Annual Conference
Saturday, February 11, 2023
Gorecki Conference Center
College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph
Early bird registration is now open!
$50 for current SFA members, $75 for nonmembers. Ends December 31, 2022. Prices go up by $25 on January 1, 2023!
Emerging Farmers: Free
Children's program (ages 5-12): $10
Lunch ticket in St. Ben's excellent cafeteria: $15. (You may also do lunch on your own.)
Register HERE.
With topics including:
- Fruit & Vegetable Soil Health and Profitability
- Grazing Strategies
- "Burn the Box" Changing Ag Paradigms
- Beekeeping
- Farm Profitability
- Emerging Farmer Resources
- Climate Adaptability
- New Cooperative Marketing Models
- and more!
Full schedule coming soon.
Sponsor and Exhibitor Opportunities
Please consider partnering with us on SFA's flagship event for farmer-to-farmer education and networking.
More information and an application form are HERE.
Our 2023 Sponsors
BLOOM SPONSORS
Afternoon Social Sponsor
A community owned grocery store with 3 locations in the Twin Cities Metro area, Lakewinds' mission is to promote sustainable agriculture, support local makers. and nourish our community. No membership required to shop, and all are welcome!
Opening Plenary Session Sponsor
SAPLING SPONSORS
A voluntary opportunity for farmers and ag landowners to take the lead in conservation practices that protect our water while obtaining regulatory certainty for 10 years.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture mission is to enhance all Minnesotans' quality of life by equitably ensuring the integrity of our food supply, the health of our environment and the strength and resilience of our agricultural community.
SEED SPONSORS
Solar Electric (PV) design, sales and installation.
A look back at our 2022 conference:
Why attend our Annual Conference? Take it from these farmers:
Our Blog
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Every year from September 15th to October 15th the nation celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month. This year’s theme, Esperanza, invites us to celebrate Hispanic heritage and encourages us to reflect on the contributions Hispanic and Latinx people have made in the past and will continue to make in the future. Fresh fruits and vegetables, meat,…
Read More“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…
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Read MoreThe Board of Directors of the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota is pleased to announce that Lucinda Winter will be the organization’s next Executive Director. “Lucinda’s nonprofit leadership experience, well-honed networking skills, innate curiosity, and most importantly, her commitment to soil health, sustainable agriculture, and resilient Minnesota communities were the key qualities the search committee was looking for…
Read MoreMegan 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…
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Read MoreOur Blog
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Mid-year State of the Association Report
By Lucinda Winter • Executive Director Those of you who were present at SFA’s February Annual Conference may recall that during my opening remarks I expressed concerns about our 2025 financial stability. The Trump administration had just “frozen” a large number of Federal grant contracts while they were under review, withholding payment for work already…
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As we look at the weather forecast and study the drought monitor, it appears that we are in for another dry spring and summer in the upper Midwest. According to the drought monitor, about 75% of the state is experiencing abnormally dry to moderate drought conditions and it’s only the beginning of May. In a…
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By Kent Solberg • Senior Technical Advisor Even with pastures greening up fast, 2025 is shaping up to be another drought year. Much of Minnesota (>74%) is still rated as Abnormally Dry or Moderate Drought according to the US Drought Monitor. Most of Minnesota was dry last fall and the snowpack for much of the…
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You’ve probably heard that chickens are the gateway into Homesteading life. There’s a reason! Raising your own chicken meat and eggs requires fairly minimal inputs and infrastructure to begin on your own. With egg and meat prices on the rise, this summer sounds like a great time to begin raising your own! We’ll talk specifically about: This…
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