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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Tiffany Tripp of Graise Farm: SFA Beginning Farmer Training Gave Us Skills to Succeed
Editor’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 MoreIn Memoriam: Ralph Lentz
By 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 MoreSolberg on Soil: Cover Crop Videos Worth Watching
By 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 MoreFrom the Executive Director: Soil Health Can Fix Modern Agriculture
Editor’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 MoreFrom the Farm Transitions Network: Dividing Up the Assets Based on Contributions To the Farm
By 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 MoreDon’t Have a Farming Heir? Check Out These Resources
By 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 MoreFrom the Farm Transitions Network: Don’t Have a Farming Heir?
By 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 MoreNew Free Farm Succession Guide Available
A new guide, “Your Farmland and the Future: Setting Goals, Taking Action” will be available for free at many upcoming SFA events. The guide, full of tips from farmland owners and other experts, is also available to download at this link. Among the tips farmland owners share in the guide: Write a Farm Legacy Letter…
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