Growing Healthy Soil and Grass Regenerates Minnesota Farm, Farmer and Family
Growing Healthy Soil and Grass Regenerates Minnesota Farm, Farmer and Family By Ron Nichols, Understanding Ag LLC Every day on his farm, Luke Bergler sees the connection between healthy soil, healthy grass, healthy animals and healthy people. And he sees life-lots of life. When he pushes a shovel into the soft, well-aggregated soil on his […]
Health and Wellness Through Regenerative Farming
Health and Wellness Through Regenerative Farming First-generation farming sisters grow loyal customers, social media following By Ron Nichols After four undergraduate years of study, six additional graduate years of study and on the eve of defending her mechanical engineering Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Illinois, Ashley Armstrong decided to do the unthinkable: pursue a […]
Milking a Brighter Future – Part 3
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, […]
Milking a Brighter Future – Part 2
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 […]
Milking a Brighter Future – Part 1
Our path to regenerative dairy management was not a straight line, though that would have made our lives much easier. We are grateful for what this experience has taught us along the way. I am a firm believer that the regenerative path is a journey, and that there is no “regenerative destination.” We will never […]
In This Year’s Garden, Don’t Dig It. ‘Regen It.’
I can still recall all of the hours spent in my grandparents’ garden like it was yesterday. It was a sacred place to them, but it was just a place to burn off energy and get dirty for me. It never really seemed like work because they made gardening rewarding, educational, and challenging. Both of […]
Mycorrhizal Colonization
At Understanding Ag, we have looked at tens of thousands of soil test results that combine the Haney, PLFA, and TND (Total Nutrient Digestion) tests. The Haney Test is similar to a traditional soil test that also supplies us with a 30,000-foot view of soil health by testing for soil microbial respiration, organic carbon fraction […]
The Heat Is On
Without Education, the Promise of Climate-Smart Farm Practices Will Wilt on the Vine By Allen Williams, Ph.D. The digital screen displayed 162 F. I pointed my infrared thermometer and squeezed the trigger again. No change. The readout showed 162 F, which just happens to be the safe food preparation temperature for ground beef and sausage. […]