Sustainable agriculture gives me hope. What gives me hope is the knowledge that much of what ails us and the planet we are part of can be cured by the way we eat. Real food has the best return on investment when it comes to health care. Not only does it heal us, real food is grown in ways that heal the wounds of our soils and our water. People increasingly are voting to grow and buy real food. This gives me hope for my future and that of my grandchildren’s children.
Sustainable farmers have an undervalued knowledge. This knowledge is hard earned, some through books, but most through sweat. On the backs of heroes; Albrecht, Stout, Howard, Steiner, and Leopold, the sustainable farmer has plowed forward. New day heroes; Coleman, Ingham, Salatin, Brown, and Shepard, lead us and push us to break new boundaries. This hard-earned knowledge will only grow in value.
“But you can never change the system”, I often hear. “Maybe not,” I say, “but if we can, it will be done one farmer at a time, farmer to farmer.”
I wrote this for the “From the President” column in the Sustainable Farming Association annual newsletter, “The CornerPost”, in the fall of 2013, after my first year of service in that position. It was an honor to serve in that role, and a pleasure to meet and get to know so many dedicated people, those whose character is hard to match.
Farmers and ranchers are hands-on folks, especially those who value soil quality and real food. Regenerative agriculture methods have, for almost a century, been put on the back burner in favor of bushels per acre, or pounds-per-day weight gain on livestock. By and large they’ve lacked support from our land grant universities, state college systems, equipment manufacturers, crop consultants, seed companies, and the government.
Instead, they’ve had to rely on their own intuition and ingenuity to adopt practices and adapt their production systems to build natural soil fertility. Conventional farming practices rely heavily on purchased inputs to control growing conditions. Expensive equipment, pesticides, and fertilizers are fine tuned to spoon feed the crop or animal. Effectiveness is based primarily on yield or weight gain, and the ability to meet tolerable soil loss requirements.
Mimicking Natural Systems
Regenerative farming practices rely on systems that build natural fertility and improve the health of the land. Use of purchased equipment and inputs is minimized in favor of practices and systems that mimic natural systems. Effectiveness is measured primarily by the health of their soil and their livestock.
Like so many things, putting a very complex topic into two boxes on the extremes is a misrepresentation. Of course a regenerative farmer has to be concerned with yield, just as the conventional farmer is concerned about the health of their land and livestock. What really matters is how you measure effectiveness, and which side of the check you sign.
The value of the knowledge of farmers that work to build soil health has grown since I penned that “CornerPost” article. The list of “heroes” has grown, and continues to expand. Workshops, conferences, field days, and pasture walks have grown in number and popularity. These farmers and ranchers share their hard-earned knowledge for others to adopt or adapt as they see fit, reducing risk and the chance of failure.
Knowledge of regenerative agriculture can be gleaned from books, magazine articles, and YouTube videos, but learning that happens in person or in the field has much more value. Workshops allow you the opportunity to ask questions and join in conversations not possible in a book or online. And field days let you see first-hand that innovative piece of equipment, or fencing method. Seldom do I attend a workshop or field day without a new idea to try on the farm. This is valuable knowledge, passed from farmer to farmer, one farmer at a time.
Upcoming Farmer-led Events
On September 27 & 28 the Crow Wing River Basin Forage Council will be hosting their annual Grazing School in Verndale. This farmer-led event features nationally recognized grazers, Greg Judy, who owns and operates Green Pastures Farm (http://greenpasturesfarm.net) where they prioritize healthy farms and healthy farmers. They work to utilize practices that mimic nature, keeping inputs low and the land healthy.
Other presenters include: Isaac Tappenden, Farm manager with Green Pastures Farm; Jordan Meyer, Owner Operator of Wholesome Family Farm; Jonathan Kilpatrick, Farm Education Director with the Sustainable Farming Association; Dr. Roger Moon, UMN Professor Emeritus - Department of Entomology. Topics that will be covered include: building soil health with ruminants, effective and efficient fencing and paddock design, stacking farm enterprises, securing long term grazing leases, stockmanship and low stress cattle handling, managing small ruminants, exploring the dung pat ecosystem, and more.
Registration is limited to keep class size small. Lunch will be provided by The Wadena BBQ Smokehouse. Friday evening will feature a social hour with table topic discussions, and a locally sourced meal served by Chef Joel London. An option to only attend the Friday evening event is available. Scholarships for the grazing school are available for those with limited resources. For more information or to register go to: https://sfa-mn.org/forage-council/
The Crow Wing River Basin Forage Council was founded by Grazers in the Leader area and by downstream citizens concerned about water quality, as a way to showcase management methods that served everyone's interests. For over twenty years the Forage Council has been hosting farmer-led programming that highlights the proven practices and techniques of adaptive grazing management that promote soil health, protect water quality, support animal health, and provide economic stability for producers. Join us.
For more sustainable agricultural events, check out https://sfa-mn.org/
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