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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Wade Dooley is a sixth-generation farmer who operates Glenwood Century Farm in Albion, Iowa. Since 2015, he and seven other cooperating farmers in Iowa and Minnesota have participated in a grazing cover crops trial to dig into the benefits of grazing diverse cover crops with cattle. Wade and the other cooperators wanted to quantify just…
Read MoreEditor’s Note: SFA board of directors member Tiffany Tripp wrote the following in the Faribault Daily News, where she writes an occasional column. We knew little to nothing about raising poultry or pigs when my partner Andy and I started farming three years ago. A fellow farmer suggested that we attend a local meeting for…
Read MoreBy Audrey Arner Founding SFA President Ralph Lentz, 88, of Lake City, Minn., passed away Sun., Oct. 1, at Lake City Care Center. Early in his career he taught high school Earth science in Henderson and in 1965 moved to Lake City and bought a farm outside of town. He was an agricultural teacher as…
Read MoreBy Kent Solberg • SFA Livestock & Grazing Specialist Innovation in cover crops and crop rotations in this video may be a stretch for much of Minnesota, but something along these lines may hold potential in southern part of the state under right conditions and variety selection. It’s worth watching just to get the creative…
Read MoreEditor’s Note: This column appeared July 7, 2017, in the Mankato Free Press under the headline, “My View: Farming can be sustainable and profitable.” Scott Haase works on his family farm in Faribault County, where most farmers grow corn and soybeans using methods they’ve been encouraged to use for decades. It’s become conventional wisdom: government…
Read MoreBy Teresa Opheim • Senior Fellow, Renewing the Countryside If you own farmland and have both farming and non-farming heirs, which of the following goals comes first: 1. treating all your heirs financially equally; or 2. allowing your farming heir to continue farming? Given land prices and other factors, you may not be able to…
Read MoreBy Teresa Opheim • Executive Director, Climate Land Leaders There is no better way to keep rural communities vibrant than to provide land for a family to farm. At the same time, there is a surge of those wanting to farm, in SFA and elsewhere. If you don’t have a farming heir but want to…
Read MoreBy Teresa Opheim • Executive Director, Climate Land Leaders There is no better way to keep rural communities vibrant than to provide land for a family to farm. At the same time, there is a surge of those wanting to farm, in the Sustainable Farming Association and elsewhere. If you don’t have a farming heir…
Read MoreOur Blog
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Dr. Temple Grandin to Keynote the 2026 Midwest Grazing & Soil Health Summit
…and we are simply over the moon about it. Dr. Grandin’s trailblazing work in the beef cattle industry is world-renowned and part and parcel of today’s agriculture. Throughout her career, Dr. Grandin has studied livestock behavior to develop facility designs, handling equipment, and standards that prioritize animal welfare which are utilized by meat processing plants…
Read MoreSFA at Farm Aid 40
SFA is thrilled to be part of Farm Aid’s 40th annual festival — the first one held in Minnesota! From noon to 5 PM, you’ll find us in “The Fertile Ground” neighborhood of HOMEGROWN Village. We’re demonstrating the differences between soil samples from fields managed conventionally and regeneratively using a slake test. We’re really looking forward to chatting…
Read MoreWelcoming Joel Barr
Meet Joel Barr, our new Market Garden & Farm Management Systems Consultant! Joel owns and operates Abraham’s Table Farm in Sandstone, Minn. which produces and direct markets organic vegetables, pasture raised chicken, eggs, and beef. With over a decade of experience and multiple opportunities to start and build farms, Joel has learned what works and…
Read MoreHarvest Festival celebrates with Food, Farmers, Community
By Julie Allen • Lake Superior Chapter Coordinator Celebrate the harvest season at the 31st Annual Lake Superior Harvest Festival on September 6, 2025, brought to you by the Sustainable Farming Association. From 10am-4pm at Bayfront Festival Park in Duluth, come and enjoy the largest farmers market in the region as well as artisan vendors,…
Read MoreWe’re hiring!
October 15, 2025: The application period for this position has closed. SFA is hiring! We’re looking for an experienced Grazier to join our team as Grazing Education Lead. This full-time position is funded by a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) to expand regenerative grazing in the Upper Mississippi Watershed. Our ideal candidate has a solid background…
Read MoreApply for $100 per acre/animal unit to implement conservation practices
By Katie Feterl • Communications Director Farmers, ranchers, and landowners operating in eligible counties are invited to apply to participate in the Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture program through July 28, 2025! This program offers selected applicants $100/acre or animal unit to implement common conservation practices: You can apply to implement a practice on a maximum of…
Read MoreMid-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…
Read MoreNew Funding to Support Our Farmer-to-Farmer Mission
By Jonathan Kilpatrick, Farmer Education Director SFA is excited to announce two new grant awards that will significantly strengthen our work of transforming agriculture, farmer-to-farmer consulting, and providing adaptive grazing support across the Upper Midwest. First, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) has awarded SFA a $260,000 grant: “Expanding Regenerative Grazing in the Upper…
Read MoreFacing Drought: Tough Decisions and Smart Solutions for Graziers
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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