Ecosystem Services

The Calculator is designed to help agricultural practitioners and investors understand the long-term economic impacts of transitioning to regenerative farm management.

Based on our analyses of cash and cash equivalents, fixed income, real assets, public equity, private equity, and venture capital markets, this report concludes with a series of recommendations for investors working within each asset class and for stakeholders such as foundations, policymakers, asset owners and asset managers, and regenerative agriculture practitioners.

The “Soil Investment Guidance Report” aims to support food and agriculture companies to invest in impactful, high-value, and long-term solutions for healthy soils along their supply chains and beyond.

All ecosystems are complex, including agroforestry systems. They are made up of many organisms interacting with each other and their environment. Through observing and understanding how ecosystems function, people can work with natural processes to design and manipulate ecosystems for desired benefits in ways that are sustainable, resilient, and even regenerative.

In this webinar, Clair Ryan, Midwest Invasive Plant Network (MIPN) Coordinator, discusses MIPN’s work, what dictates plant distribution and spreading potential, climate modeling for the upper midwest, and application for predicting terrestrial invasive plants distribution with EDDMapS. Clair distills EDDMapS modeling methodology and provides a demonstration on how to use EDDMapS to predict range expanding species. She explains how being proactive in detecting these range expanding species is essential to making early detection and eradication …

Erica Hall, Board Chair of the Florida Food Policy Council and longtime advocate for climate justice, social equity, and economic resilience, shares the Florida Food Policy Council’s work in community organizing for climate change resilience.

This four-part series is from a two-day virtual convening hosted by the Pasture Project and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) on grazing public lands.

Haley Nagle, Outreach & Education Specialist and Data Analyst with COMET Farm Team, and Lynette Niebrugge, Associate Director of Education and Training with Carbon Cycle Institute, cover carbon farming basics, how to use COMET-Tools, and using COMET for planning. Carbon farm planning is an approach to enhance on farm carbon capture. COMET-Tools consider on farm greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane) and how different conservation practices may impact whether the landscape is a source or sink. The COMET-Tools can inform implementation of farming practices that enhance carbon storage. Watch the webinar here. View the COMET-Planner and COMET-Farm …

The Expanding Regenerative Grazing is an interactive resource that uses maps of land use, nutrient loss, and farm trends to show some problems of conventional agriculture and offers regenerative grazing as a solution. Regenerative grazing reduces nutrient pollution, improves water quality, and helps the farmer. View the Story Map here. Learn more about Pasture Project …

Wondering if wind and solar energy are right for your farm? Or how to go about installing and producing renewable energy on a large scale? This 32 page guide introduces Minnesota’s law, what you need to know when working with developers, and more. View the guide here. Learn more about Farmers’ Legal Action Group …

Brad Heins, researcher with the University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center, discusses the potential to offset fossil fuel dependence via ground mounted solar panels as shade for cattle. The project explores energy audits, solar for co-location with livestock and agriculture, and education for farmers and industry professionals. Facilitated by Karl Hakanson, the webinar is followed by a Q&A session. Read Agrivoltaics to Shade Cows here. View the SFA youtube channel …

Guided by steps taken by successful existing producer-led groups, the roadmap provides nine sections on how to establish a farmer-led watershed organization that works towards shared goals such as improved water quality and soil health. Read the roadmap …

The guide emphasizes the how visual assessments on farm are useful in gauging potential for erosion and is broken into three categories: no signs of erosion, moderate signs of erosion, and substantial signs of erosion. These walkovers can be used in addition to models on erosion potential. The guide includes decision trees beginning with the questions: (1) Does water come together/concentrate and exit the field? and (2) Are there any of the following signs of erosion: soil-covered plants, firm and crusted soil, ditches, rills? These questions guide adjustments that can be made to limit erosion. Learn more about Discovery Farms Wisconsin, a farmer-led research and outreach program focused on the relationship between agriculture and water quality. View the Walkover Guide …

In planning the 2022 MOSES conference, climate change was identified as a major concern for farmers. This three part series includes talks on climate change adaption from the 2017, 2020, and 2021 MOSES Conference workshops. Build Resilience with Soil Biology with Dr. Kris Nichols. In part 1 of the series Dr. Nicholas, then chief scientist at the Rodale Institute, discusses soil regeneration, cost of building health soil, and on farm work for soil health. Resilient Soils with Dr. Jessica Gutknecht and Dr. Lauren Snyder. Dr. Gutknecht, science advisor at the Organic Farming Research Foundation, and Dr. Snyder, soil ecologist at the University of Minnesota, discuss how essential soil structure and water-holding capacity are in withstanding extreme weather events in part 2 of the series. Keynote Conversation from the 2021 Growing Stronger Collaborative Conference. Connected by their approaches to the challenge of farming and climate, Jim Goodman (National Family Farm Coalition), Erin Schneider (Hilltop Community Farm, Wisconsin), and Lea Zeise (Intertribal Agriculture Council) discuss solutions to this great challenge. These podcasts are available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. View additional podcasts from MOSES and available streaming platforms here. Learn more about MOSES …

The Soil Health Nexus Digital Cafe Webinar Series is a collection of monthly webinars talking all things soil health. Each webinar consists of a main presentation and a short Q&A session after. Researchers from Michigan State University, University of Nebraska, Kansas State University, and more discuss soil in terms of health, carbon storage, digital agriculture, regenerative beef production, and policy. View the webinar catalog here. Learn more about Soil Health Nexus …

This collection of infographics describes five USDA recognized agroforestry practices: windbreaks, silvopasture, riparian buffers, forest farming, and alley cropping. Each infographic outlines the benefits, challenges, and frequently asked question associated with the selected practice. Learn more about the Savanna Institute here. Download the infographics …

Trevor Russell and Erin Meier share their work on the Mississippi River Restoration & Resilience Initiative (MRRRI). MRRI works to advance river-related policy and funding opportunities at the federal level by aiming to strengthen community resilience to climate change and reduce flood risk by restoring floodplains, riverine wetlands, delta and coastal wetlands, and backwaters.

Teresa Opheim, Project Director of Climate Land Leaders with Sharing Our Roots, shares her work to bring landowners together to help tackle the climate crisis by establishing conservation goals for their land.

Bob Micheel, Monroe County Land Conservation Department Director, shares his work on the Climate Change Task Force with Monroe County in Wisconsin.

Dr. Randy Jackson of University of Wisconsin-Madison through key questions related to regenerative ag and soil carbon – what are the opportunities to build soil, what are the challenges, and how do we shift away from paradigm of soil mining?

Marshall Johnson shares Audubon’s pioneering work on the market-based Conservation Ranching Program which brings farmers, ranchers, retailers and consumers together with grasslands, herds and birds into win-win alignment.

Green Lands Blue Waters, along with co-hosts RuralAdvantage and Savanna Institute, discuss examples of leveraging NRCS funds to implement and support Continuous Living Cover (CLC) practices like perennial forage and alley cropping.

Dr. Jonathan Lundgren discusses his research and education programs on assessing the ecological risk of pest management strategies and developing long-term solutions for regenerative food systems.⠀

Dr. Jasmine Dillon and Dr. Megan Machmuller get in the weeds of soil carbon science and the potential for regenerative grazing to sequester carbon.

The pasture management course is a training program in basic cool-season pasture management and guides the creation of a personalized pasture management plan.

This resource library consists of grazing resources curated by UW Madison Division of Extension.

Justin Pepper, formerly of the Audubon Society, details how conservation organizations can use grazing to further their goals and why it is such an effective conservation tool.

This video tutorial series on grazing cover crops features a set of 14 videos with expert tips and advice from farmers and adaptive grazing expert, Dr. Allen Williams. The videos cover everything from the benefits of cover crops to fencing and watering systems to animal nutrition when grazing cover crops.

This report details the results of a four year research project on the economic and soil health benefits of livestock grazing on cover crops