Food Environment and Reporting Network

MARCH 27, 2024

Fescue toxicity is the most devastating livestock disorder east of the Mississippi,” said Craig Roberts, a forage specialist at the University of Missouri (MU) Extension and an expert on fescue. An overgrazed fescue pasture in Elk Creek, Missouri. Many ranchers would like to avoid the risk of total pasture makeovers, if they can.

Ranching 105

Ranching Pasture Forage Cattle 105

Modern Farmer

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

Peppered throughout some 500 acres of charred pastureland, he found sizable patches of grass left unscathed by the blaze. The fire burned right around them,” says the 73-year old rancher and owner of Diamond B Ranch, noting the intact areas—some as big as a quarter acre. Some areas of grazed pasture on Diamond B Ranch went unburned.

Plantation 114

Plantation Pasture Acre Ranching 114

ATTRA

APRIL 2, 2024

Our pastures are devastated by livestock feeding areas, hooves, gate ruts, excessive rain, snow melt, and lack of vegetative cover during the non-growing season. We are too aware of the cost of pasture forage restoration, truck fenders, and loss of man hours, but there is also a cost to the health and welfare of our livestock.

Soil Compaction 98

Soil Compaction Pasture Forage Livestock 98

Civil Eats

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

The tall forage stands out in southeastern Minnesota’s corn and soybean fields, which this time of year have been reduced to stubble poking through the snow. It works as both a cover crop and forage for the cattle, and it’s helping Bedtka build up organic matter in his soil. That’s where the sorghum-sudangrass comes in.

Crop 140

Crop Farming Farming Acre 140

Civil Eats

MARCH 4, 2024

It’s no wonder that hospital food gets a bad rap, says Santana Diaz, executive chef at the University of California Davis Medical Center, a sprawling, 142-acre campus located in Sacramento, California. Grazing cattle on pasture for the entirety of their lives, on the other hand, is far less productive. Davis Med Center.

Pasture 142

Pasture Ranching Supply Chain Cattle 142

ProAg

SEPTEMBER 23, 2023

ProAg Pasture, Rangeland, Forage (PRF) insurance offers protection against forage loss due to the lack of precipitation on acres grown with the intended use of grazing or haying. Forage backing when precipitation is lacking. Sustain your grazing capacity with PRF. Download to learn more.

Forage 52

Forage Pasture Acre Production 52

UnderstandingAg

JANUARY 11, 2025

The pasture was divided with permanent division fences to create multiple paddocks, and across a broad valley on the far hillside, I noted that one of the small permanent paddocks really stood out across the green pasture. However, we would not want to repeat these disruptions in the same manner on the same acres on a regular basis.

Forage 65

Forage Pasture Acre Soil Compaction 65

Civil Eats

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

A few days later, Valley Center bean farmer Mike Reeske, who donated half an acre of his small farm for this crop, was already betting on which seeds would be the winners in the slow and steady race to find a heritage wheat that will grow—with rainwater only—in San Diego County. It makes sense instead of leaving unused fields unplanted.

Grain 138

Grain Seeding Farming Farming 138

Food Tank

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

Farmers who have no livestock in their system have a limited number of tools…With the addition of livestock, there is the potential for perennial pastures, perennial hay, annual forages, and grazing crop residues, reducing tillage and increasing the return of carbon to the soil,” Paine tells Food Tank.

Livestock 120

Livestock Food Agriculture Agriculture 120

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

DECEMBER 15, 2023

After heavy grazing, a mixed summer forage is still building soil. Anthony, IN, has substantially reduced the impacts of downpours on his farm by adopting managed rotational grazing and improving his pastures. Further, they have added nearly five acres of prairie strips. Joseph Fischer, of Fischer Farms in St.

Pasture 117

Pasture Crop Orchard Farming 117

Farm Credit of Southern Colorado

OCTOBER 23, 2024

Pasture, Rangeland, Forage (PRF) insurance is a vital tool that helps protect against weather-related forage shortages, ensuring the sustainability of your operation. PRF insurance offers financial protection when precipitation falls below historical averages, affecting forage availability. What is PRF Insurance?

Livestock 52

Livestock Forage Ranching Pasture 52

ATTRA

OCTOBER 11, 2024

Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station with funding from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the StockSmart tool calculates stocking rates using remotely sensed forage production data for every quarter of an acre over the last 40 years. Related ATTRA publication: Pasture, Rangeland, and Adaptive Grazing

Forage 40

Forage Livestock Pasture Acre 40

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

JULY 14, 2023

And beyond the diversification associated with cropping fields, adding livestock diversity into a system can reduce challenges like pests and diseases while allowing for nutrient cycling from livestock to soil and back to crop or forage species. Mixed summer forage in the Southeast U.S.

Agriculture 98

Agriculture Agriculture Crop Rotation Pasture 98

Civil Eats

MAY 6, 2024

Strips of trees, bushes, grasses, or flowers around agricultural or pasture fields can house higher numbers of small mammals than cropland. land, with cropland expanding by 1 million acres per year, fueling habitat loss for wildlife and mammals. A good example is Christina Allen’s 10-acre farm in Maryland. Runoff from U.S.

Farming 143

Farming Farming Pesticide Agriculture 143

UnderstandingAg

SEPTEMBER 24, 2023

Or have they studied the nutritional profile of regeneratively produced grass fed and pasture raised meats? In the words of Peter Byck, producer of the documentary Roots So Deep , on a 1,000-acre farm that amounts to 54 million gallons more water going into the soil. The standing forage biomass is often 300%+ higher.

Food 78

Food Cultivation Forage Production 78

Civil Eats

OCTOBER 17, 2023

Half the largest herd—which lives in a 2,900-acre reserve with a fence that protects nearby ranches—died mostly due to insufficient forage. During California’s recent drought, the state’s population of nearly 6,000 tule elk kept growing overall, but the some 10 percent that live in the seashore declined.

Ranching 144

Ranching Acre Food Farming 144

UnderstandingAg

APRIL 30, 2023

Some farms have limited acres to apply manure and feel forced to apply at maximum regulatory rates to get the pits emptied. Practices we have seen work well include: Keeping slurry application rates to 3000-4000 gal/acre/application. Applying to Italian ryegrass forage after each harvest. Far from it.

Manure 52

Manure Pasture Fertilizer Crop 52

Modern Farmer

AUGUST 29, 2023

On the back 16 acres of Walla Walla Community College, 30 Red Angus cows stand munching on hairy vetch, ryegrass and other cover crops that were planted to help restore the soil. The federal government is trying to help spur growth in these types of programs, too.

Food 98

Food Farming Farming Agroecology 98

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

DECEMBER 8, 2023

Prescribed grazing, for example, including forms such as management intensive rotational grazing that allow for short-duration presence of livestock on a given part of the landscape, can improve the quality of forage and increase the presence of native perennial plants. Some selections can increase yields and profits per acre.

Ranching 72

Ranching Greenhouse Crop Pasture 72

Modern Farmer

AUGUST 25, 2023

million acres of farm and ranchland infested by destructive grasshoppers. It will take years for the pastures and perennial forages to recover, and that’s only if conditions improve. They were everywhere—even roads and highways had to be closed. This year is almost as bad,” she says. In 2022, Oregon had an estimated 5.3

Pesticide 87

Pesticide Crop Cash Crop Seeding 87

Modern Farmer

NOVEMBER 15, 2023

The 260-acre ranch butts up against the West Elk Mountains, four miles east of the West Elk Wilderness, almost smack-dab in the middle of where gray wolves could be released this winter. He lives in a small, strawbale house, built in the trees next to the main pasture. Every few years, he said, all 260 acres will be grazed. “I

Ranching 93

Ranching Livestock Acre Ecology 93

Sustainable Food Trust

AUGUST 6, 2024

The author’s journey into landscapes of the past and the foods they provide takes him far and wide – starting in Çatalhöyük where humans first settled on the land becoming place-based, cultivating emmer wheat and barley, yet still hunting and foraging their food. Agriculture had not yet quite arrived as a practice and food was abundant.

Food 98

Food Farming Farming Processing 98

The Equation

MAY 15, 2023

But for now, to offset flood risk from rising water levels, the State Water Resources Control Board has agreed to send more than 600,000 acre-feet of water (pretty much what Los Angeles consumes in a year) to areas where it can soak into the ground and replenish the aquifer beneath the San Joaquin Valley.

Industrial Agriculture 77

Industrial Agriculture Crop Agriculture Agriculture 77

Modern Farmer

JULY 10, 2023

After a winter of record snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, a sudden warm spell melted the lower reaches, unleashing nearly 40,000 acre-feet of water —a volume equal to more than a tenth of Las Vegas’ annual supply—in 48 hours. His 580-acre farm grows enough forage to supply the herd, so “I’m good with where I’m at,” he adds.

Farming 87

Farming Farming Manure Agriculture 87

Farmbrite

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

Feed conversion ratio (FCR): The FCR helps ranchers figure out how much protein and energy their animals are getting from each pound of forage consumed—and thus enables them to better manage their grazing programs based on having a desired FCR goal. Calculate feed conversion rate.

Cattle 52

Cattle Ranching Acre Livestock 52

Sustainable Food Trust

JUNE 28, 2023

SFT CEO Patrick Holden and his wife Becky Holden farm 300 acres in West Wales and produce a raw milk cheddar called Hafod with the milk from their herd of Ayrshire cows. Our permanent pastures are beautifully diverse with plant mixtures that change and evolve over the years.

Farming 52

Farming Farming Meadow Straw 52

Modern Farmer

JANUARY 19, 2024

In return, they are paid a yearly rental rate per acre of land enrolled in CRP programs. In 2023, he USDA Farm Service Agency made more than $1.77 billion in payments to agricultural producers and landowners enrolled in all CRP programs, and more than 23 million acres of private land in the US was being conserved.

Farming 84

Farming Farming Farmland Livestock 84

ATTRA

SEPTEMBER 30, 2024

Brent and Anna and their family raise pork and chicken on pasture. Becky raises South Poll cattle as a cow-calf operation, breeds replacement heifers, and sells seed stock on 160-acres of land. Heaven’s Hollow Farm is a commercial Black Angus cow-calf operation that also includes pastured poultry and pork.

Cattle 69

Cattle Pasture Poultry Family Farming 69

Todays Farmer Magazine

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

Focus on forage earns Cope Grass Farms 2023 Missouri Leopold Award Cope Grass Farms of Truxton, Mo., The Copes raise a variety of livestock including grass-fed, grass-finished beef and lamb, acorn-fed pork and pastured duck and turkey. With 500 acres of woodlands, acorns provide a feed source for the Copes’ pigs in the fall.

Forage 52

Forage Pasture Acre Livestock 52

Civil Eats

DECEMBER 5, 2023

Our Staff Reporter Grey Moran has a delightful article about foraging , published in Grist, included in the book. smith Slow Drinks: A Field Guide to Foraging and Fermenting Seasonal Sodas, Botanical Cocktails, Homemade Wines, and More By Danny Childs Danny Childs studied ethnobotany in college. To make an amaro (relatively easy!)

Food 145

Food Farming Farming Seeding 145

Modern Farmer

FEBRUARY 7, 2024

I’ve been a rural resident and a regenerative farmer for nearly two decades, currently operating an 81-acre farm in a remote corner of northeast Washington State. The question then becomes: How can farmers balance the need for wildlife to live on the landscape with the necessity of producing economically valuable crops?

Livestock 139

Livestock Crop Farming Farming 139

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

MAY 10, 2024

As with all programs, NSAC will continue to analyze the RPFSA’s CSP provisions, including a proposed one-time CSP subprogram focused on enrollment of up to 500,000 acres of native or improved pasture land used for livestock grazing in the Lower Mississippi River Valley to address water quality issues leading to hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico.

Ruralism 111

Ruralism Food Farming Farming 111

Civil Eats

FEBRUARY 18, 2025

Even though they are not immune from the ravages of the virus, smaller-scale and pasture-raised poultry operations have, so far, shown themselves to be more resilient against the outbreak, some experts sayeven if thats only because their smaller size is a check against hundreds of thousands of birds dying all at once at a single location.

Poultry 133

Poultry Pasture Food Farming 133

Modern Farmer

DECEMBER 5, 2023

It’s been a decent year at the 200,000-acre spread, with enough forage for the 2,000 mother cows and their calves. In some pastures, Griggs must rely upon wells, some as deep as 800 feet, to water the livestock. In some pastures, Griggs must rely upon wells, some as deep as 800 feet, to water the livestock.

Ranching 124

Ranching Cattle Acre Pasture 124

Civil Eats

JANUARY 28, 2025

Hes also an accountant, squaring the numbers for his central Minnesota farm by hand; a herder, rotating 75 cows between pastures; a crop farmer, raising 300 acres of feed like corn and hay; and a mechanic, repairing the equipment necessary to tend that acreage. Hes full of questions, full of curiosity and a lot of drive, Wagner says.

Farming 133

Farming Farming Pasture Meadow 133

Civil Eats

JANUARY 23, 2024

On a crisp weekend this past fall, 30 state legislators from across the nation descended on TomKat Ranch , an 1,800-acre ranch focused on regenerative agriculture in Pescadero, California, an hour south of San Francisco. Their insight is essential to creating sustainable, culturally sensitive, and region-specific policies, she says.

Agriculture 143

Agriculture Agriculture Ranching Food 143

Food Environment and Reporting Network

APRIL 10, 2024

But those farms had used sewage sludge to fertilize their pastures—something Dostie had never done. Of her 150 acres, only about 25 are safe for agricultural use, forcing Hunter to resort to raised garden beds in a greenhouse, filled with soil shipped in from another site. We called b t,” Dostie remembers. Stay in the Loop!

Farming 132

Farming Farming Fertilizer Forage 132