By Kriss Marion, Owner and Operator of Circle M Market Farm In America, children are fond of computer games. When my children were young, they played games called Age of Empires and Rise of Nations for hours. These games, still popular today, are strategy-based storylines for which each scenario begins with collecting resources – sheep, coal, … Read More
By Meighen Lovelace, NFU Intern This year, National Farmers Union hosted its 5th annual Women’s Conference in San Diego, California. The conference, whose theme was “Shaping the Future,” hosted an impressive lineup of speakers and offered plenty of opportunities to network with agricultural leaders. The two day event was packed with information and inspiration from … Read More
By Jimmy Dula, NFU Intern Diversity may be the hottest buzz word for agriculture, both large and small. Relying on one product or commodity to support the entire farm can be a gamble, putting the operation at higher risk. As farmers, we need to expand our approach to diversifying farm revenue to access as many potential markets as possible. We have … Read More
By John Hendrickson, Stone Circle Farm and Small Farm Works Tools and equipment appropriate for small-scale, highly diversified vegetable farms have been a passion of mine for a long time. I discovered one of my favorite tools about 12 years ago while living in Japan. I was abroad with my wife, who was doing international … Read More
By Laura Lengnick, founder of Cultivating Resilience, LLC This story is excerpted from Resilient Agriculture: Cultivating Food Systems for a Changing Climate (New Society Publishers, 2015). Resilient Agriculture explores climate risk, resilience, and the future of food through the adaptation stories of 25 award-winning sustainable farmers and ranchers growing fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, and livestock across America. … Read More
By Thomas Driscoll, Director of Conservation Policy and NFU Foundation Whether growing grain and hauling it to the same elevator your grandparents did, raising vegetables to sell to your neighbors, managing a small herd or a big one, beginning producers seek greater efficiencies for their farms and ranches. Running an operation efficiently is critical for … Read More
By Laura Lengnick, founder of Cultivating Resilience, LLC This story is excerpted from Resilient Agriculture: Cultivating Food Systems for a Changing Climate (New Society Publishers, 2015). Resilient Agriculture explores climate risk, resilience, and the future of food through the adaptation stories of 25 award-winning sustainable farmers and ranchers growing fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, and livestock across … Read More
By Lura Roti, South Dakota Farmers Union While some ranchers are nervous about what will happen to their operation when they are ready to retire, David and Brenda Reis are not too worried. “All of our kids want to take over the ranch. That would not be sustainable, but the one thing about having a … Read More
By Del Ficke, Owner and Operator of Ficke Cattle Company This letter was originally published in The Future of Family Farms: Practical Farmers’ Legacy Letter Project To my future generations: In 1860, Johann Ficke made the trip from Germany to settle in the United States. Just nine years later, after first arriving in Wisconsin, he found a … Read More
By Laura Lengnick, founder of Cultivating Resilience, LLC Some of America’s forward-thinking farmers and ranchers are innovating more flexible crop rotations that allow them to fine-tune crop choices in response to increasing weather variability. This kind of crop rotation strategy is called “dynamic cropping.” Dynamic cropping is an ecologically-based management strategy that optimizes production through the … Read More