Why I’m not giving up, despite a harvest from hell

By Andrew Barsness | As profit margins shrink, farmers need to farm more acres in order to remain profitable. But like many other young farmers, I’m pursuing a different route, focusing on diversification, value-added products, and specialty crops.

My one piece of advice to aspiring farmers

By John Wepking | Get to know the older farmers in your community, and start channeling your inner sponge. What we need first is not our own patch of dirt, but an ability to learn the trade from an experienced operator.

Marketing my grain is a mouthful

By Mai Nguyen | My grain is a mouthful. It is  identity-preserved, non-Plant Variety Protection (PVP), incrementally upscaled heritage seed grown using rain-fed, on-site fertility, carbon sequestering, integrated pest management, nonsynthetic sprays, low fossil fuel, no-till practices and brought to market as stone milled whole grain flour.

An Ever-Changing Puzzle

By Andrew Barsness | The crops are thirsty. My farm is on the outer edge of the area affected by the severe drought in the Dakotas, and it’s been over a month without any significant rain.

Organic farming is freedom

By John Wepking | This spring has been marked by extremes: long periods of frequent rain and then weeks without a drop. Without cover cropping and crop rotation we’d certainly be losing this battle.