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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By: Lucinda Winter Executive Director Today is Give to the Max Day! Minnesota’s annual giving holiday is always a sure sign that the year is coming to a close. This has been a year of growth and evolution for SFA. Through our newly refined mission and strategic plan, we are focusing on what we do best: providing boot-on-the-ground…
Read MoreToday is the final day of early giving before Give to the Max Day! Give your gift to support our general fund today on our Give to the Max page or SFA’s website. Thanks to a generous match provided by board directors, staff, and members every donation up to $5,000 will be doubled! SFA has forged a reputation as a…
Read MoreOnly three more days until Give to the Max Day! This year, we’re focusing our Give to the Max contributions on our vital general fund. SFA’s mission of transforming agriculture one farm at a time is driven by our dedicated team. We maintain a lean operating structure with four core staff members supplemented by role-specific…
Read MoreIt’s nearly time for Minnesota’s state-wide giving holiday: Give to the Max! We are thrilled to share that a group of generous board directors, staff, and donors have put up $5,000 to match your donations, dollar for dollar. Click here to give. The official Give to the Max day is scheduled for November 21, but early giving…
Read MoreBy Katie Feterl • Communications Director Throughout our Fall New Member Drive, we’ve been sharing member experiences, in their own words. By now you may have seen posts spotlighting folks like Tom Barthel, Dayna Burtness, and Bianca Goncalves Da Costa, among others who shared their reflections in video interviews. With members top of mind and a fresh mission…
Read MoreAs our Fall New Member Drive continues, we wanted to highlight one of the lesser-known benefits of SFA membership: access to innovative research and shared learning! SFA is a leading regional partner in sustainable agriculture research, and our members receive priority in SFA research and education projects. Whether it’s soil health and silvopasture case studies, cultivation…
Read MoreWho are SFA members? We call ourselves the “farmer-to-farmer network,” but our ecosystem is far wider. We attract and partner with people and organizations interested in shifting the agricultural paradigm from an extractive model to a regenerative one. Our 1,300 members include both seasoned and new farmers and ranchers, as well as agricultural educators, agency…
Read MoreWho are SFA members? We call ourselves the “farmer-to-farmer network,” but our ecosystem is far wider. We attract and partner with people and organizations interested in shifting the agricultural paradigm from an extractive model to a regenerative one. Our 1,300 members include both seasoned and new farmers and ranchers, as well as agricultural educators, agency…
Read MoreWho are SFA members? We call ourselves the “farmer-to-farmer network,” but our ecosystem is far wider. We attract and partner with people and organizations interested in shifting the agricultural paradigm from an extractive model to a regenerative one. Our 1,300 members include both seasoned and new farmers and ranchers, as well as agricultural educators, agency…
Read MoreFor more than 30 years the Sustainable Farming Association has brought together Minnesotans interested in improving soil health, growing healthy food, and revitalizing rural communities. Our “Farmer-to-Farmer” network continues to bring together farmers, ranchers, researchers, advocates, ag professionals, and eaters to transform agriculture, one farm at a time. Become a member during SFA’s fall new member drive…
Read MoreOur Blog
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Support farmers like Kate, Amy, and Dayle
This Give to the Max season, our goal is to raise $15,000 for our on-farm consulting work. Community leaders have generously posted a $5,000 matching grant! Can you help us meet it? Give here! What’s an on-farm consult? Upon request, one or two of our farmer consultants spend several hours walking your farm to get the…
Read MoreWhere do you want to see our Fruit & Vegetable efforts go?
In the past, SFA’s work on fruit and vegetables has largely centered around garlic and asparagus (for good reason). Both garlic and asparagus have significant demand from local food shoppers and also help us, as farmers, follow the six principles of soil health. However, this is just a small piece of the collection of specialty…
Read MoreFarmer-to-Farmer: Rustic Roots Farm
Have you heard? Generous community leaders have stepped up to offer a $5,000 matching grant for our Give to the Max campaign! This is particularly exciting because this year, your gifts will support our farmer-to-farmer consulting program. All memberships and donations to SFA will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $5,000. Early giving is officially underway and gifts…
Read MoreDirt Rich: Enchanted Meadows – In Transition
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…
Read MoreDirt Rich: Old Farm, New Visions
A new episode of Dirt Rich features farmer and SFA board member Scott Haase of Blue Earth, Minnesota. Haase grows crops with his brother Brent and raises pasture and woodland pork on Blue Dirt Farm. Their German ancestors “walked here from Wisconsin back in the 1860’s,” and they still farm some of the land where…
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We hosted a pasture walk with the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship (DGA) and NRCS Cooperative Agreement at Walter Organic Family Farms on September 22. This event featured the PaddockTrac technology that was developed at the University of Missouri and is being tested on DGA farms around the country. The PaddockTrac is a unit that mounts onto…
Read MoreComing Soon to Vergas: a Seed House
Earlier this year, Zachary Paige of North Circle Seeds and the Lake Agassiz Chapter got a lead from a friend on a grant opportunity from Ceres Trust. The deadline was coming up quickly, but he took a crack at a proposal. $25,000 could get the seed collective pretty close to covering the construction of a much…
Read MoreOrganic Pioneer: Carmen Fernholz
Carmen Fernholz, a pillar of Minnesota’s farming community, was recently honored with the Rodale Institute’s 2022 Organic Pioneer Award. Recognized for his leadership in “changing the landscape of regenerative organic agriculture for the better,” he is one of four recipients this year. Fernholz has long been a member of SFA, and even laid groundwork for the organization…
Read MoreTour Plum Creek Garlic in New Video
Check out our new video that chronicles a garlic field day of one of our stalwart members! We visited Plum Creek Garlic near St. Cloud, Minnesota on June, 2022. Now in their 14th year of growing garlic, they are active members of the Sustainable Farming Association and follow best practices including rotation and building soil capacity…
Read More