosts Jared Luhman and Katie Feterl reflect on the last year: drought challenges and lessons, in-field experiences across the state, hopeful moments, and observations from different spaces in the regenerative ag world.
Links: Find all upcoming field days, workshops, webinars and more on our event calendar. You can also find more detailed information about the SFA Annual Conference and Midwest Soil Health Summit on our website. The new Soil Health for Fruit and Vegetable Growers resource is available online.
Katie Feterl, SFA Communications Director Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
Connecting with others and meeting new people has always been important to John Beaton, and it’s this flair for relationship building that is at the heart of his farm story.
John and Emily Beaton operate Fairhaven Farm just north of Duluth, Minnesota. John got his start on a local CSA vegetable farm, where his mentor, Rick, eventually gave him space to plant his own field to start his farm business--something Rick’s own mentor had also done for him when he was starting out.
A series of meet cutes and handshakes paved the way for the Beatons to buy a farm and grow their business in new directions. They were also privileged to have steady off-farm employment and financial support from family. John and Emily currently run a 50-member CSA on just shy of an acre of production, and grow plant starts for their local co-op and several other accounts in the region. These enterprises, too, grew out of personal connections and intention.
After receiving so much support from others in purchasing a farm and getting started, John wants to do the same for other emerging farmers. Utilizing his firsthand experience with the process of finding and purchasing farmland, he serves as a Farmland Access Navigator through Renewing the Countryside’s Farmland Access Hub. Through this grant-funded program, he provides detailed, free guidance for land-seekers. He also serves as a Conservation Connector, helping connect historically underserved farmers with conservation programs such as EQIP and CSP (both of which his farm has applied for and received) that can provide some financial support.
John intends to keep paying it forward. “We need more farms here, and whatever I can do to help people achieve that...that’s my goal.” This ethos is baked into Fairhaven Farm itself. He and Emily are looking to expand their gathering space centered around their pizza oven, building up a regional farm store and event space.
To build relationships with others, John encourages fellow farmers to put themselves out there and tell their story. “Every bit of good fortune in one’s life comes from other people,” he says. And in connecting with others and authentically sharing one’s story, it creates opportunities to help each other out.
John Beaton, Fairhaven Farm and Lake Superior Chapter member
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
Resources:
Farmland Access Hub & Navigators
Conservation Connections
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
It's that time of year again! Garlic growers in Minnesota are preparing for planting. We're bringing this episode back into your feed to help you get ready with advice from two seasoned garlic growers: Jerry Ford and Sunny Ruthchild.
“Minnesotans don’t like that garlic. They don’t eat that spicy stuff, dontcha know?” Jerry and Sunny and their sold-out-by-August harvest beg to differ!
Jerry Ford and Sunny Ruthchild are longtime friends in Minnesota garlic and organic farming. Sunny runs Merryweather Gardens near Walnut Grove, raising garlic, poultry, vegetables, and pigs who are happy to be the clean-up crew for her orchard. Jerry raises replacement dairy heifers, grass-fed beef, and garlic with his family at Living Song Farm near Howard Lake.
Before they get back out there to plant next year’s garlic crop, they’re taking some time to compare notes and philosophies as they prepare for the next season and climate unknowns. They get into:
- Site Selection - Jerry’s land is hilly, Sunny’s land is flat. They both make it work.
- Soil Prep - “If you need to add chemicals to the soil, you need a different site.”
- Timing of planting
- Seed garlic and varietal selection - Seed garlic grown in Minnesota does well in Minnesota.
- First-time growers & gardeners - Porcelain varieties are a great place to start
- Dip treatments - Nah.
- Their agriculture philosophies
- Mulching
- Being adaptable to change in markets and climate
Garlic is a high-value, premium crop here in Minnesota. As Sunny says, “the truth is, Minnesota can grow garlic. And the other truth is, people in Minnesota love good garlic, don’t let anybody tell you anything else.”
Jerry Ford - Living Song Farm, SFA Network Coordinator
Sunny Ruthchild - Merryweather Farm
Katie Feterl - SFA Communications Director
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Resources:
Minnesota Premium Garlic Project
Minnesota Garlic Festival & Virtual Directory
Dirt Rich Episode 6: Harvesting Minnesota Garlic
SFA Garlic Videos
“It’s hard to find a Minnesotan that’s not proud of the fact that we’ve got so many wonderful lakes in our region and we’re the source for the Mississippi River...We have a lot of pride for our natural resources in this state and we have a lot of pride for our operations.” -Jennifer Wagner-Lahr
The Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program (MAWQCP) is a statewide opportunity for farmers to be recognized for their efforts to protect water quality. The certification also provides regulatory certainty for 10 years, and the process opens up opportunities for technical and financial assistance to help achieve certification.
Farmers Jennifer and Larry Lahr laud the financial assistance and the guidance from their certifier, Mark Lefebvre, for helping make “the leap” in implementing some new practices into their crop and livestock operations comfortable. In this episode, the three guests share their experiences with getting certified under MAWQCP, some of the nuts and bolts behind the program and other opportunities for support, and the changes that they’ve seen on-farm as a result of implementing conservation and soil health building practices-- even in the face of drought conditions.
Get started on program certification here or reach out to your local Soil Water Conservation District Office. More information on the Ecosystem Services Market Consortium pilot is available here.
Katie Feterl, SFA Communications Director
Mark Lefebvre, Stearns County SWCD Certifier, (320) 251-7800 x3, Mark.Lefebvre@mn.nacdnet.net
Jennifer Wagner-Lahr, Lahr Heritage Acres
Larry Lahr, Lahr Heritage Acres, (320) 761-3925, thenewcountrycat@yahoo.com
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
Megan Benage, a Regional Ecologist for the Minnesota DNR, brings her passion for the prairie to 32 counties in southern Minnesota--and to thousands of listeners on the Prairie Pod, which she hosts with fellow scientists. And today, she brings it to Dirt Rich!
Once covering a full third of the state, Minnesota’s tallgrass prairie is now 235,000 acres of remnant reference prairie. Megan shares what the day in the life of an ecologist is like, and how her work intersects with agriculture. In fact, she describes the balanced prairie ecosystem function that she works towards as incredibly relevant to the farmer: “Every regenerative agriculture model that we have is based on how a prairie is just living its life.”
There’s a lot to be learned from the prairie, especially in a changing climate. Megan distills it down to diversity, connection, and community. “When we put our natural resources first, we are putting ourselves first, because we all need the same basic things to live.”
Additional Resources:
Prairie Pod
Xerces Society
USDA NRCS
Minnesota DNR
‘Beyond Your Backyard’ archive
Katie Feterl, SFA Communications Director
Megan Benage, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Regional Ecologist
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
Angie Walter, the SFA/DGA Central Minnesota Education Coordinator, and her husband Nate run an organic dairy in Central Minnesota, and are also masters in the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship program. Today’s episode features them in conversation with their first apprentice, Ryan Heinen, who now manages a dairy in Waukesha, Wisconsin. His passion for ecology and restoration led him to farming and to grass-based dairy, and DGA helped him build a solid foundation to take on a new endeavor.
The Walters and Ryan share their experiences in the DGA program from both the master and apprentice perspectives--it was a positive and valuable learning experience for all.
Angie highlights the value of networking events, such as pasture walks, to dairy farmers of all experience levels. There are two pasture walks remaining this season, one on August 24 in Verndale, MN, and one on September 9 in Brandon, MN. Both are free, they include lunch! More information and registration can be found on SFA’s DGA page.
Katie Feterl, SFA Communications Director
Angie Walter, SFA/DGA Central Minnesota Education Coordinator, Walter Dairy
Nate Walter, Walter Dairy
Ryan Heinen, Land and Livestock Manager, Gwenyn Hill Farm
Additional Resources:
Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship
SFA/DGA Resources and Events
Dirt Rich Episode 19: Family Dairies & Apprenticeships
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
“What else is livestock farming but sort of a dance and a balance between farmer happiness, livestock happiness, and soil health happiness?”
Dayna Burtness discusses her “pastured pig-centric farm,” marketing enterprise, and incubator farm near Spring Grove, in the Driftless region of Minnesota. Dayna is the sixth generation in her family to farm in Houston County, and she and her husband Nick Nguyen are finishing 75 mixed breed heritage pigs on pasture this season. They utilize a wagon wheel hub model and are constantly experimenting to improve soil health, pit happiness and health, and farmer happiness and health.
In her conversation with Jared Luhman, Dayna shares how her production system has evolved over time, her focus on soil health, her intentionality in the incubator farm, and her philosophy on marketing, pricing, and running a farm business. She also offers sage advice to those pursuing similar ventures, and plenty of examples of ‘failed’ and successful on-farm experiments.
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
Dayna Burtness, Nettle Valley Farm
Additional Resources:
Soil Health Case Studies Vol. 3, featuring Nettle Valley Farm
“Building Profitable Farms through Direct Marketing” webinar video
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Leave us a review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
In anticipation of our trio of silvopasture field days and workshops next week, we wanted to re-release Episode 10: "Implementing Silvopasture" as a refresher or introduction to the topic.
If you'd like to learn more, you can also listen to our other episodes that cover this management approach with ecological and indigenous origins:
- Episode 9: "Silvopasture in Minnesota" with SFA's Tyler Carlson and Jared Luhman.
- Episode 10: "Implementing Silvopasture" with SFA's Tyler Carlson and Jared Luhman.
- Episode 23: "Origins of Oak Savanna" with Stephen Thomforde and Tyler Carlson.
- Episode 24: "Restoring Oak Savanna" with Stephen Thomforde and Tyler Carlson.
- Episode 25: "Home on the Tree-Range" with Tony Wells and Jared Luhman.
Find more resources and information about the upcoming field days and workshops on our website.
Episode 10: Implementing Silvopasture
Jared Luhman and Tyler Carlson return to further discuss Silvopasture: “the intentional integration of trees, forage, and livestock into one intensively managed system.” Formerly a trope to “keep livestock out of the woods,” now farmers have the tools to properly manage their impact.
By intensively managing trees to optimize the growing environment for the forage below, as well as the timing and location of livestock grazing, farmers can reap numerous benefits. Silvopasture practices can boost soil health, water quality, wildlife habitat and diversity, and carbon sequestration. Silvopasture can also raise timber value, animal performance, and overall economic returns, making this system an attractive option for some farmers.
Tyler describes his own operation, from his intensive study of agroforestry as a student at the University of Minnesota, to his 200 acres in Todd County today. He and his wife raise grass-fed beef, pastured lamb, and perennial fruits on their farm. Tyler shares his experience in working with both existing woodlands and establishing silvopasture on cleared land for those looking to get started.
Resources:
SFA Silvopasture & Agroforestry Homepage - Learn more and register for upcoming workshops here.
Silvopasture Handbook
Silvopasture Webinar Series
University of Minnesota Silvopasture Learning Network
NRCS EQIP
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
Tyler Carlson, SFA Silvopasture & Agroforestry Project Lead
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
This episode is supported and funded by a grant from the Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). It is part of the “Oak Savanna Restoration through Silvopasture Project” in cooperation with University of Minnesota Agricultural Extension, Center for Integrated Natural Resources and Agricultural Management (CINRAM) at the University of Minnesota, and Great River Greening.
“I’m so heartened by the work that our farmers are doing, that our researchers are doing, to create these really sustainable crops--they’re actually regenerative crops--that are not only delicious on the plate, but really good for the land.” Beth Dooley shares the excitement for Minnesota perennial crops and Kernza that she, Jacob Jungers, and Peter and Anne Schwagerl all bring to today’s episode of Dirt Rich.
Research by a variety of stakeholders, including the Forever Green Initiative and University of Minnesota researcher Jacob Jungers has been focused on the economic and environmental impacts of perennials like alfalfa, hazelnuts, pennycress, and the intermediate wheatgrass Kernza®. They’ve found that fewer pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers are needed to grow perennial crops, and farmers reap the economic benefits. Additionally, the deep root systems that perennials grow provide many ecosystem services: fixing nitrogen, building fertility. While Kernza doesn’t fix nitrogen, it takes it from deeper levels of the soil than annuals can reach, and reduces the leaching of nitrogen into groundwater.
Beginning farmers and SFA Western Chapter members Anne and Peter Schwagerl have certainly noticed those benefits on their farm so far. They have 40 acres of Kernza seeded on their organic farm this season. Says Peter, “it also offers a good way for us to tackle some of the very nitty gritty challenges that we face on a farm, particularly us as organic farmers. It really feeds a lot of needs for us from an agronomic standpoint.” They’re able to keep living roots in the soil, reduce tillage, improve pest and weed management, and break up soil compaction.
The Schwagerls intend to eventually incorporate that fifth principle of soil health, 'Integrating Livestock,' and graze the forage that Kernza provides as well. As Jacob Jungers explains, grazing Kernza results in four potential income streams for the crop: grazing forage in early May, harvesting the grain, using the leftover straw for bedding or rations, and grazing again in the late fall.
As markets expand for Kernza--just to name a couple examples: a Kernza grower co-operative is forming, and Dooley recently published a cookbook highlighting perennials--academic and farmer partnered research continues on quality, taste, measuring environmental factors, and increasing yields. The future of the crop seems to have great potential for connecting eaters to growers and land, tied in by the passion for great-tasting food and climate change mitigation.
Links:
July 8 Kernza Field Day
UMN Sustainable Cropping Lab
The Land Institute
Kernza CAP
Forever Green Initiative
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
Katie Feterl, SFA Communications Director
Jacob Jungers, Assistant Professor, Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota
Beth Dooley, Food Writer and Cookbook Author, Beth Dooley’s Kitchen
Peter & Anne Schwagerl, Prairie Point Farm, SFA Western Chapter members
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Dan Zimmerli is the SFA Community Organizer and Outreach Coordinator, and he also farms full time. He and his wife operate Cedar Crate Farm southeast of Mankato, growing produce for their CSA members. They started out with 8 members in their first season in 2015, and six seasons later they’ve grown it to 80--always with a goal of lifestyle balance in mind.
Dan grew up on a corn and soybean farm in Redwood County, so he wasn’t new to agriculture when he started his own farm. He was drawn to growing produce because he enjoyed making personal connections with customers and knowing that they were taking home a high quality product that they could eat that day.
“Our goals right now are really to make our farm truly sustainable in a holistic sense.” For the Zimmerlis, this includes being able to take Sundays off. To be able to leave the farm in the hands of their employees from time to time and take a trip. Technology, making processes more efficient, training employees well, and adding infrastructure have all played a role in growing their business while not spreading themselves too thin.
His advice to budding farmers considering a CSA model:
- Start small. You want to deliver a good experience, because recruiting a new crop of members can be a lot of work.
- Network with fellow growers and/or like-minded individuals
- Try not to lose sight of the other things that you enjoy in life. Take time to enjoy them.
- Don’t discount the financial management and marketing pieces of your business.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
Dan Zimmerli, SFA Community Organizer and Outreach Coordinator, Cedar Crate Farm
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Gabe Brown shares his ranch story and his 25+ years of learning about regenerative agriculture practices.
Before “soil health” concepts entered the mainstream, a few hail storms in the ‘90s, financial challenges, connections made with soil experts, and some serendipity prodded Gabe to try things that were rather unconventional in commercial ag; he stopped tilling, he started planting some cover crops, he grazed, and he ran side-by-side trials with and without chemical nutrient inputs. He’d never seen earthworms in the soil there before, but soon they were appearing. He noticed soil aggregate and improvements in water infiltration--which, by the way, has increased from a half inch per hour to 30 inches per hour. Something was working.
Another factor that Gabe attributes to his somewhat inadvertent foray into soil health is the fact that he didn’t grow up on a farm. He was a “city kid” who grew up in Bismarck, North Dakota, and he and his wife eventually took on her parents’ ranch over the years. Knowing his neighbors would laugh at him no matter what he did, he wasn’t too worried about doing anything unconventional. And it’s been worth it: healthy soil has made Brown’s Ranch both more resilient and more profitable than it used to be. But he didn’t do it alone, Gabe is blunt about the valuable role of connecting with and learning from others in his own success: “Gabe Brown’s not very smart, but I know a lot of smart people.”
Throughout their conversation, Gabe and Jared discuss how building healthy soils and stacking enterprises can boost farm profitability, and challenge the “feed the world mentality” as a promotion for high-yield, monocrop agriculture. Gabe also shares the ethos behind his “200-year plan” for Brown Ranch: “We don’t own the land that we farm and operate, we’re only borrowing it from our children and future generations.”
Now retired from the ranch, Gabe helps other farmers work within their farm’s individual context to implement soil health principles and benefit their triple bottom line. He co-owns Understanding Ag, a for-profit consulting company that is currently consulting on over 22 million acres across the country. An active presenter, Gabe Brown spoke at SFA’s virtual 2021 Midwest Soil Health Summit. All session recordings are available on SFA’s Youtube channel.
For more resources, visit Understanding Ag’s website, or their non-profit arm Soil Health Academy (there’s a June event in Cold Spring, MN for dairy farmers). There are also soil health and grazing resources and technical assistance available on the SFA website.
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead Gabe Brown, Brown’s Ranch, North Dakota; Understanding Ag
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Rate, review, or drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box. Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
When is the best time to turn the cows out? Kent Solberg and Jared Luhman dig into this decision that sets you up for the rest of the grazing season. It can be awful tempting to get started as soon as we see green, but Kent illustrates how letting the pasture mature a bit more can extend the grazing season by one to two months.
Waiting for the third leaf stage, starting in a new paddock each spring, increasing plant diversity, and grazing about 30-50% of the plant height are all beneficial towards animal performance and forage production in the long term. Kent and Jared also discuss some tips for management once you start your grazing season. Of course, it always depends on the context of the land and your goals. This is adaptive management, after all. Listen in for more sage advice from SFA’s resident grazing expert!
More soil health and grazing resources are also available on the SFA website. Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead Kent Solberg, SFA Senior Technical Advisor; Seven Pines Farm & Fence (Verndale)
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
We’re thirty episodes in, and Dirt Rich is nearly one year old! To celebrate, my co-host Jared Luhman and I (Katie Feterl) would love to hear from our listeners and hand out some sweet SFA swag. To be entered to win an SFA hat (snap-back or knit, winner’s choice), simply post your favorite Dirt Rich episode to Facebook or Twitter, tell us why you like it, and tell us what you’d like to hear more about! We’ll use your feedback to inform our upcoming episodes. Don’t forget to tag us so that we see it. We’re @SFA.MN on Facebook, and @sfamn on Twitter.
Thank you for listening! It's been a delight to bring these conversations on food and farming to you. Look out for a new one on May 26.
Jared Luhman - Soil Health Lead, SFA
Katie Feterl - Communications Director, SFA
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
When Jon Stevens first tried no-till, it wasn’t with soil health in mind. One “notoriously horrible spring” left it as the only option to get seed in the ground in 2014. More harsh weather conditions followed, and by the end of the season Jon’s neighbors were very unhappy with their yields, but Jon had made it through alright. He’d even noticed some labor savings.
So he continued to dabble in no-till. The next season he implemented some strip-till, and as he says, “boy, that lit the ground on fire. That strip-till took care of a lot of questionable spots...immediately we saw a drastic reduction of runoff.” After hearing some buzz about cover crops, he decided to dabble a bit in that too. He was discouraged by how little came up and overwintered at first, and figured he was probably too far up north for it to work, but he kept playing with it.
Over time, Jon started to notice a lot of little changes in the land, his labor, and his inputs adding up. His neighbors noticed too. After it rained, he didn’t have to wait long before he’d be able to get back in the field. “Wait a minute, I spent my whole childhood stuck in this spot, and now I’m driving through after a rain event and I’m barely making a little impression.” Something was really working, though Jon couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
He started to reach out online and to other farmers, and found networks of farmers who were making real moves with soil health. Between those communities and Jon’s willingness to run field experiments and try new things even when things seemed to fail at first, he was able to adapt the soil health principles into the context of his own farm. In 2003, his family had sold the dairy cows and focused on conventional corn and soybeans. Today, the livestock is back on the land and Maple Grove Farms is raising corn, beans, beef, hay, and small grains on 700 acres this season. Over time, he created a more diverse, adaptable, and resilient system--both financially and environmentally. “All these positive things, there’s no question in my mind: I don’t have to have side-by-sides anymore for myself because we can already see the end result. And the end result is that we don’t need to rely on the commercial side, that we’re going to get it. We’re gonna be the ‘Gabe Brown of Minnesota,’ along with many other farmers that are doing this stuff.”
Connect with Jon through his YouTube Channel or on his Soil Man forum.
More soil health resources are also available on the SFA website.
Want to get more involved and connect with fellow growers like Jon? Check out our event calendar for field days and webinars. You can also become a member of SFA and join a chapter in your region!
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead Jon Stevens, Maple Grove Farms, Rock Creek, Minnesota
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Today, Zachary Paige returns to Dirt Rich for a conversation on planning ahead for seed saving! You may remember him from Episode 21 at the top of the season.
Zach farms and operates North Circle Seeds in Vergas, Minnesota. North Circle Seeds is a newly certified organic seed company and collective committed to creating an ecologically diverse, equitable, and inclusive food system. As the Minnesota weather warms and gardeners and farmers are beginning to plant, Zach has some pointers for planning your space for seed saving and some vignettes of the process behind saving seeds for arugula, tomatoes, squash, and carrots.
Tune in for some recommendations on spacing, trellising, storage, equipment (‘smashing sticks,’ anyone?), and some colorful stories on the delicious foods and new connections that Zach has made because of saved seed.
Read about North Circle Seeds in The Land.
Want to get more involved and connect with fellow growers? You can become a member of SFA! There are 10 regional chapters across Minnesota.
Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Drop us a line on our Virtual Comment Box.
Katie Feterl, SFA Communications Director Zachary Paige, North Circle Seeds and SFA Member/Board Delegate
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Tony Wells and a few partners are years into developing a regenerative and resilient poultry production system that provides opportunities for small farm profitability, which they’ve implemented on a 40-acre farm. The model attempts to replicate a forest habitat for poultry, incorporating perennials like hazelnuts and elderberries into a silvopasture system. Not only do the birds enjoy the shade and cover from aerial predators provided by the canopy, but the hazelnuts thrive on the nitrogen-rich chicken manure and offer an additional income stream. Tony says that after 5-7 years, the hazelnuts will make up 30-50% of the farm’s revenue.
Years before Tony joined the venture, his partners Wil Crombie and Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin were working on developing the system. Regi worked with many breeds, researching which would be most suitable for their design. The breed of chicken they’ve found success with? Aptly, Freedom Rangers.
The goal is for this model to be replicated on other farm sites. “It’s really, really hard for one farm to make it on their own and market their own products…it’s always going to work better if multiple farms can work together.” That’s why developing scalable business infrastructure has been a significant part of the venture. Rather than each individual farmer taking the chickens to the processor, the team picks up birds and transports them there. They also handle all the distribution and sales under the Tree-Range Chicken brand.
What started as a curiosity around food production and nutrition—“What goes into food?”—has blossomed into new friendships and partnerships, transplanting from Minneapolis to a Faribault farm, and a new career raising “tree-range” poultry for Tony. “I haven’t yet found anything I would rather put my energy towards at this point in my life.”
Tony and Reginaldo were interviewed for SFA’s new Silvopasture Case Study series, which was just published in March 2021. Find more resources on Silvopasture on SFA’s resource page.
Tony's Poultry Processing survey
Tony Wells, Regeneration Farms, Cannon River Chapter delegate to the SFA Board of Directors Jared Luhman, Soil Health Lead, Sustainable Farming Association, jared@sfa-mn.org
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
Over the years of establishing and fine-tuning their management systems, grazing has become absolutely key in both Jared Luhman’s and Doug Voss’ cattle and dairy operations. Beyond rotational grazing, Adaptive Multi-Paddock grazing (or AMP) has improved the ecology of their farms--not to mention saved the time, energy, and expense of hauling around feed and other off-farm inputs--by modeling their grazing systems after the natural movement of wildlife across landscapes. “There’s no substitute for what comes out the back of a cow or small ruminant,” Doug jokes.
Doug hasn’t used any off-farm inputs for years, and yet his yields continue to increase. The adaptive part of AMP is quintessential: not only is a successful grazing plan going to be unique and flexible to the context of a piece of land, but to the conditions that may come to pass during the season, be it a change in rainfall or a family wedding you need a couple days to travel to.
The number of variables to consider may be daunting, but as Doug reminds us, creating an adaptive grazing plan is more of a journey than a destination. In the interview, he shares some advice for those looking to start to graze as well as those looking to improve their management, covering fencing, watering systems, rest periods, and examples from Voss Farms.
The payoff is worth it. AMP grazing has brought Doug great peace of mind and more predictable income: “I have far fewer challenges where I’m not going to be productive or profitable on an acre of ground than I’ve ever had before.”
Whether you own a herd or land, there are a lot of good resources to help you get livestock applied appropriately to your land:
- SFA Soil Health resources
- SFA Silvopasture resources
- Technical Assistance Program for Graziers
- Nourishment by Fred Provenza
- SFA also offers technical assistance to farmers, with priority given to SFA members.
Doug Voss, Grazing Lead, Sustainable Farming Association, doug@sfa-mn.org Jared Luhman, Soil Health Lead, Sustainable Farming Association, jared@sfa-mn.org
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
Sara Keough MS, CNS, LDN is an Integrative Eco-Nutritionist specializing in clinical nutrition and regenerative agriculture to restore both human and ecological health. “Eating is an agricultural act,” are words from Wendell Berry that have stuck with Keough through her career and help illustrate the nature of her work. Her goal is to teach her patients the importance of their food choices: it’s about individual health, and also about how those choices impact our ecosystems.
In a culture where discussions on diet and nutrition can often be very number-oriented or granular to the average eater, Sara’s approach stands out not only as holistic, but as tailored to the individual body (bio-individuality), exploratory, and social. She shares her knowledge and experience with nutrient dense foods, the role of animal proteins, farmers as healers, the value of eating seasonally, advice for navigating mixed messages around nutrition, and much more.
Sara Keough will be speaking at SFA’s virtual Midwest Soil Health Summit (March 9-11, 2021) on March 10. Learn more about the Midwest Soil Health Summit and register on the SFA website.
You can also keep up with Sara on Understanding Ag. Some of her recent articles include:
- Regenerating Human Health & Building a More Resilient Food System: Calls to Action Among Farmers, Consumers, and Healthcare Practitioners
- Artificial Animals - Part 1
- Artificial Animals - Part 2: The Hidden Dangers of Processed Plant Proteins
Sara Keough, MS, CNS, LDN, Integrative Eco-Nutritionist Katie Feterl, SFA, Communications Director
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
Tyler and Stephen pick up their conversation on oak savanna from our last episode: How do we restore oak savanna? What does it take? Where have we been and what’s been missed in prior restoration attempts?
According to Stephen, “restoration is restoring the processes that maintain the desirable vegetation.” He dives into a variety of techniques used to do so including spraying, mowing, burning, baling, and grazing. Knowing what to take and what to leave is key in changing the trajectory of an ecosystem.
Stephen and Tyler also get into a popular question: do we really need fire? What is necessary to maintain the savanna once you have it where you want it? To parse out an answer to that question, Stephen walks us through historical and ecological perspectives. Considering the relationship between burning and grazing, the pair land on grazing as a primary tool and burning as a secondary tool to maintain savanna grassland; grazing reduces the necessity of burning.
The opportunity of farming and restoring oak savanna simultaneously is exciting, and Stephen looks forward to the growing cooperation between farmers and conservationists to build understanding and successful restoration work. He imagines the potential that could stem from bringing grazers back into the picture on more of the landscape, even in urban areas: a stronger local food economy, more meaningful jobs. The possibilities just might be as diverse as the ecosystem itself.
SFA’s Silvopasture & Agroforestry webpage: https://www.sfa-mn.org/silvopasture-agroforestry/
Silvopasture Learning Network: https://silvopasture.umn.edu/home
The name we were struggling to remember towards the end of the episode was Tom Barthel of Snake River Farm. Check out his work in Sherburne county with bison and other grazers here.
Stephen Thomforde, Stantec, Senior Ecologist
Tyler Carlson, SFA, Silvopasture & Agroforestry Project Lead
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
This episode is supported and funded by a grant from the Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). It is part of the “Oak Savanna Restoration through Silvopasture Project” in cooperation with University of Minnesota Agricultural Extension, Center for Integrated Natural Resources and Agricultural Management (CINRAM) at the University of Minnesota, and Great River Greening.
Stephen Thomforde, farmer, Stantec Senior Ecologist, and expert in fields of oak savanna research and restoration takes us on a deep dive into oak savannas. Throughout the episode, he describes the patterns of this ecosystem’s growth across geographical space and time, all the way back to when mammoths and mastodons walked Minnesota.
In short, a savanna is a grassland that has trees in it. Trees that have evolved with the grassland and the grazing animals. But even the history of the word originates back to aboriginal North Americans. And in his discussion with host Tyler Carlson, Stephen brings the 1,000-foot view of the ecosystem: illuminating complex details that are often left out of common narratives of oak savanna, and dropping us back in the present day. Why does the management of this landscape matter? What does it have to offer people? Find out in part one of this two-episode interview with Stephen Thomforde and Tyler Carlson.
Stephen Thomforde, Stantec, Senior Ecologist Tyler Carlson, SFA, Silvopasture & Agroforestry Project Lead
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
This episode is supported and funded by a grant from the Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). It is part of the “Oak Savanna Restoration through Silvopasture Project” in cooperation with University of Minnesota Agricultural Extension, Center for Integrated Natural Resources and Agricultural Management (CINRAM) at the University of Minnesota, and Great River Greening.
“I think the future of farming looks more collaborative. It looks like working together, and it’s about stacking enterprises.” Meghan Filbert of Practical Farmers of Iowa (and a beginning farmer to boot) joins Dirt Rich to talk about an online tool facilitating just that.
Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI) is a nonprofit in Ames, Iowa with a mission to equip farmers to build more resilient farms and communities. They believe that farmers learn best from other farmers, so it’s no surprise that the online platform they helped create brings farmers together.
The Midwest Grazing Exchange is billed as “a matchmaking website for livestock and land.” Farmers in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin can use the website to connect with folks looking for rural or urban land to graze their livestock on and vice versa. “It’s like Tinder for cows,” Meghan quips.
There isn’t a lot of livestock on the land in Minnesota, so the website creates a great opportunity for beginning farmers and row crop farmers to partner and both reap the economic benefits. For host and farmer Jared Luhman, there’s definitely a draw. “Every day that my cattle are grazing is a day that I’m not feeding hay, and that day that I’m not feeding hay is saving me quite a bit of money. For me as a livestock producer, if I can find somewhere to graze my cattle on somebody else’s land for cheaper than I can feed it at my own farm, then I’m going to do it.” This matchmaking tool can also be an asset to beginning farmers in starting a custom grazing business.
In addition to the soil health benefits that come along with properly managed grazing, there’s even solid potential for an income stream for participating landowners. Meghan adds that “if you plant cover crops as a row crop producer, we know that by grazing those cover crops that is a way that you’re going to benefit economically in the short term. Within the same year...you can turn a profit and then some.”
The Midwest Grazing Exchange website also includes other resources to help farmers make these grazing partnerships, such as templates for leases and agreements. In the episode, Meghan and Jared also have some pointers in figuring out your rate, and Meghan does a basic walkthrough on how to use the website and start finding opportunities in your area. If you’re looking to extend your grazing season, save some money, make some money, or improve your soil health with grazing--give the Midwest Grazing Exchange a gander!
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead Meghan Filbert, Practical Farmers of Iowa Livestock Program Manager meghan@practicalfarmers.org (515) 232-5661
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA. Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
As we begin a new year and a new season of Dirt Rich, we thought it would be fitting to start with seeds. Zachary Paige farms and operates North Circle Seeds in Otter Tail County, Minnesota. North Circle Seeds is newly certified organic and is committed to creating an ecologically diverse, equitable, and inclusive food system.
A deep interest in seeds and seed saving sparked for Zachary about eight years ago after working on farms and noticing that seed saving was not necessarily a part of many operations who otherwise used sustainable practices. He pursued a variety of seed saving and sustainable food production education opportunities, including a master’s degree plant breeding. After arriving in Minnesota, he found a home with fellow growers and seed savers. He also worked with the White Earth Land Recovery Project, an experience that highlighted the value of community and diversity in seed saving. To him, “the magic happens” when folks meet up, sit in a circle, and share what they’re working on and learning.
Drawing on his experiences and knowledge passed on from Native seed keepers and other Minnesota growers, he started North Circle Seeds as a company and seed collective in 2019. In our conversation, Zachary shares his passion for seed saving: the biology and genetics, the camaraderie, the curiosity and constant learning, the ecological value, and the good food that can come from it. He also offers advice for aspiring seed savers. “It’s a glass half-full kind of thing to get into.”
Reach out to Zachary and get involved in North Circle Seeds at
https://northcircleseeds.com. He loves questions! And, check out the Seed Stories podcast.
Katie Feterl, SFA Communications Director
Zachary Paige, North Circle Seeds and SFA Member
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
After nineteen episodes, we’ve wrapped up the first season of Dirt Rich and are preparing for the next. Thank you for listening! It has truly been a joy to have and share these conversations on food and farming with you. Season two of Dirt Rich will include conversations on seed saving, silvopasture, the Midwest Grazing Exchange, and more--so stay tuned! Check your podcast feeds on January 6, 2021 for the next episode. In the meantime, if you’d like to support this ad-free series and the Sustainable Farming Association’s other programs, consider making a tax-deductible year-end gift. Every donation is honored with an annual membership to SFA. SFA’s Annual Conference (to be held virtually Feb. 8-13, 2021) will be FREE for all members, making it a really great time to join. We’ve got sessions on the economics of silvopasture, agriculture in the metro, plenaries on meat processing with MN Ag Commissioner Thom Petersen and Attorney General Keith Ellison, and plenty more planned. Check out the full schedule, details, and registration on the SFA website.
We’d love to hear what you think. Please leave us a rating & review wherever you listen! You can also submit your feedback and suggestions in our virtual comment box. Until next time--have a happy and safe holiday season! We’ll talk soon. Katie Feterl, SFA Communications Director Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA. Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
“My hope for dairy in the future...is trying to keep these small family farms alive.”
Angie Walter runs an organic, grazing dairy farm with her family in central Minnesota. The family of four raises 100 Norwegian Red, Red Holstein, and Guernsey crosses on 370 acres. Angie is also the Central Minnesota Education Coordinator for the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship, which links current and aspiring dairy farmers to support the transfer of knowledge and skills (and sometimes even farms) to the budding generation of dairy farmers. In today’s episode, she shares her experiences in dairy, as a woman in agriculture, and with apprentices.
DGA is actually the first formal agricultural apprenticeship in the US, and there are real benefits for both masters and apprentices who participate. Masters get the value of having skilled, invested labor on their farm, and build a relationship with someone who could be a candidate for potential farm transfer. Apprentices get to develop day-to-day skills and learn from a practicing farmer who can share their past experiences and work through challenges together in real time.
The DGA program can be a hands-on, on-the-job complement to a college program, but is certainly not limited to students. An internship or apprenticeship can be valuable for those considering a career change, and DGA offers a program for veterans.
The “grazing” piece of DGA is not to be ignored. DGA believes that grazing is essential because of the health benefits to the animals, farmer, and soils. Grazing also reduces the amount of off-farm inputs, builds farm profitability, and is beneficial to water resources. The Walters concur--their family farm has been grazed since the 1980s.
Before officially working for DGA, Angie and her husband joined the program as master graziers. They consider their first apprentice a lifelong friend, and continue to keep in touch after he finished his apprenticeship. It wasn’t always smooth sailing, but they all learned from their time together--the apprentice introduced new projects to the Walter’s farm, too.
Angie didn’t grow up farming, and finds that many DGA apprentices didn’t either. Regardless, they can still find success with the skills and relationships they develop through their apprenticeships: “It’s really exciting just to see these dreams come true for people, it’s amazing to be a part of it.” This farmer-to-farmer format builds support within the farming community, not only in terms of education and networking, but also emotionally. “A lot of times we think of farming just as physically, but there’s a very big emotional piece there too. You need to have support from people around you,” she says.
Dairy has been a rewarding career for Angie: the family farm lifestyle, seeing a calf grow, and helping new dairy farmers achieve their goals. She hopes to see more women find their place in agriculture, and to see more family farms prosper in the future. “It’s really good to give back. It’s just a good feeling in knowing that we can help someone else who didn’t have the same opportunity.”
Katie Feterl, SFA Communications Director
Angie Walter, Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship Central Minnesota Education Coordinator, angie@sfa-mn.org
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
Resources:
Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship
Angie’s Blog Archive & SFA/DGA Events
Dirt Rich: Beginning Farmer Finance episode
“Agriculture is a capital intensive industry, regardless of the margins,” says Paul Peterson, farmer and Farm Loan Manager for the Farm Service Agency. For a farmer just starting out, financing a business can be daunting, especially for young folks. Today, Jared Luhman discusses financing options for other young and beginning farmers like himself with Paul Peterson and Chris Fitzloff, a Financial Officer for Compeer Financial.
A lack of net worth, collateral cash, and experience are common barriers for beginning farmers in financing an agribusiness. Paul and Chris share some recommendations for overcoming these challenges, including bartering labor for equipment sharing with established farmers, doing custom work to reduce purchase costs, and getting organized and knowledgeable on your financials and business plan. There are also programs specifically available to beginning farmers, such as Compeer’s “Groundbreaker Program” and loans focused on character, rather than a stellar credit score.
Wherever you’re starting from, both Paul and Chris emphasize the importance of being organized, coming with a plan, and demonstrating a willingness to learn when approaching lenders. Don’t hesitate to reach out, either. Even if you don’t initially qualify, you’ll be advised on what you need to do to get there. As Paul says, “If farming’s your dream, we want to help you accomplish that.”
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
Chris Fitzloff, Financial Officer, Compeer Financial
Paul Peterson, Farm Loan Manager, Farm Service Agency (Mankato)
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
Additional Resources:
SFA Beginning Farmer Resources
USDA Support for Ag in the Metro Presentation
Winter can be the most expensive time to own a cow in the Midwest. As the season changes, five of our staff who also raise beef and dairy cows gathered to share the ways that they’ve found to reduce the cost (and labor) of wintering cattle on their unique operations. All five live in different parts of Minnesota and run pasture-based farms, some raising organic dairy, some grass-fed or grass-finished beef.
While there’s no one-size fits all management style to wintering livestock, the team discusses a variety of practices that have worked for them, including bale grazing, stockpiling perennial pasture to extend the grazing season, and the timing of calving. They’ve also found benefits extending beyond the cost savings of quality winter feed: Doug Voss finds that by bale grazing, he also saves on labor and improves the health of his herd. And farmers certainly don’t need to outwinter their cattle 100% of the time to start seeing the benefits--just making a few changes can show cost savings, a boost to herd health, and improvements in soil biology.
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
Angie Walter, Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship Central Minnesota Education Coordinator
Doug Voss, SFA Grazing Lead
Tyler Carlson, SFA Silvopasture & Agroforestry Lead
Kent Solberg, SFA Senior Technical Advisor
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
Kathy Zeman pasture-raises a veritable menagerie: goats, sheep, pigs, ducks, geese, turkeys, broilers, hens, meat rabbits, and honeybees graze her twenty acres at Simple Harvest Farm Organics. She grew up farming, and first got started on poultry with her brother for a 4-H project. “Nick’s Eggs” continues today, available at the Just Food Co-op in Northfield.
The array of animals she raises now ensures she never has to buy fertilizer--the manure production keeps pastures lush, and is a piece of her vision of resiliency and being self-sustaining. In fact, Kathy says that the grass actually grows back thicker and healthier behind a well-paced turkey tractor. Her Bourbon Red and Broad Breasted White turkeys happily graze in cattle panel hoop tractors, enjoying fresh grass once or twice a day safe from predators.
Kathy built her farm business on her values. She’s certified organic, and raises a heritage breed in part to keep the genetic diversity going. They’re “spendy,” but her customers are willing to pay for that fresher turkey flavor and the value of the environmental stewardship that the birds provide. “I always tell people when they buy from us, they’re really protecting these 20 acres. These little 20 acres on this planet are going to be no soil erosion, no water pollution, we’re not building antibiotic-resisting bacteria. That’s what they’re supporting.”
In addition to farming, Kathy Zeman is also the executive director of the Minnesota Farmers’ Market Association. That work aligns with her values, too. MFMA has been able to advance policy important to local foods. She describes farmers markets as the place “where community eats and meets.” They shorten food miles and keep money circulating locally. The community of people surrounding farmers markets are her crowd, too--resilient, boots-on-the-ground folks.
Host Jared Luhman’s conversation with Kathy Zeman naturally branches out from pastured turkey production and into thoughts about farm/land/life sustainability, pricing and food access, and the need for more BIPOC voices at the agricultural table. Listen in for comical stories, seasoned advice, and reflections on topics that are top-of-mind for many growers these days.
Kathy Zeman, Simple Harvest Farm Organics, Minnesota Farmers’ Market Association
Jared Luhman, Soil Health Lead of SFA
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
“We want a vast array of solar collectors out there.” Kent Solberg and Doug Voss are striving to get as much plant diversity in their pastures as possible. The benefits for animal performance, soil microbes, profitability, resiliency, and the function of the ecosystem as a whole are exponential.
Prairielands can have upwards of 150 varieties of plants, with a healthy balance of all three plant functional groups: grasses, forbs, and legumes. A dream pasture! This range of plant life helps stimulate soil microbe populations and mycorrhizal fungi. Mycorrhizal fungi are tied to only certain species of plants, and play an important role in making minerals and nutrients plant-available.
Different plants offer different benefits at different times. Kent says that if given the opportunity, grazing animals will select from 30-75 different plant species for their meal. They are going after the unique phytochemicals that they need, which are produced by a variety of different plant species. Having a diverse array of plants available gives animals the ability to select exactly what they need at that time, and boosts their performance, nutrition, and health. Additionally, better animal performance means more nutrient-dense food for us as eaters. Kent and Doug also note that many issues in the field disappear and there are much fewer vet visits when farmers build pasture plant diversity--saving time and money.
Grazing management is also a key part of encouraging plant diversity. Adjusting rest periods and stock density can produce the results you’re looking for without dropping a lot of money. Proper grazing management can create the environment to tap into the latent seed bank. Kent also describes in the episode how frost (or stomp) seeding, which can be done in the late fall in addition to the spring, and no-till techniques can help expand the diversity of the pasture. Doug notes that grazing is not only instinctive, it is a learned behavior as well. If animals haven’t grazed before, that will need to be factored into the management plan.
Overall, plant diversity builds health and resiliency. As the soil biology flourishes, the soil aggregate makes the land less vulnerable to heavy rainfall events, improves water quality downstream and for your animals, and reduces the risk of nutrient runoff. Being able to select from a wide variety of plants improves animal health, nutrition, and boosts performance, creating more nutrient-dense food and reducing vet visits. Resilient land and animals boosts financial resiliency. The benefits continue to ripple out from what can be relatively simple changes, and Kent & Doug give advice on where to start.
Kent’s Seed Suggestions for Building Plant Diversity: Timothy Clovers, particularly red clover Alfalfa Adding a new variety of a species that’s already present
Doug Voss, SFA Grazing Lead, Voss Farms
Kent Solberg, SFA Senior Technical Advisor, Seven Pines Farm & Fence
Katie Feterl, SFA Communications Director
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Reach out to Kent, Doug, Katie or any other member of the SFA team here. SFA has a variety of resources on soil health and grazing available on our website.
Suggestions, comments? Drop us a line.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Kent Solberg has yet to see a piece of land that can’t be renovated, even an old gravel pit. With the right tools, vision, and management system, Kent Solberg and Doug Voss believe that we can almost always make a piece of land more productive.
To get started they recommend “looking at the entire context” of the particular pasture, including physical characteristics like soil type, slope, and aspect, as well as the history of the land that shaped it into what you’re seeing today like rainfall events, cattle class, and grazing duration. Once what you want to work on is identified, using the resources you already have and targeting the “low-hanging fruit” is a great place to start. Oftentimes, changing management practices such as stock density and grazing periods is the cheapest way to improve pasture performance, and you can see changes relatively quickly.
It’s important to remember that conditions change, so being adaptable is critical. There isn’t a silver bullet kind of recipe that will work every time. That’s why it’s important to have a long term vision, understand carbon cycling and rest & recovery periods, and to start small. Here are just a few tools that you might use:
-Animal diversity in pasture
-Bale grazing
-Systematic outwintering (keep an eye out for a future episode on this)
-Long rest/recovery periods
-High stock density grazing
Doug Voss - SFA Grazing Lead, Voss Farms
Kent Solberg - SFA Senior Technical Advisor, Seven Pines Farm and Fence
Katie Feterl - SFA Communications Director
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Reach out to Kent, Doug, Katie or any other member of the SFA team here. SFA has a variety of resources on soil health and grazing available on our website.
Suggestions, comments? Drop us a line.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
“Minnesotans don’t like that garlic. They don’t eat that spicy stuff, dontcha know?” Jerry and Sunny and their sold-out-by-August harvest beg to differ!
Jerry Ford and Sunny Ruthchild are longtime friends in Minnesota garlic and organic farming. Sunny runs Merryweather Gardens near Walnut Grove, raising garlic, poultry, vegetables, and pigs who are happy to be the clean-up crew for her orchard. Jerry raises replacement dairy heifers, grass-fed beef, and garlic with his family at Living Song Farm near Howard Lake.
Before they get back out there to plant next year’s garlic crop, they’re taking some time to compare notes and philosophies as they prepare for the next season and climate unknowns. They get into:
- Site Selection - Jerry’s land is hilly, Sunny’s land is flat. They both make it work.
- Soil Prep - “If you need to add chemicals to the soil, you need a different site.”
- Timing of planting
- Seed garlic and varietal selection - Seed garlic grown in Minnesota does well in Minnesota.
- First-time growers & gardeners - Porcelain varieties are a great place to start
- Dip treatments - Nah.
- Their agriculture philosophies
- Mulching
- Being adaptable to change in markets and climate
Garlic is a high-value, premium crop here in Minnesota. As Sunny says, “the truth is, Minnesota can grow garlic. And the other truth is, people in Minnesota love good garlic, don’t let anybody tell you anything else.”
Jerry Ford - Living Song Farm, SFA Network Coordinator
Sunny Ruthchild - Merryweather Farm
Katie Feterl - SFA Communications Director
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Resources:
Minnesota Premium Garlic Project
Minnesota Garlic Festival & Virtual Directory
Dirt Rich Episode 6: Harvesting Minnesota Garlic
SFA Garlic Videos
Sarah Lindblom and Josh Reinitz join Dirt Rich to talk about how they’ve been growing food for their communities with food safety in mind--through the pandemic, and always.
Sarah runs Solar Fresh Produce, a three acre 40-member CSA farm outside of Buffalo, Minn. and has a small flock of laying hens. An hour south, Josh has farmed with his family for 12 years on East Henderson Farm. They primarily grow vegetables and also have laying hens. They recently moved from the CSA model to wholesale accounts with restaurants, co-ops, and schools, as well as some agrotourism ventures.
Unsurprisingly, food safety is a cornerstone for successful farms. With more of an eye on health this growing season, farmers have been “bringing their food safety A-game” to ensure that they continue to keep their customers safe. For Josh and Sarah, that has meant maintaining safe COVID habits among themselves, staff, and buyers, as well as adding focus to their usual food safety practices during day-to-day tasks.
And it’s working! As they see sales pick up, they also see the public perception of the health and safety of locally grown foods continuing to trend towards trust in smaller-scale operations. Providing a high-quality and clean-looking product has been valuable in that it catches customers’ attention and opens the door for conversation. Even noting “triple-washed” on salad greens suggests the amount of work that went in before it reached the hands of the eater.
“I can safely say that there’s not a thing I can grow right now that I can’t sell,” says Josh. Sarah sold out of her CSA shares this season sooner than ever before. There’s momentum in buying local, and the two agree that small-scale farmers continuing to prioritize food safety practices will build trust in the broader local foods movement.
Listen in for how they weave food safety into their daily tasks, how their practices are part of wholesale account relationships, and some training resources:
FSMA Produce Safety Rule - FDA
Does the Rule Apply to Me? - U of MN Extension
Food Safety - U of MN Extension
Produce Safety Alliance
Josh Reinitz, East Henderson Farm
Sarah Lindblom, Solar Fresh Produce
Katie Feterl, SFA Communications Director
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota
Sarah Lindblom has always grown herbs for her CSA. She started off growing some popular favorites for her shares: basil, parsley, cilantro. A workshop with herbalist Connie Karstens soon sparked an interest in medicinal herbs. She began cultivating holy basil, marshmallow, calendula, and lemon balm--just to name a few.
Now Sarah sells both fresh and dried herbs at the farmers market, as well as herbal tea blends, creating a unique value-added offering in the marketplace and through the winter. She’s also integrated herbs into her soil health practices, using them to attract pollinators, keep a living root in the soil, and build plant diversity. Today she shares how she ensures she grows a quality product, the benefits of cultivating herbs that continue to unfold on her farm, and how simple it is to start growing your own herbs--whether it’s in your windowsill or on your farm.
Katie Feterl, SFA Multimedia Coordinator and Development Assistant.
Sarah Lindblom, Solar Fresh Produce
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
*Note: Dirt Rich is going biweekly! Catch our next episode on August 19.
Jared Luhman and Tyler Carlson return to further discuss Silvopasture: “the intentional integration of trees, forage, and livestock into one intensively managed system.” Formerly a trope to “keep livestock out of the woods,” now farmers have the tools to properly manage their impact.
By intensively managing trees to optimize the growing environment for the forage below, as well as the timing and location of livestock grazing, farmers can reap numerous benefits. Silvopasture practices can boost soil health, water quality, wildlife habitat and diversity, and carbon sequestration. Silvopasture can also raise timber value, animal performance, and overall economic returns, making this system an attractive option for some farmers.
Tyler describes his own operation, from his intensive study of agroforestry as a student at the University of Minnesota, to his 200 acres in Todd County today. He and his wife raise grass-fed beef, pastured lamb, and perennial fruits on their farm. Tyler shares his experience in working with both existing woodlands and establishing silvopasture on cleared land for those looking to get started.
Resources:
SFA Silvopasture & Agroforestry Homepage - Learn more and register for upcoming workshops here.
Silvopasture Handbook
Silvopasture Webinar Series
University of Minnesota Silvopasture Learning Network
NRCS EQIP
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
Tyler Carlson, SFA Silvopasture & Agroforestry Project Lead
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
This episode is supported and funded by a grant from the Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). It is part of the “Oak Savanna Restoration through Silvopasture Project” in cooperation with University of Minnesota Agricultural Extension, Center for Integrated Natural Resources and Agricultural Management (CINRAM) at the University of Minnesota, and Great River Greening.
Silvopasture: “the intentional integration of trees, forage, and livestock into one intensively managed system.”
New Dirt Rich voices Jared Luhman and Tyler Carlson give an intro to silvopasture practices, covering a little history, how silvopasture looks today, and the economic and biological benefits these systems can provide to Minnesota farmers. Stay tuned for next week’s episode, where Tyler and Jared will give examples of how farmers can implement silvopasture on their farms.
Resources:
SFA Silvopasture & Agroforestry Homepage - Learn more and register for upcoming workshops here.
Silvopasture Handbook
Silvopasture Webinar Series
University of Minnesota Silvopasture Learning Network
Jared Luhman, SFA Soil Health Lead
Tyler Carlson, SFA Silvopasture & Agroforestry Project Lead
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
This episode is supported and funded by a grant from the Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). It is part of the “Oak Savanna Restoration through Silvopasture Project” in cooperation with University of Minnesota Agricultural Extension, Center for Integrated Natural Resources and Agricultural Management (CINRAM) at the University of Minnesota, and Great River Greening.
Kent Solberg brings his expertise in energized fencing to Dirt Rich. Energized fencing is a psychological, rather than a physical barrier for livestock. Because of their portable nature, they are easy to modify, expand, and can be ideal for a rental scenario. They can be less costly than a barbed wire or woven wire fence as well.
Kent details the key considerations for energized fencing, the components of an energized fence (braces, line posts, wires, energizers, gates), and how to ensure that the fence will work properly. Those interested in gaining hands-on experience with fencing will want to check out our schedule of upcoming in-person workshops around Minnesota.
Kent’s key considerations for energized fencing:
- Energized fence is a psychological barrier rather than a physical barrier.
- The class and diversity of livestock you are managing (cattle & hogs are easiest, poultry, sheep, and goats can be more difficult)
- Terrain and topography
- Season of the year
- Who owns the property? And who owns the fence?
- Where are the property boundaries?
- What are legal considerations (state laws, local ordinances)?
Kent Solberg - SFA Senior Technical Advisor
Katie Feterl - SFA Multimedia Coordinator and Development Assistant
Reach out to Kent, Katie, or any other member of the SFA team here.
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
It’s about that time to plant for late season grazing. Kent Solberg and Doug Voss discuss the biological benefits of grazing complex cover crops (nicknamed “biological primers”), and walk you through the process of designing a seed mix that will fit the unique context of your farm.
As we know, things can change rather quickly, and remaining adaptable and having a “plan B” is always helpful. Sharing experiences with other producers in your area can help give you ideas and learn what might work best (or not at all!) on your farm. Other resources mentioned in this episode include:
NRCS Offices
Green Cover Seed Smart Mix Calculator
Midwest Cover Crop Council
SFA Soil Health Page
Reach out to Kent, Doug, Katie, or any other member of the SFA team here.
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Garlic harvest is upon us! This specialty crop is growing as a premium product in Minnesota markets and pantries. Today we chat with Jerry Ford, a seasoned garlic grower who fell into it in 2002 and hasn’t stopped since. He walks us through his harvest and post-harvest processes, shares the conservation history of the fourth-generation Living Song Farm, and throws in a few garlic jokes for good measure.
A longtime local champion of garlic, Jerry also directs the Minnesota Premium Garlic Project, a collaboration between SFA and the University of Minnesota Extension RSDP. Throughout the year, you can also find him preparing for the Minnesota Garlic Festival, for which he is also the director.
Garlic growing resources and upcoming events can be found on the Minnesota Premium Garlic Project webpage. Garlic growers are also invited to join the Upper Midwest Garlic Growers networking group, which you can also connect with on Facebook.
While the Minnesota Garlic Festival isn’t happening live in-person this year, you will still be able to buy local, gourmet garlic from Minnesota growers. Stay tuned to the festival webpage for a forthcoming Garlic Grower Directory, and on Minnesota Garlic Fest social media for more fun updates.
Jerry Ford - SFA Network Coordinator
Katie Feterl - SFA Multimedia Coordinator and Development Assistant
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
“To Clip, or Not to Clip?” SFA Soil Health Team staff Kent Solberg and Doug Voss give some clarity to this question. Clipping can be a wonderful management tool to build resilience in your pasture and boost animal performance, but depending on the context of your particular pasture, it may not be the best option. Kent and Doug discuss considerations, and the importance of keeping your management plans flexible to change.
You can reach out to Kent, Doug, or our other staff with questions on the SFA staff page.
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Get in touch with Katie with ideas and feedback at katie@sfa-mn.org.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Growing in a covered space seems to be a trend for many local vegetable growers and there is good reason in our northern climate. To help measure the soil health both inside and outside of a caterpillar tunnel, farmers can use a soil health report card with four easy soil health tests.
SFA Crow River Chapter member Sarah Lindblom takes this on in her new project: La Vie en Rows. Using a Mill City Farmers Market Next Stage Grant, she constructed a caterpillar tunnel at her farm in Buffalo, Solar Fresh Produce. She has some recommendations to share on the construction process, using an infiltration test, and on occultation, a soil-health building tool that keeps the soil covered...with tarps.
Throughout the season, she'll be reporting back with her experiences and a "soil health report card" from inside the tunnel on the SFA website. Read the first report and follow along here.
Get in touch with Katie with ideas and feedback at katie@sfa-mn.org.
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
Even midway through June, it’s not too late to start growing some of your own food this season. Growing a garden in your yard, your windowsill, and at any other scale can be empowering. Kent Solberg, SFA’s Senior Technical Advisor, returns to the show to share some tips and advice for growing in a manageable and rewarding way this summer.
Kent’s Top Tips for Starting a Garden:
- You don’t need to buy a lot of fancy equipment, or even have a lot of space to start growing something.
- Plant food you like to eat!
- Keep it simple, start small and manageable.
- Grow a few things well.
- Start a compost pile.
Kent’s Top 4 Things to Grow:
- Potatoes (especially russets): You can grow in old garbage cans or feed sacks. Easy to grow a lot in a small space, and easy to store. All you need is a cool, dry space.
- Beans (particularly dry beans): Depending on the variety, you can eat fresh or let them mature and store them in a jar. Beans climb trellises and are a great option for vertical growing and container gardening.
- Butternut squash (open pollinated variety): Can be trellised, grown or started in a container. Like potatoes, you can simply store them in a cool, dark place. Seeds can be saved for next year from an open pollinated variety.
- Sweet corn or field corn (open pollinated variety): You don’t need a combine! You should have at least four rows wide to allow for pollination. Sweet corn can be eaten fresh or dried to save seed for next year. Field corn can be dried and later ground for corn meal in a coffee grinder (think of the corn bread!). Plenty of other vegetables or cover crops can be grown in between the rows, you could even grow the Three Sisters.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Charles Dowding Youtube Channel
SFA’s Upper Midwest Garlic Growers Networking Group
Minnesota Premium Garlic Project
Get in touch with Katie with ideas and feedback at katie@sfa-mn.org.
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Hosted by Katie Feterl, produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
Theresa calls up Troy to learn more about the NRCS's role in soil health work in Minnesota, how he sees livestock fitting into the picture, and how he wound up moving here from Texas. From a standpoint of land resiliency and the pandemic at large, Troy makes it clear that "we've always got to be in a healing mode, because there's always something that's going to break it down. That's just ecology."
Troy Daniell, Minnesota State Conservationist of the NRCS
Theresa Keaveny, Executive Director of the Sustainable Farming Association
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
Dirt Rich's debut features farmer, grazier, and SFA’s Senior Technical Advisor, Kent Solberg. Kent reflects on the “reset” nature of the pandemic, the challenges farmers and our agricultural system face, and the opportunities to move forward.
Hosted by Katie Feterl, produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.