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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Beyond Your Backyard: Good or Bad?
Good or bad? I’ve been asked this question a lot in my career. Is haying good or bad? Is grazing good or bad? Is fire good or bad for the prairie? The answer is always the same: a question. What time of year? How short are you haying? How often? How many animals? What kind?…
Read MoreLuhman: The Inherent Value of Livestock Integration Into a Crop Farm
One of the most undervalued tools in a farmers toolbox is integrating livestock on the land. Cover crops and perennial grasses make it possible to harvest sunlight, cover our soil, feed biology, and sequester carbon for an additional 2-4 months before and after a cash crop. But it is livestock that allows us to harvest…
Read MoreDirt Rich Heads to Pasture
The latest two episodes of Dirt Rich are focused on grazing. Kent Solberg and Doug Voss return for some timely perspective on “Designing Cover Crops for Late Season Grazing.” They discuss the biological benefits of grazing complex cover crops (nicknamed “biological primers”), and walk us through the process of designing a seed mix that will…
Read MoreBeyond Your Backyard: A Place to Be Broken
When I was a little girl and I would get in trouble, I often ran to the forest. My brother and I had a grapevine that hung across the creek that ran by our house. We’d hook it around a tree stump on one side, stretching it out so that when you unhooked it and…
Read MoreSurvey: Lack of Local Meat Processing Limits Farm Businesses; Sustained Investment Needed
A recent survey of livestock producers shows that Minnesota has a growing local livestock industry, but a persistent challenge for small and mid-sized livestock producers is limited small-scale meat and poultry processing. A group of organizations including Minnesota Farmers Union, Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota and Land Stewardship Project sent a survey to livestock producers…
Read MoreDirt Rich Episode 6: “Harvesting Minnesota Garlic”
‘Tis the season for harvesting garlic in our state, so before Jerry got into the thick of it on his farm, we recorded this week’s episode of Dirt Rich. For years, garlic has been a growing premium product in Minnesota markets and pantries. In fact, over 50 varieties are grown here alone, and growers typically…
Read MoreBeyond your Backyard: July is Grassland Month in Minnesota
Holy wow! We just finished celebrating Pollinator Week and now we slide right into Grassland Month for all of July! The cake just doesn’t stop over here. Did you know that prairies are incredibly complex systems? They are powerhouses at production. In fact, those rich deep soils are why much of this area has been…
Read MoreDirt Rich Episode 5: To Clip, or Not to Clip?
The latest episode of Dirt Rich gets into clipping: a pasture management tool with a lot of potential so long as it is used in the right context, as members of our Soil Health Team remind us. Kent Solberg and Doug Voss discuss a variety of factors to take into consideration as you decide whether…
Read MoreBeyond Your Backyard: Little Things That Make the World Go ‘Round
June 22-28 is National Pollinator week. One week to celebrate the little things that make the world go round. What’s all the buzz? Pollinators are a huge group of insects with species that have different life histories, biologies, and needs. They boggle the mind at all that they’re doing right under our noses and we…
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