Minnesota River

Making Diversity on the Farm Pay its Own Way

July 26, 2013
Brian DeVore
agriculture, Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Loon Commons blog
bobolinks, Burleigh County Soil Health Team, DNR wildlife management area, Farm Beginnings, Grant and Dawn Breitkreutz, grassland birds, Howard Moechnig, Land Stewardship Project, livestock, Minnesota River, mob grazing, Redwood County, rotational grazing, soil biology, soil health, wildlife habitat

Long term sustainability of our soil requires farming systems that can not only keep soil in place, but also help it build its own resiliency. Such systems can’t just work on paper—they…
Teaming with Soil Microbes (part 1)

January 3, 2013
Brian DeVore
agriculture, Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Loon Commons blog
Burleigh County Soild Conservation District, climate change, crover crops, diversity, Gabe Brown, grass, Jay Fuhrer, Kristine Nichols, Land Stewardship Project, Minnesota River, mob grazing, NRCS, rotational grazing, sedementation, soil erosion, soil health, soil microbes, soil quality, sustainable agriculture, water quality

On a crisp morning in September, North Dakota farmer Gabe Brown held two handfuls of soil and searched for signs of life—theoretically not a difficult task considering one teaspoon of humus contains…
Denying the Science, Derailing the Solutions

December 23, 2011
Brian DeVore
Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Water
commodity groups, crop rotations, cross-compliance, Lake Pepin, Land Stewardship Letter, Land Stewardship Project, Minnesota River, Mississippi River, MPCA, no-till farming, Norm Senjem, row crops, sedimentation, snirt, soil erosion, tile drainage, water quality

I talked to a Todd County farmer yesterday who uses 100 percent no-till and other conservation measures to raise his crops. Conserving soil is important to him, and so he’s quite upset…
Profits from Perennials

September 28, 2010
Brian DeVore
Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Water
biodiversity, Chippewa 10%, grass, grazing, Gulf dead zone, local foods, Minnesota River, Mississippi River, perennial farming systems, perennials, runoff, sediment, sustainabkle agriculture, Troubled Waters, working lands conservation

One bright spot in the dust-up over the showing of the film Troubled Waters is that it highlights an important water quality issue: we need more perennial plant cover on the land…
What Lies Beneath Doesn’t Lie

March 5, 2010
Brian DeVore
Food and Sustainable Agriculture
erosion, farming, Lake Pepin, Minnesota River, Mississippi River, row crops, sediment, soil, St. Croix River, sustainable agriculture, Water

Spring flood predictions are in the air, and you can bet that within the next several weeks a whole lot of that wayward water will be taking Grade A Midwestern topsoil along…