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 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 MoreAs 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…
Read MoreBy 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…
Read MoreBy Jerry Ford • Chapter & Events Coordinator Five SFA chapters host a local foods-centered festival each year, and they are all busily preparing for their 2025 events. Learn more about each one at www.sfa-mn.org/festivals. Here are a few ways you can get involved: ADMISSIONS: Tickets are on sale or will be soon. BE A…
Read MoreThis summer, SFA and Lift Bridge Brewing Company are partnering to host a series of monthly local Growers & Makers markets! Every third Saturday from June through September, we will be showcasing the best in local produce, meat, cheese, pickled veggies, and hot sauce, as well as amazing talented artists, craftspeople, and vendors. Market Dates:…
Read MoreYou’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…
Read MoreBy Jonathan Kilpatrick • Farmer Education Director It’s hard to believe that in just two weeks, we’ll be right in the middle of the inaugural Midwest Grazing & Soil Health Summit! Still on the fence (no pun intended) about attending? Let me give you a few reasons—beyond our all-star lineup of speakers—why you should reconsider. Beyond the session…
Read MoreBy Katie Feterl • Communications Director Like all SFA farmers, Caroline Hegstrom wears many hats. She is a very active member of our Association Board, serving both as the delegate for the Lake Superior Chapter and the Board secretary. Out in the field, she runs The Boreal Farm in Duluth (organic vegetable and flower CSAs;…
Read MoreWe’re excited to announce another great benefit to SFA membership, a 10% discount on Red Wing Shoes! This member-exclusive discount will save SFA members 10% on all IN STORE purchases of regularly priced Red Wing Brand footwear. When you visit a Red Wing retailer, you’ll be measured for an accurate fit to ensure maximum comfort…
Read MoreIf you haven’t met Suzanne Miller-McFeeley yet, allow me to introduce her!Suzanne joined our team of consultants in 2023 and was recently named our Development & Membership Manager. She is now our go-to person for all things membership, and has hit the ground running in implementing our new board-driven membership dues structure. A South Dakota…
Read MoreOur Blog
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Solberg on Soil: Wide-Row Corn for More Income, Soil Health?
Some recent thoughts on wide-row corn were recently discussed in Successful Farming Magazine. For producers with beef cattle, sheep or dairy replacement heifers, wide-row corn may be a more profitable way to use corn acres. Wide-row corn could be a means of developing 2-3 income streams from what was single-income acreage while increasing plant diversity, integrating livestock and…
Read MoreLuhman: A Good time to Share Your Regenerative Story
2020 was an interesting year, presenting countless challenges from not being able to see family and friends to roller-coaster rides of commodity markets. We saw processing plants shut down, leaving store shelves empty and farmyards full of livestock. But one silver lining of all these challenges was that demand went through the roof for local,…
Read MorePodcast: “Home on the Tree-Range”
In the newest episode of SFA’s ‘Dirt Rich’ podcast, we chat with Tony Wells of Regeneration Farms. Tony 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,…
Read MoreDGA Update: Study Says Water Quality Certified Farms Show Higher Profits
A new study by the Minnesota State Agricultural Centers of Excellence shows that farmers enrolled in the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program (MAWQCP) had higher profits than non-certified farms. The MAWQCP is a voluntary program for farmers and landowners that protects the state’s water resources by putting farmers in touch with local conservation district experts…
Read MoreBeyond Your Backyard: I’m Ready for Green Things
Photos above by Megan Benage, from left: Virginia bluebells growing in a woodland shade garden. Pasqueflower is one of the first prairie wildflowers to bloom, blooming around Easter; this Queen bumble bee ended up covered in pollen and ready to provision her nest. American plum is important for earth emerging pollinators like queen bumble bees.…
Read MorePodcast: AMPed for Grazing!
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…
Read MoreDGA Update: Thousands in apprentice stipends available
I want to let you know about some programs that DGA has to offer for their Master Graziers and apprentice candidates. Did you know that if you are an Organic Valley farmer, you can qualify for a stipend to get an apprentice on your dairy farm? Organic Valley has partnered with DGA to offer their…
Read MoreLuhman: Summit brings national attendance
Last week was our 8th annual Midwest Soil Health Summit and we didn’t let Covid stop us from providing some great educational content to our attendees! We obviously prefer to hold an in-person conference, and are planning to go in-person again in 2022. However, by offering a virtual summit we had 12 attendees from outside…
Read MorePodcast: Integrative Nutrition; Animal Proteins
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…
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