grazing

Buffer Initiative: It Will Help Protect Water & is Flexible Enough to Meet Farmer Needs

April 17, 2015
Brian DeVore
agriculture, Clean Water, Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Land Conservation, Loon Commons blog, Water
CCRP, CRP, Dayton Buffer Initiative, erosion, filter strips, grazing, Land Stewardship Project, riparian, rivers, runoff, soil, streams, waterways

By George Boody Governor Mark Dayton announced in January his proposal to require an additional 125,000 acres of perennial vegetation along lakes, rivers and streams. There is a long history of utilizing…
Our Nitrogen Pollution Solution? Livestock, Land & People

November 13, 2013
Brian DeVore
agriculture, Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Groundwater management, Loon Commons blog, Water fees
agricultural runoff, diversity, grazing, Jim VanDerPol, Land Stewardship Project, livestock, MPCA, nitrates, nitrogen fertilizer, Nitrogen in Minnesota Surface Waters, nitrogen pollution, pasture, Pastures A Plenty, perennials, soil health, sustainable agriculture

By Jim VanDerPol In October, I told the Minnesota House Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Finance Committee that we had begun to listen to our farm, an assertion lawmakers heard with some…
Deadline for a Strengthened Sustainable Ag Grants Program Announced

October 29, 2013
Brian DeVore
agriculture, Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Loon Commons blog
cover crops, diverse cropping systems, grazing, Greenbook, Land Stewardship Project, MDA Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Grant Program, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, sustainable agriculture

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) announced yesterday that it will award up to $250,000 in 2014 for on-farm sustainable agriculture research or demonstration projects. That funding amount is good news: it…
Fertilizer, Fishing & Farmer Specht

July 19, 2013
Brian DeVore
agriculture, Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Loon Commons blog, Water
Big Spring, cover crops, Dan Specht, Farm as Natural Habitat, grazing, Gulf dead zone, Jeff Klinge, Land Stewardship Project, Mississippi River, monocrops, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, nitrates, nitrogen pollution, Practical Farmers of Iowa, sustainable agriculture

Dan Specht, who was taken from us all too soon last week by a haying accident, was the embodiment of the stewardship farmer. His kind, curious nature—housed in a powerfully-built, bear-like body—was…
Interested in farming? Consider Morris Farm Beginnings

August 27, 2012
Brian DeVore
agriculture, Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Loon Commons blog
beginning farmers, CSA, Farm Beginnings, garlic, grazing, Kristianna Gehant, Land Stewardship Project, LSP's Farm Beginnings, Nick Siddens, Nolan and Vanessa Lenzen, organic dairy, sustainable farming

By the time he was 20, Nolan Lenzen had already completed a dairy management course at a local college and launched a farming career in partnership with his father and grandfather. They…
Why is James E. McWilliams Ignoring the Facts on Sustainable Ag?

April 20, 2012
Brian DeVore
agriculture, Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Loon Commons blog
carbon sequestration, confinement livestock, erosion, grass, grazing, greenhouse gases, James E. McWilliams, Joel Salatin, pasture, row crops, sustainable livestock production, sustainable meat

History Professor James E. McWilliams’ recent doubled-barreled attack on sustainable livestock production and the local food movement in general is so contradictory and full of factual holes, it’s tough to know where…
Cashing in on Soil Quality

March 16, 2012
Brian DeVore
Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Loon Commons blog
crop rotations, erosion, grazing, soil ecosystem, soil health, soil microbes, soil quality, Successful Farming, sustainable farming, The Good Earth

Talk of how agriculture can improve soil quality seems to be popping up more frequently these days. Perhaps the most exciting recent mention was in an issue of Successful Farming magazine, which…
How Gov. Dayton Can Keep Pheasant Openers Part of Minnesota’s Future

October 7, 2011
Brian DeVore
Food and Sustainable Agriculture
Audrey Arner, Conservation Reserve Program, CRP, DNR wildlife management areas, farms, Gov. Dayton, Governor's Pheasant Opener, grass, grazing, hunting, Land Stewardship Project, MDA, Montevideo, Moonstone, Richard Handeen, sustainable agriculture, Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Grants Program, wildlife habitat, working farms conservation, working lands conservation

Minnesota’s first ever Governor’s Pheasant Opener next week couldn’t come at a better time in terms of highlighting the need for supporting working lands conservation. After Gov. Dayton has a chance to…
Mob Rule in Livestock Land

September 2, 2011
Brian DeVore
Food and Sustainable Agriculture
beef cattle, Chippewa 10%, grass, grazing, Greg Judy, Holistic Management, Land Stewardship Project, livestock, managed rotational grazing, mob grazing, pasture, profits from perennials, young farmers

What do you do when a resource becomes increasingly scarce? One option is to use it more efficiently. That’s a key point livestock producer Greg Judy is going to make Sept. 9-10…
Riding the Storm Out in Dairyland

August 4, 2011
Brian DeVore
Food and Sustainable Agriculture
beginning farmers, Brad and Shelley Schrandt, Farm Beginnings, grazing, Land Stewardship Project, managed rotational grazing, organic dairy, sustainable agriculture, Westby Creamery

A few years ago, Brad and Shelley Schrandt faced a dilemma: should they keep their dairy herd at around 20 cows for a few more years while working off the farm, or…