Two 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 a funny look when I would mention it.

We’ve accomplished a lot in the past two years.  The SFA website is full of resources from fact sheets and manuals to podcasts and webinars.  In spite of the pandemic and a serious drought, we’ve been able to deliver workshops, panel presentations, two sessions at the Midwest Soil Health Summit, and numerous field days across the state.  Last fall, SFA and Great River Greening co-hosted two volunteer events on farms doing oak savanna restoration work.  With our UMN research partners, we’ve been actively involved in an innovative research study at Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge studying the effects of targeted animal impact and adaptive grazing management for oak savanna restoration. You can learn more about this research in the latest episode of Dirt Rich.

We will be hosting a capstone field day at the Refuge on June 2nd to show the research project sites, discuss the results gathered from data collected during the study, talk about oak savanna restoration and management, and see some of the other impacts of adaptive grazing work over the past two years.  There will also be some hands-on training and lunch will be provided.  If your calendar isn’t already full, please consider joining us for the event.  Registration is required, get signed up here. And, watch for upcoming announcements about field days and workshops in future issues of Connect and consider joining the Silvopasture Learning Network to stay informed.