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Three Conversations on Farm Succession
Today we released the final part of Dirt Rich’s Farm Succession Miniseries. Over the last three weeks, the podcast series has featured guests with varying experiences in farm transitions, succession, and estate planning: Megan Roberts, farmer and Executive Director of the Southern Agricultural Center of Excellence; Jerry Ford, SFA and Living Song Farm; and today’s…
Read MoreMinnesota Now Features Local Farm Incubator
Moses Momanyi was recently featured on MPR’s Minnesota Now. Listen to him talk with Cathy Wurzer about Kilimo Minnesota, his family’s farm incubator in Cambridge serving fellow farmers of African descent here. Momanyi is a Conservation Connector and a member of SFA’s East Central Chapter.
Read MoreDirt Rich: Transferring a Land Ethic Legacy Farm
Jerry Ford and Mariénne Kreitlow are the fourth generation on a farm with a legacy in conservation. Living Song Farm sits on highly erodible land near Minnesota’s Crow River, but the practices introduced in the 1940’s by Mariénne’s father, Willard Kreitlow, have generated topsoil for decades. Jerry and Mariénne share Willard’s land ethic, and have…
Read MoreNext in the Queue: Part 2 of our Farm Succession Miniseries
This week on Dirt Rich: Part 2 of our Farm Succession Miniseries. On April 27, look for our episode with Jerry Ford on transferring a farm with a legacy in conservation. Ford will describe his and his wife’s goals for succession (including living on the farm even after retirement) and his experience with both family and…
Read MoreTwo Years In, Strides Made in Silvopasture
Every once in a while, I stop and realize how incredible the level of support and interest in silvopasture is here in Minnesota and across the country. Just a few years ago I don’t think there were more than a few dozen people in the state who knew enough about it to not give me…
Read MoreDirt Rich: Grazing Cattle to Restore Oak Savanna in the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge
Using livestock to restore landscapes may seem like a contradiction, but oak savannas thrive with disturbance. Grazier Doug Voss and PhD candidate Austin Yantes are involved in a project at the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, studying the results of carefully managed cattle grazing, tree thinning, and burning in striving to meet Sherburne’s ecological goals. The…
Read MoreBeyond Your Backyard: The First Signs of Spring
I always know it’s time for spring when the first fuzzy pasqueflowers emerge. For a wildflower—something we often think of as delicate—they are anything but. They continue to grow undeterred by wide weather fluctuations between 60 degrees and then 30. Their shoots and buds armored in a dense winter coat of fuzz. Doggedly determined to…
Read MoreDirt Rich: Managing Spring Grazing
With springtime around the corner, we’re revisiting our 2021 episode on managing spring grazing. When is the best time to turn the cows out? Kent Solberg and Jared Luhman dig into this decision that sets you up for the rest of the grazing season. It can be awful tempting to get started as soon as…
Read MoreThe 1000 Farms Initiative
On Thursday March 10, we hosted a soil health event in Ivanhoe, MN highlighting the research and work done by Dr. Jonathan Lundgren and his team at Ecdysis, as well as Grant and Dawn Breitkreutz and their inspiring story of success with soil health on their crop and livestock farm near Redwood Falls. If you…
Read MoreIncorporate cover crops on your market farm this year!
More hours of sunlight and warmer temperatures mean spring is on its way! If you are a produce farmer there’s a good chance you’ve already started your first seeds of the season or will do so in the very near future. It’s an exciting time of year! While we’re busy considering which cash crops to…
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