Grazing Cover Crops AFter Harvest
Grazing cover crops in late fall, winter, and spring are great options to improve your soils by reaping the benefits of livestock saliva, manure, urine, and milk seep but also increasing forage availability. Many cover crop species can handle cold temperatures and provide excellent nutrition. Some of the cover crops that can handle lower temperatures […]
Babe’s Country
What’s in a Tree? It’s More Than Just Paper. Just about everyone knows that paper is made from trees. But paper is only the beginning. Almost every part of a tree can be used to make something useful. When you add them all up, there are more than 5,000 products made from paper and paper-making […]
Update on Farm Fest Plots
The cover crop test plots at Farm Fest 2019 grew successfully and provided great conversations! Planted June 26th, broadcasted and lightly drug, then left to grow. This is a great opportunity to mimic prevent plant acres which we unfortunately had many thins year but the test plots provide us an opportunity to see and watch […]
The Fate of Nitrogen When Using Cover Crops
Implementing soil health practices requires us to plan and make management decisions beyond the normal rotations in Minnesota. Herbicides, pests and disease, and nutrient management are some of the factors to consider when changing your management. Nitrogen is necessary for crop growth, too much and we’re wasting our money, not enough and yields reduce, what […]
Growing Profitability
Growing high yielding crops has been a driving force for generations. Maximizing yields has many benefits but we also want to remain economically viable. Below are economic breakdowns reported from farmers around Minnesota. At the bottom is an economic spreadsheet used to track expenses and income on crop ground (available under Technical Resources as well), […]
Update on Farm Fest Plots
The cover crop test plots at Farm Fest 2019 grew successfully and provided great conversations. Planted June 26th, broadcasted and lightly drug, then left to grow. I wanted to know if any benefits were realized by having the cover crops out there for two months. On August 30th I went back to the plots to […]
The Changing of soils
I really enjoy taking a shovel out in a field and learning from what I find. There are numerous tests you can use to measure your soils which are great at getting baselines and tracking changes. An easy way to see change is by just digging a spadeful of soil and taking a look at […]
Managing Cover Crops on Prevent Plant Acres
You planted cover crops on your prevent plant acres to reduce erosion, compete with weeds, reduce fallow syndrome, retain nutrients in your soil, open the soil up to increase infiltration, and to keep the soil organisms active, excellent! Now the covers are growing and may be wondering what to do with the biomass you’ll get […]
Cover Crop Test Plots Farm Fest 2019
The Minnesota Soil Health Coalition is partnering with Sustainable Farming Association, Minnesota Ag Water Quality Certification Program, Minnesota Office for Soil Health, and the Board of Soil and Water Resources on a test plot at Farm Fest 2019. The purpose of the test plot is to provide education to attendees about soil health practices and […]
Congratulations Dawn and Grant Breitkreutz
Congratulations Dawn and Grant Breitkreutz! Your commitment to implementing soil health practices, sharing your journey and stories, and representing regenerative agriculture in Minnesota has not only benefited your farm but also all of those you’ve impacted with your commitment to education and sharing. Your accomplishments are amazing and to have industry acknowledge that really shows […]