Click here to learn more and register for the upcoming workshop with Charlotte Smith. Charlotte Smith swore she would never return to farming after a very difficult family farm bankruptcy while growing up. Spoiler: After some time working in the corporate world, she started a farm in 2009. She found that the time management, hiring, and interperson…

Dan Kittredge grew up on a homestead with a family deeply engaged in the organic movement. Over the years, he worked on farms across the globe and learned from permaculture, biodynamic, agroecology, indigenous, conventional, and microbiological perspectives. With a foundation in both the practical and the philosophical, he created the Bionutrient F…

Derek Schmitz has never dreamt of being anything other than a farmer. He also really doesn't like doing field work. An adaptively managed, perennial grazing dairy just makes sense. In this conversation Schmitz shares how fellow dairy farmers helped him get started, and how genetics, observation and building his own farm team through the Minnesota D…

Jeff Duchene is a Grazing Specialist for the Minnesota NRCS, which offers both financial and technical assistance to producers to help them meet their land management goals and address their natural resource concerns. In conversation with host Jonathan Kilpatrick, Duchene shares how his formal education combined with years of learning directly from…

Five SFA farm consultants from across Minnesota discuss how they are approaching and planning ahead for drought conditions on their varying grazing operations. While conditions have changed since this conversation was recorded in early June 2023, their goals and decision-making strategies are evergreen. Listeners are welcome to reach out with quest…

Jonathan Kilpatrick and Jared Luhman return to the mic to explore farm financial health. Doing a thorough business analysis can help you clearly identify specifically where your profits and losses lie across your enterprises, and in turn help you make confident decisions for your farm’s future. In their experience, the time you take to get a handle…

We’re switching it up today! Jonathan Kilpatrick moves into the host seat and interviews Jared Luhman about the history of farming in his family and about his time working for Sustainable Farming Association. A pivotal moment for the trajectory of the family farm came when a visiting student told them they were working too hard. The listening and l…

In 2022, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) opened the state's first Emerging Farmers Office. Lillian Otieno and Assistant Commissioner Patrice Bailey of the MDA Commissioner’s Office share how it came to be, the value it brings to our agricultural landscape, and the impacts they are seeing. SFA’s Executive Director Lucinda Winter hosts …

Organic dairy grazier Angie Walter shares her experience using PaddockTrac, a grazing tool being developed by the University of Missouri. Angie's family runs a 100-cow organic dairy in Villard, Minn., grazing 80-100 acres at any given time. Theirs and 12 other Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship farms are piloting the PaddockTrac through an NRCS cooperati…

We're back! Dirt Rich kicks off its fourth season with the second part of Jared Luhman's interview with Dan Zimmerli (check out part one here). The two get into the business management side of the farm -- employees, task tracking, data management and record keeping -- and how the Zimmerlis have leveraged it all to improve efficiency, profitability,…

This will be the last episode of season 3, and 2022! Thanks for listening, and we'll see you back in 2023 with another episode on vegetable production with Dan, conversations on new grazing technology, and other great interviews! Jared Luhman and Dan Zimmerli in conversation about vegetable production logistics from planting to harvest on Cedar Cra…

Jared Luhman, Doug Voss, Kent Solberg, and Jonathan Kilpatrick discuss what's on their mind in the ag world at this point in the season. As we approach winter in the Midwest, folks are looking ahead and planning for next year. The team highlights the many opportunities for making changes on the farm in the next season guided by the principles of so…

Katie Feterl and Jared Luhman discuss SFA's on-farm consulting offering, how you can support our work, and highlight two big upcoming events: Annual Conference and Midwest Soil Health Summit. Contact Jared Luhman about consulting at jared@sfa-mn.org. You can also visit our Staff Page. Give to the Max: November 17, 2022 (Giving open through the end …

Originally released November 16, 2020. Winter can be the most expensive time to own a cow in the Midwest. As the season changes, five of our staff who also raise beef and dairy cows gathered to share the ways that they’ve found to reduce the cost (and labor) of wintering cattle on their unique operations. All five live in different parts of Minneso…

Chad Crowley firmly believes that for those who want to get into dairy or farming in general, grazing is the way to go. That route has certainly gone well for him. He was told many times that he couldn’t find success in farming because he didn’t grow up on one, but today he and his wife Melissa farm in southeast Minnesota as part of Enchanted Meado…

Scott Haase farms in Blue Earth, Minnesota, raising crops with his brother Brent and raising pasture and woodland pork under Blue Dirt Farm. Their German ancestors “walked here from Wisconsin back in the 1860’s,” and they still farm some of the land where those ancestors homesteaded. Like most in the area, the Haase family farm is still a fairly co…

Following Dirt Rich's previous episode, 57: Fundamentals of Adaptive Grazing with Jonathan Kilpatrick, we thought it would be a great time to revisit our conversation on Adaptive Multi-Paddock grazing with Jared Luhman and Doug Voss. If you enjoy Dirt Rich, consider supporting our work by becoming a member of SFA or donating at www.sfa-mn.org. ----…

Today, a presentation that our Soil Health Specialist Jonathan Kilpatrick gave on adaptive grazing at a recent field day. He’ll bring you through the fundamentals, always keeping in mind the importance of context in grazing management. Jonathan believes that grazing is one of the most powerful forces we can have to regenerate our soils. A topic ove…

Jared Luhman sits down with SFA's new Soil Health Specialist, Jonathan Kilpatrick. Jonathan comes to Minnesota after several years in several states, where he built a diverse background in agricultural work. He grew up farming with his family, eventually building up a 250-300 member CSA vegetable operation with his brothers. Time in other parts of …

The Minnesota Garlic Festival returns to Hutchinson, Minnesota this Saturday, August 13! And that's got us thinking about seed garlic and planning ahead for the fall planting. Please enjoy this delightful conversation with two seasoned garlic growers, and consider joining us on Saturday for garlic food, fun, and conversations with farmers. Original…

There are many tests you can do yourself on your farm to measure soil health, and we've talked about some of them on Dirt Rich before (check out Episode 47: Four DIY Soil Health Tests). Today, Jared interviews Lance Gunderson of Regen Ag Lab on the utility of lab soil testing, particularly for farmers on a regenerative path. Why do do a lab soil te…

Originally released July 15, 2020. ------ It’s about that time to plant for late season grazing. Kent Solberg and Doug Voss discuss the biological benefits of grazing complex cover crops (nicknamed “biological primers”), and walk you through the process of designing a seed mix that will fit the unique context of your farm. As we know, things can ch…

Finnish farmer Thomas Snellman coined the concept of REKO Rings in 2013, and in the last few years they’ve begun to sprout in Wisconsin and Minnesota. This unique model of a local food market is connecting thousands of eaters directly to their local farmers using regional Facebook groups for each ring. Each week, participating growers post what the…

“I went in thinking I wouldn’t have to do a darn thing.” Farmer Dale Buendorf was well on his way to becoming certified through the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program at the outset, having implemented no-till and strip-till on his acres of corn and soybeans. While working with his certifier, Herman Bartsch, they discovered t…

We're taking a break this week as we prepare for many in-field events coming up this summer. Check out our event calendar at www.sfa-mn.org to find out what's going on near you! With dozens of events going through the fall, there's something for everyone. Also: we're on YouTube! Episodes 1-5 are available on the Sustainable Farming Association YouT…

As we approach our big field day at the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge that will demonstrate targeted grazing to restore oak savanna, we thought it would be a good time to revisit this episode with Tyler Carlson and Stephen Thomforde. This episode was originally released February 17, 2021, and its preceding episode is 23: Oak Savanna Origins. -…

We wrap up our Farm Succession Miniseries with a conversation with Jim Molenaar, a longtime Farm Business Management educator and “farm boy.” Today, he works with 55-60 different farm families around St. Cloud through the Northern Agricultural Center of Excellence, counseling on areas such as day-to-day management, financials, and succession. Molen…

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 …

Megan Roberts has experienced many farm transitions–as a non-farm heir to her family dairy farm, as an in-law in a family farm transition, and as an educator. Drawing on over a decade in personal and professional experience in farm succession and estate planning, in this episode she shares several points of consideration for families navigating tou…

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 eco…

With springtime around the corner, this week 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 we see green, but Kent illustrates how let…

Sarah Lindblom returns to Dirt Rich today to share four soil health tests that you can do at home to gain insight on the soil’s physical, chemical, and biological function. These tests can be valuable to gardeners and farmers at any scale, and can be done using simple materials from your recycling bin: Infiltration test - simulates a 1 inch rain ev…

Audrey Lomax manages the grazing enterprises of MNL, a Minnesota-based land management and restoration company that provides ecological products and services. One of the neat parts of her job is that she manages thousands of acres under solar arrays with their flock of 2500 Katahdin sheep. This service provides vegetation management and pollinator …

Meat processing has long been a challenge for local food producers in Minnesota. In this episode, we discuss meat production and processing in the southeast part of the state with Eric Klein of Hidden Stream Farm and Dover Processing. Klein’s diverse array of businesses compliment each other, both improving soil health and supporting local foods an…

When Jared and Valerie Luhman's customers started requesting soy- and corn-free chicken, they decided to try making some changes to the way they raised their flock on pasture in order to see how they might sustainably meet this demand at a larger scale. Grants from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and SARE supported upgrading their chicken t…

Mehgan Blair and Nate Watters are two orchardists and hyper-local craft cidermakers in different Minnesota landscapes. Blair and her family steward a historic dairy farm with an heirloom orchard in Duluth: Canosia Grove. Icelandic sheep are their “land managers,” grazing and conditioning the soil for an eventual expanded orchard. Watters and his fa…

Kaleb Anderson is the third generation of his family farm in Goodhue, Minnesota, and grew up with a conventional ag background. Living in the Driftless region, soil degradation and erosion were always a big concern. Since moving back onto the farm in 2006, Anderson has adjusted practices and diversified the business. He would say that he’s still ve…

(Originally released October 28, 2020) Kathy Zeman pasture-raises a veritable menagerie: goats, sheep, pigs, ducks, geese, turkeys, broilers, hens, meat rabbits, and honeybees graze her twenty acres at Simple Harvest Farm Organics. She grew up farming, and first got started on poultry with her brother for a 4-H project. “Nick’s Eggs” continues toda…

Dr. Anna Cates, the State Soil Health Specialist for the Minnesota Office for Soil Health (MOSH), discusses the roles and interplay of both scientific research and anecdotes in soil health education and implementation with host Jared Luhman. In her opinion, both are quite valuable in making the case for using soil health techniques on the farm. In …

We're shaking it up a bit this episode! Cohosts Jared Luhman and Katie Feterl reflect on the last year: drought challenges and lessons, in-field experiences across the state, hopeful moments, and observations from different spaces in the regenerative ag world. Links: Find all upcoming field days, workshops, webinars and more on our event calendar. …

Connecting with others and meeting new people has always been important to John Beaton, and it’s this flair for relationship building that is at the heart of his farm story. John and Emily Beaton operate Fairhaven Farm just north of Duluth, Minnesota. John got his start on a local CSA vegetable farm, where his mentor, Rick, eventually gave him spac…

“It’s hard to find a Minnesotan that’s not proud of the fact that we’ve got so many wonderful lakes in our region and we’re the source for the Mississippi River...We have a lot of pride for our natural resources in this state and we have a lot of pride for our operations.” -Jennifer Wagner-Lahr The Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification…

Megan Benage, a Regional Ecologist for the Minnesota DNR, brings her passion for the prairie to 32 counties in southern Minnesota--and to thousands of listeners on the Prairie Pod, which she hosts with fellow scientists. And today, she brings it to Dirt Rich! Once covering a full third of the state, Minnesota’s tallgrass prairie is now 235,000 acre…

Angie Walter, the SFA/DGA Central Minnesota Education Coordinator, and her husband Nate run an organic dairy in Central Minnesota, and are also masters in the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship program. Today’s episode features them in conversation with their first apprentice, Ryan Heinen, who now manages a dairy in Waukesha, Wisconsin. His passion for e…

“What else is livestock farming but sort of a dance and a balance between farmer happiness, livestock happiness, and soil health happiness?” Dayna Burtness discusses her “pastured pig-centric farm,” marketing enterprise, and incubator farm near Spring Grove, in the Driftless region of Minnesota. Dayna is the sixth generation in her family to farm i…

In anticipation of our trio of silvopasture field days and workshops next week, we wanted to re-release Episode 10: "Implementing Silvopasture" as a refresher or introduction to the topic. If you'd like to learn more, you can also listen to our other episodes that cover this management approach with ecological and indigenous origins: Episode 9: "Si…

“I’m so heartened by the work that our farmers are doing, that our researchers are doing, to create these really sustainable crops--they’re actually regenerative crops--that are not only delicious on the plate, but really good for the land.” Beth Dooley shares the excitement for Minnesota perennial crops and Kernza that she, Jacob Jungers, and Pete…

Dan Zimmerli is the SFA Community Organizer and Outreach Coordinator, and he also farms full time. He and his wife operate Cedar Crate Farm southeast of Mankato, growing produce for their CSA members. They started out with 8 members in their first season in 2015, and six seasons later they’ve grown it to 80--always with a goal of lifestyle balance …

Gabe Brown shares his ranch story and his 25+ years of learning about regenerative agriculture practices. Before “soil health” concepts entered the mainstream, a few hail storms in the ‘90s, financial challenges, connections made with soil experts, and some serendipity prodded Gabe to try things that were rather unconventional in commercial ag; he …