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Veteran Farmers Making a Difference
Veterans are once again taking up the call for our country as veteran farmers. Charley Jordan stops to listen to the quiet and to feel the breeze as his cattle graze in the distance. The silence is a...
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Soil Health, Quality & Microbial Diversity
Soil health and soil quality have evolved as important concepts as we continue to expand our understanding of soil as the vital factor for vigorous plant productivity. These concepts have also...
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Gabe Brown on Ecosystem Stewardship
North Dakota farmer and rancher Gabe Brown stands at the forefront of the regenerative agriculture movement. He is perhaps best known for popularizing the concept of cover crop cocktails as a key...
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Tropical Agriculture Conference Topics Range from Greenhouse Management to...
BELMOPAN, Belize — Perhaps it was better when the power went out. The lack of microphones forced Ronnie Cummins with Regeneration International to start Wednesday’s Tropical Agricultural Conference...
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Meet The Sioux Chef: Revitalizing Native Foodways
From the plains of the Midwest, a new and surprising trend in the world of healthy local food is gaining ground thanks to Sean Sherman, an Oglala Lakota Sioux and founder of The Sioux Chef, a...
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Building the Microbial Bridge to Support Nutrient Availability
The root zone around plants, known as the rhizosphere, is an area of intense activity in the soil. It’s a lot like the snack stand at the state fair on a hot day. Everyone is crowding around trying to...
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Reducing Food Waste: Compost Production Recovers Nutrients for Soil Benefits
When you consider our nation’s health, the quality of our food, its decreasing nutritional value and the increased degradation of our farmland, it’s not a pretty picture — and the challenges related...
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Plant Stress & Proline
In his 1995 State of the Union speech, President Bill Clinton highlighted a USDA program addressing plant stress as an example of wasteful “pet project” government spending. We knew then, and know...
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Preserving a Way of Life with the Cooperative Model
Most of us Amish baby boomers grew up on family farms. We were farmers. We were born on the farm, or somewhere close by. The farm provided food and shelter. It was where we gathered for worship. We...
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Rethinking ‘Pandora’s Potatoes’
Former Genetic Engineer for J.R. Simplot & Monsanto, Dr. Caius Rommens Questions Biotechnology Safety, Authors Book on His Work with Potatoes For 26 years, Dr. Caius Rommens was an ambitious and...
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Principles of Permanent Agriculture
When we look at the great soils of the world, we can see these principles of permanent agriculture in action. The prairies have the grasses and clovers that together structure the soil and incorporate...
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Onions for the Garden & Good Health
Of all the vegetables, herbs and spices that are used to season food and heal the body, the unassuming onion is rarely given its proper due. For a plant that serves so many needs and desires in our...
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Book excerpt: Food, Farming & Health by Vandana Shiva, et al.
The book Food, Farming & Health shows how our health is a continuum from the soil, to the plants, to our bodies. It demonstrates how chemical farming depletes the soils of nutrition, producing...
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Seedsman on a Mission
In 1979, a 25-year-old college freshman from Idaho stood over a bare garden plot in the backyard of his newly purchased home in Missoula, Montana, and asked himself, “Now where am I going to get seeds...
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Clay Bottom Farm Turns Lean Principles into Profit
It’s a frigid March day in northern Indiana, but inside Clay Bottom Farm’s hoop house, Ben Hartman is planting onion sets. The work is done quickly with a Japanese paper pot transplanter — a wheeled...
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Book excerpt: Rebirth of the Small Family Farm
The book “Rebirth of the Small Family Farm” is a concise handbook for starting a successful organic farm based on the community-supported agriculture concept. The authors, Bonnie and Bob Gregson,...
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Planting By the Moon
The practice of growing food and raising livestock is a calling that urges us to become stronger and hardier. The variables present in natural systems can be overwhelming, and it is only those who are...
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Community Seed Network
For farmers and gardeners who practice the time-honored tradition of preserving seed and trading with neighbors and friends, the swapping circle just got a whole lot bigger. A collaboration between...
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Understanding Soil Carbon Dynamics
Carbon is an often overlooked, but very important component of the soil. We know how to manage nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium for maximum production, and that micronutrients play a critical role...
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Book excerpt: Science in Agriculture by Arden B. Andersen
In his book Science in Agriculture, author Arden B. Anderson sought to apply true, natural science to agriculture. Readers should gain a working knowledge of chemistry, physics, and plant biology as...
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