Farming for the Future in Central MN
The Stearns County Soil & Water Conservation District, The Nature Conservancy, Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program (MN Dept. of Agriculture), and Environmental Initiative partnered to measure the environmental and financial impact of innovative programs and whole farm planning in the Sauk watershed of west central Minnesota. This project has two initiatives.
Initiative 1: Sauk River Watershed Project
The Nature Conservancy, Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program, and Stearns County SWCD have partnered in the Sauk watershed to assist growers with planning and capital required to achieve an overall water quality outcome while simultaneously addressing soil health and climate change. The project will compare metrics from the Fieldprint® calculator before and after financial and technical assistance in the Sauk watershed and the smaller Backes Lake sub-watershed. The Headwaters Agricultural Sustainability Partnership is offering and guiding unique funding opportunities and outreach strategies in the Backes Lake watershed.
Initiative 2: Headwaters Agricultural Sustainability Partnership ROI Project
Partners in Central Minnesota are working to research and assess the on-farm financial and environmental impacts of implementing conversation practices. The Partnership seeks to prove during a 3–5-year period that on-farm conservation practices make farms more economically sustainable, while protecting the land and other natural resources. This project also employs farmer-to-farmer outreach and education efforts to share case study results and encourage more farmers to adopt conservation practices. Project partners include: The Stearns County Soil & Water Conservation District, The Nature Conservancy, Houston Engineering, AgCentric, Midwest Dairy, MN Milk, Compeer Financial, Syngenta, Integrated Crop Management Services, and Steve Peterson LLC.
Engagement Targets
Notes: (1) Minor fluctuations in the number of retained growers is expected from year to year. These fluctuations may be due to year-over-year crop rotation effects or other factors beyond the control of the project. Enrolled acres represent the total number of acres on an individual farm in a specific year. The ability to report enrolled acres is based on the Fieldprint Project Standard requirement that individual growers enrolled in projects enter at least 10% of the acres managed for a specific crop. (2) Entered acres represent the actual number of enrolled acres for which data is entered in the Fieldprint Platform for analysis.
Objectives
The project continues to offer whole farm conservation planning to all participants through the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification program. During the life of the project, 61% of participants achieved full certification, 26% were in the assessment phase of certification and the remaining were on the list to go through the process.
As participants in the Farming for the Future in Central Minnesota project, farmers went through a whole farm assessment process that looked at risks to water quality and ways to improve soil health across the operation. Risks were identified and together with their trusted advisor from the Stearns County Soil and Water Conservation District, project participants received recommendations on ways to decrease erosion, minimize surface run-off, capture carbon, maximize nutrient efficiency and improve overall farm resiliency. When farmers were ready to move forward with changes, the trusted advisor provided technical assistance and helped find financial assistance. All project participants received technical assistance and 82% received financial assistance to implement conservation practices or develop plans to improve environmental impacts on the farm. Many of the farmers in this project will continue receiving financial and technical assistance as they continue making conservation improvements on the farm.