From Our Experts

We all know that healthy foods, consumed routinely over our lifetime, bodes well for a lifetime of health.  We read a lot about crude protein, fats, carbohydrates and sugars.  However, what is often left out in the healthy food discussion is the critical topic of phytonutrients.  Healthy, nutritious foods should be comprised of more than […]

A clean, reliable source of drinking water is not only something a society needs to survive, but also something farmers and ranchers bear great responsibility to maintain. Agricultural producers have a greater impact on water quality than people in any other industry. Agriculture consumes and interacts with more total water than any industry, both in […]

Manure slurry is a valuable but difficult resource to manage on dairy farms.  Slurry pits must be emptied to make room for the never-ending stream of manure.  Manure is often not a top priority for most dairies and handling may have to wait until seasonal fieldwork is completed.  That leaves farmers with a fall and […]

Corn isn’t food Nine unpopular facts USDA and Big Ag don’t want you to know By Jason Wisniewski Occasionally, I get to share my understanding of the agricultural industry with farmer-led organizations like this recent seminar held by the Minnesota Soil Health Coalition and the Isaak Walton League. The seminar was a good opportunity for me […]

Soil Health Principles: The Importance of Context By Eric Fuchs, Understanding Ag, LLC Picture this: You just attended a training on regenerative agriculture and you come home excited and motivated for the changes you’re going to implement on your operation. You want to plant a 46-species cover crop mix in your cropping operation, produce grass-finished […]

Is Compost Application an Effective Soil Health Practice? By Chuck Schembre, Understanding Ag Soil organic matter has been one of the fundamental benchmarks and metrics to building healthy, functioning, and resilient soils. Compost is often recommended as an effective amendment to increase soil organic matter (SOM) while providing organic nutrients and added fertility. It has […]

It’s been said that bringing facts to a cultural argument is akin to bringing water balloons to a gun fight. Still, data-based facts are stubborn things, and failure to heed those facts can be costly in life and in business. For food and grocery industry companies, knowing what customers value (and what they’ll pay a […]

Increasing Diversity in Market Gardens with Winter Cover Crops By Chuck Schembre, Understanding Ag, LLC Cover crops are one of the best tools for achieving many of the soil health principles – keeping the soil armored, reducing disturbance, increasing diversity, and maintaining a living root throughout the year.  Cover crops are essential for increasing diversity, […]

In the two previous articles we have discussed what Derek has done on his farm to implement regenerative grazing and how he made that transition. In this article, we would like to take things a step further and describe some of the changes in livestock that he’s seen on his transformative regenerative journey. Healthy soil, […]

Adaptive grazing is a system of grazing that allows the grazer to continually adapt and flex to the real-life conditions that we face on an ongoing basis. It is not a prescriptive or formulaic approach. In applying adaptive grazing rules and practices across a wide variety of livestock enterprises and environments, we have found it […]

There are some poignant quotes or sayings that just stick with you as you pass through life. Some even convince you to make changes in your life. Here are few that gave me an “Ah-ha” moment and prompted change in myself: “If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no […]

‘Growing Soil’ Through Adaptive Grazing Part one: Healing Fernando Falomir, Understanding Ag, LLC It is incredible to see how much soil one can regenerate just by changing management practices. The fence in the photo above was set in place in 2008. Since the utilization of adaptive grazing, we have increased ground cover and reduced surface […]