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So is grazing cover crops. How wide should the corn rows be in order to make space for the cover crop? And is this a profitable way of farming? Byron Long of Long FamilyFarm at Barrhead County, Alberta Read More Grazing corn is becoming increasingly more common. So is grazing cover crops.
Because farming is so central to our nation’s identity—and its idea of itself—this future can feel fraught. In 2012, the USDA forecast that most (70 percent) familyfarms would transfer hands over the next 20 years. Will familyfarms as we know and love them survive, and how do the ones that are thriving now do it?
At Farm Credit of Southern Colorado, we take great pride in supporting the families who shape agriculture in our region. The Mattive family of Worley FamilyFarms has spent generations cultivating success in the San Luis Valley, and their story is one of resilience, dedication, and innovation.
Trisha and Nolan Zachman farm in a small town two hours west of Minneapolis, Minnesota. This was soon after the Zachmans founded Feathered Acres Learning Farm & Inn with substantial startup expenses. They began adding cover crops on their fields to build soil health, helping reduce their need for added fertilizers.
Farmers Weekly A helicopter is not the standard piece of farm kit to be stored in a machinery shed, but Canadian grain producer Wade McAllister plans to combine his passion for farming and flying to enhance crop and soil health at the familyfarm in Alberta.
With tight margins and a push for improved soil health being the status quo in most cattle operations, producers are working with researchers to find new and innovative ways to improve economical profitability while also improving soil for the next generation of farmers.
As a young boy, Dr. Charles Vincent loved heading to the familyfarm just outside of Montreal, Quebec. His fascination with farming led him to start a degree in agronomy, where he instead fell in love with the study of insects, eventually leading to a 40-year career studying agriculture pests for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
But our ability to bring these transformative crops to market was just dealt a major blow. The lawsuit, brought by anti-bioengineering activists (pretending to be worried about familyfarms), reinstates a regulatory framework in place since 1986, while the technology was only in its infancy and not yet even commercially available.
As a young boy, Dr. Charles Vincent loved heading to the familyfarm just outside of Montreal, Quebec. His fascination with farming led him to start a degree in agronomy, where he instead fell in love with the study of insects, eventually leading to a 40-year career studying agriculture pests for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada….
Cropland to Pastureland As discussed in part 2 of this series, many conventional cropping practices acidify the soil unnaturally quickly. For them, a temporary break from cropping might be a good option. In the UK, it is common practice to introduce leys into the cropping rotation. In 2022, the farm averaged 8.7%
Farmers utilize a range of modern toolsfrom task management applications and drones that monitor crop health to sensors and software that help forecast yields. This shift to a data-driven approach not only enhances farm operations but can significantly improve harvest outcomes, turning a good year into an exceptional one.
Krishna Bista grew up on a diversified farm in her native Bhutan. Photo courtesy Leia Vita/Farmers’ Footprint) The public-facing farm, which was established in 2017, employs refugee farmers to cultivate crops for its CSA, Austin’s Mueller and Lakeline farmers’ markets and local restaurants and makers.
CAFFs mission is to build sustainable food and farming systems through policy advocacy and on-the-ground programs that create more resilient familyfarms, communities and ecosystems. As a farmer-serving organization, we recognize the historic and lasting inequities in the California food and farming system.
Kava has endured a long history of adversity, said Lakea Trask, a Hawaiian farmer and local activist who cultivates kava and other Native crops for Kanaka Kava , his familysfarm-to-table restaurant in Kailua-Kona, on the Big Island. s Lincoln is wary of kava becoming another commodity crop, where profits flow up, not down.
Photo by Joan Cusick ECOLOGICAL FARMER OF THE YEAR: Rancho Las Palmas Nestled along the coast in Davenport, California, Rancho Las Palmas exemplifies ecological stewardship through its holistic and innovative farming practices.
Remember that familyfarms continue to feed 70 percent of the worlds population. Specialty crop export and global food trade are still only a minor part of the worlds food story.
Niman Ranchs core principles of environmental stewardship aligned well with Huttons existing farming practices. Hutton grew up working to build soil health through methods like no-till and cover crops, because Chesapeake Bay Watershed soils are typically low in organic matter.
His two books, Supermarket USA: Food and Power in the Cold War Farms Race and Trucking Country: The Road to America’s Wal-Mart Economy, are intricate histories of the policies and politics of the American food industry, and the transformations they’ve wrought on rural life. Photo by Christopher Paul High on Unsplash.
This means many farmfamilies are ending 2024 in the red, unable to pay off this year’s operating loan, unable to get the loan to farm in 2025, and face the reality of being the generation to have lost the familyfarm due to extreme market conditions beyond their control.” ”
Instead, the Wall Street Farm Bill directed most of the subsidies to incentivize overproduction of a handful of key commodities, particularly corn and soy. Under the New Deal Farm Bill, a farmer faced with low corn prices could switch to another crop or even idle a portion of farmland in exchange for financial support.
Livestock Owned By Communities to Advance Local (LOCAL) Food Act , introduced by Peter Welch (D-Vermont), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont): A simple tweak to the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) that will make it easier for farmers to sell animals slaughtered on their farms directly to consumers. Link to this post.)
Today, 22-year-old Roberts is enlisted with the Nebraska Army National Guard while working as a fifth-generation farmer with his parents at Roberts FamilyFarm in Southwest Iowa. The family’sfarm serves as a model for how smaller-scale, humane hog farming can be both environmentally and economically sustainable.
To others, they represent an inefficient use of land and would be much better put under forestry or bioenergy crops to help the nation meet its net zero targets. It’s a benefit I see clearly at home, with half of our familyfarm designated as an SSSI because of the mix of species-rich upland habitats that cover our hill ground.
Upon leaving her familyfarm to study agriculture at Stanford, she took up a work-study program investigating the economic viability of grass-fed beef. “It The same year that Carman returned to her familyfarm, a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, was detected in the US.
While only 16 percent of food waste occurs on the farm level, farmers are perpetual innovators and strive to close this gap even further. They understand the value of every crop, not just for feeding families but also for sustaining our planet. Even when farm labor can be sourced, it’s increasingly expensive.
For Paddock, maximizing “ crop per drop ”—getting the most yield with the least amount of water—is important. It’a not just because it’s cheaper and not just because Capay Hills Orchard , his farm just north of Sacramento, is in an area of California that is increasingly drought-prone. Almonds are notorious for being a thirsty crop.
Lundberg FamilyFarms is scaling production of their regenerative organic products to improve soil health, sequester carbon, and protect wildlife. This entails raising the water level just high enough to drown the grass weeds, but not so high that it harms the rice crops. Become a member today by clicking here.
After graduation, Sadie will most likely continue her work in agronomy and also put it to use on the familyfarm. She is spending her summer internship using drone technology to scout field health and stand counts, along with some scouting on foot, for a seed company representative in southern Minnesota. Thanks for your story, Sadie.
Because farming is uncertain and one bad frost can spell disaster for the season’s crops, two-thirds of the women in the study also work full time outside the home. This provides more financial stability and health care coverage for the families, but it also increases the mental load the women carry.
“Of 400 farms in our county, only five are organic,” says Matt Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald Organics in Hutchinson, Minnesota. His 2,500-acre familyfarm is patchwork across 40 miles of land the family owns and leases, and grows organic corn, soy, wheat and specialty crops such as beans and peas.
An example from our familyfarm is shown below. Soil erosion cost and cover crop value calculator based on values from the total nutrient digestion soil test. Adding a cover crop is one option for reducing erosion and keeping more dollars in farmers pockets. That is just one value of a cover crop.
Whether our crops come to harvest or our livestock make it to market is directly tied to the cycles of nature that we try our best to work within. Nine years ago, Rick observed how extreme weather eroded his fields in Indiana, where he cultivated his row crops like corn, alfalfa, and wheat. As farmers, we are concerned.
Agroforestry—the integration of trees and shrubs into crop and animal farming systems—has been used since ancient times to produce fruits, nuts, coffee, cocoa and medicinal herbs. Johnson found support through Practical Farmers of Iowa, a group dedicated to building resilient farms and communities. Johnson laughs.
Kendra Altnow shares the history of the LangeTwins Family Winery & Vineyards. On December 5th, the Community Alliance with FamilyFarms (CAFF) held a field day at the LangeTwins Family Winery & Vineyard in Acampo, CA. We’re trialing grazing now which is awesome.
US Solar has about 80 solar gardens in Minnesota, reports Minnesota Public Radio , as part of a pilot project encouraging farmers to grow crops or graze livestock under the panels at solar installations. The company often plants native grasses and wildflowers at solar farm sites, providing pollinator habitat.
Windbreaks involve planting trees along edges of fields to keep soil in place, enhance crop production and protect motorists on adjacent roadways from snowdrifts and fierce winds. That’s one of the reasons why Adams is enthusiastic about SI’s new statewide agroforestry demonstration farm network that will launch in Wisconsin this spring.
billion proposal that sparked backlash on both sides of the aisle, mostly due to disagreements regarding nutrition spending and crop insurance reform. The farm bill is a safety net for our families and the farmers who feed, fuel, and clothe us. Without crop insurance, supporters worry our food supply may be at risk.
It is critical that Congress pass a new farm bill that strengthens the safety net as many producers are facing multiple years of not being profitable and this is causing their overall financial situation to deteriorate. Some will have challenges as they seek operating credit for the 2025 crop year. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Our food & farming reviews of 2025 are here what’s been cropping up this past year and worth watching? Starting with the estates ancient Oak trees, they began to recognise how their industrial farming practices were damaging the land, damaging the wildlife and much more.
While these programs haven’t always been used to make farms climate resilient, they all have the potential to do so—and more funding and specific guardrails specified within the IRA would make that even more likely. Seth Watkins, a farmer from Clarinda, Iowa, was able to save his familyfarm with the help of conservation funding.
Murphy FamilyFarms (later bought by Smithfield Foods) helped out with the loan needed to get started. The Faaborgs farmed hogs for 30 years. When Tanner Faaborg came back to the farm as an adult, the family began thinking about ways to transition out of hog farming. “We
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