Farm Conservation Practices

If selling at least one product or generating income is a goal of your agroforestry practice, then, it’s important to consider how you will market the product(s) you want to sell. Agricultural marketing includes all the activities producers do in order to promote and sell products to consumers.

The degree to which different crops and practices are incorporated into an agroforestry system depends on the site characteristics as well as the values and goals of the people stewarding the land. This makes agroforestry very site specific, and therefore, no two practices or systems are exactly alike.

In the Agroforestry Foundations Online Course, we asked you to reflect on the question, “Why are you interested in agroforestry?”

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.

This course walks you through the characteristics, considerations, pros and cons, and economics of each of the five core US agroforestry practices and 12 of the most promising crops. Throughout the material, we provide opportunities to pause and reflect on the topics you are learning about as well as your personal preferences and goals.

The Agroforestry Foundations course has been designed to introduce you to a diversity of agroforestry practices, financial arrangements, farm designs and business models while helping you reflect on your own personal values and goals.

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.

This 43 page guide introduces the Who, What, and Why’s of rotational grazing. It covers plant growth, animal needs and grazing, setting up a rotational grazing system, and animal health on the pasture. This resource is part of Section 9: Fences, Lanes, Systems, Watering in GrassWorks Grazing Guide, a comprehensive guidebook on managed grazing systems. GrassWorks is a membership organization that provides leadership and education to farmers and consumers for the advancement of managed grass-based agriculture to benefit present and future generations. Learn more about GrassWorks Grazing Guide here. Read the Pastures for Profit: A guide to rotational grazing …

This webinar series consists of three sessions: (I) Highlights from Farmer-led Projects Across Wisconsin, (II) Engaging Diverse Audiences in Cover Crops, Soil Health, and Conservation Education, and (III) Research Highlights on Cover Crops and Conservation from Across the State. Each has lightning-style talks that highlight the work and lessons learned from watershed groups, farm networks, land conservation departments, and more. View the webinar collection here. Learn more about CCROP …

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 …

Grass Based Meat Marketing is a series of three short Soil Builder Videos featuring three farms experiences with beef and goat direct marketing. Building Relationships and Running a Business at Wholesome Family Farms in Southwest MN Raising and Selling an Exceptionally Good Product at Earth Be Glad Farms, Fostering Connection in a Digital World at Cylon Rolling Acres This series is within Land Stewardship Project’s Soil Builder Videos, short videos that highlight what farmers are doing to build soil. View the full video collection …

From planting garlic to pastured turkeys, SFA’s Dirt Rich podcast brings warm conversations with farmers and land professionals about research, on farm experiences, and food. View the podcast archive …

The Cover Crop Decision Tool helps you decide what cover crops to plant based on your location, goals, and other crops planted. The MCCC hosts webinars to further explain how the tool works and how to use it on your farm. Learn more about the MWCC here. Use the tool …

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 …

The Key Perennial Crops infographic acts as a guidebook for top tree crops in the Midwest. The Savanna Institute characterizes 12 tree crops, each equipped with an introduction, management, livestock integration & food safety, harvest, markets, and an economics case study. Tree crops described include: Cider Apples Aronia Black Currant Black Walnut Chinese Chestnuts Hazelnut Saskatoon, Serviceberry, Juneberry Asian Pear Elderberry Honeyberry, Haskap Northern Pecan Pawpaw Access the guidebook here. Learn more about the Savanna Institute …

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.

The Savanna Institute partnered with Farm Commons, Wisconsin DATCAP, and Midwestern farmers to develop the Managing Food Safety Liability Risks when Integrating Livestock with Specialty Crops guide. This guide details three strategies to reduce food safety and liability risks and suggests a fourth strategy to build a legal framework that prioritizes food safety while considering farms that utilize agroforestry or mixed crop livestock operations. Additionally, the guide summarizes how featured farms implement harvest and worker training, exclusion periods, record keeping, and preserving farm flexibility. Download the Guide. View additional resources on Food Safety in …

The online course introduces the history of agroforestry, agroforestry practices, and farm planning. The free course consists of two lessons: What is Agroforestry and Foundations of Agroforestry Planning. Sign up for the Agroforestry Foundations …

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.

Jared Luhman discusses SFA’s new Technical Assistance for Grazing Program. The program will provide one-on-one training for a cohort of 30 farmers in Minnesota to help them begin, improve upon, or expand their grazing enterprise

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.⠀

Meghan Filbert of Practical Farmers of Iowa shares their approach to the 2021 event season

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.

In this Fencing 101 video series, fencing expert Kent Solberg, with help from organic dairy farmer Kevin Jahnke, describes the principles and pitfalls of energized fencing in a series of 13 practical how-to videos.

This video tutorial series includes a set of 35 tutorials from adaptive grazing expert Dr. Allen Williams on topics such as assessing the degree of finish of cattle, determining optimal stock density, and what to do about endophyte-infected fescue

The report explores the market, benefits, and barriers related to grass-fed beef production, outlining a clear way forward for transitioning acreage to more sustainable management.

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

Integrating cattle grazing on winter cover crops can provide significant soil health and on-farm economic benefits. This project studied three years of cover crop and livestock integration on 8 cooperating farms in Minnesota and Iowa.

Read Pasture Project’s how-to guide on grazing cover crops, focused on helping farmers get started with the practice to leverage soil health and economic benefits through winter livestock grazing.

This webinar discusses common myths about grazing cover crops. Meghan Filbert (Practical Farmers of Iowa) presents information from recent grazing cover crop field trials and the experiences of farmers using the practice.

This paper explores the current state of cattle grazing for beef and, to a lesser extent, dairy production in Illinois resulting in grass-fed and grass-finished products that serve markets in and beyond the state.