Search Results

Through Growing Resilience, healthy crops and soils mean healthy farmers and consumers. Regenerative Farming is the idea that if farmers change the way they manage the soils, you can improve environmental conditions through less disturbance, have more profitable faming, and more time with family. GROWING RESILIENT SOIL Learn soil health practices from ranchers and farmers to make your operation resilient and profitable. We’re Changing the Way Ranchers and Farmers Think About Soil Ranchers and farmers are often told that better production means higher inputs—but at what cost? In the face of skyrocketing input costs, many producers across the nation are being forced to ask this question. Does a better and more cost-effective way to regenerate exist? Ranchers and cropland managers are telling us yes, it does even as they reduce operating costs and increase their bottom line. Read More Read More Featured Content Farmers Journey to Find the New Cropland Grazing Model See how South Dakota farmer/rancher Brian Johnson and his family are discovering increased profits, decreased workload, and enhanced land and operation resilience through an innovative approach to grazing. Here's How Ranchers Are M aking Their Ranches Drought Proof. Prescribed Grazing —Our ranchers are rotating livestock, resting grazed land, and thereby allowing their land to recover. Increasing Diversity —A great indicator of healthy soils is diversity. Our ranchers are managing their land for diversity so that their forage base includes a wonderful mix of native warm and cool season grasses and forbs. Grazing More, Feeding Less —As their forage base increases, our ranchers are making more money per acre by grazing more and feeding less. Being Adaptive — Our ranchers embrace the fact that nothing in life is set in stone and that flexibility is an asset. As SD rancher Bart Carmichael says, “We make plans, assume we’re wrong, then adapt as the weather or livestock dictate”. Plan, observe, adapt, repeat. Changing their Mindsets —Through embracing free resources, such as those provided by the SD NRCS, the SD Grassland Coalition, the SD Soil Health Coalition and this platform, our ranchers are changing their thoughts about what successful, profitable ranching can be. The range management techniques we highlight are tools that any rancher can use to change and improve their land. Drought Resources Our partners at the South Dakota Grassland Coalition just launched their "Pray for Rain. Plan for Drought." project. Click below to find out more; Struggling With Drought? Click Here The ranchers and technical advisors listed in the downloadable document below are ready talk with anyone interested in weathering the worst impacts of drought. Give one of them a call. Talk To A Drought Expert Download Now What Ranchers Are Saying The time savings doing something like this has for me. I was going to have my wife come out and talk to you. She’s complaining I’m around too much now. Reid Suelflow, Rancher Drought Tolerance, Diversity, and Déjà Vu: What Dakota Lakes Is Teaching the World 5 days ago 2 min read “It Won’t Work Here”—Until It Does: Twelve Years of Lessons from a Southeastern Farmer 6 days ago 3 min read Can We Really Fix Wet Spots With Tillage? If So, Why Are They Still There? 7 days ago 3 min read Behind the Lens: Stories From South Dakota’s Grasslands and the People Who Care for Them Dec 11 3 min read Corn–Soybean Rotation Economics: The Data Behind “No-Till, No Yield” Nov 25 3 min read Year-Round Grazing in South Dakota: Lessons from Pat Guptill & Bart Carmichael Nov 24 5 min read Be first to know about new blog posts! First Name Last Name Email Subscribe Thanks for subscribing! Watch Don't Know Where to Start? Ask A Mentor! If you're looking for an agricultural expert to help you improve or expand a certain area of your operation, consider joining our Mentor Network where you can reach out the experienced producers in various agricultural fields who provide technical and planning assistance to South Dakota farmers and ranchers. I'd like a mentor! Less Time in the Field = Less Stress (and More Time With Family) Two things are always out of a rancher’s control: the weather and the cost of doing business. But ranchers who have changed the way they think of the land are finding themselves more in the driver’s seat of their operations and their wallets. Through understanding the soil health principles and implementing these to suit their operations, our ranchers are waking up to fewer operating costs, less time needed ‘working the land’ and more down-time enjoyed with their families. That’s less worrying about money and less time working—all by simply allowing the land (and livestock) to work for them. Read More MORE CONTENT PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES OUR PARTNERS

All Posts Our Posts Partner Posts Resilience Rodeo 2 min Coming Soon: Insights From Dr. Fred Provenza, Livestock and Grasslands As part of our SoilHealthLabs podcast series, Joe Dickie and I sat down to talk with Dr. Fred Provenza, who helped us delve into the deep... 7 min Consulting The Next Generation: The New Paradigm of Ranching Culture Dan Rasmussen's family has been on their South Dakota ranch since 1914. As somebody with a family history in ranching, Dan has seen... 3 min Meeting Dr. Fred Provenza Again, For the First Time By Buz Kloot On Monday the 15th of July this year (2024), Joe Dickie and I got to talk to Dr. Fred Provenza (Professor Emeritus, Dept....

There’s Nothing Here... We can’t find the page you’re looking for. Check the URL, or head back home. Go Home

There’s Nothing Here... We can’t find the page you’re looking for. Check the URL, or head back home. Go Home

There’s Nothing Here... We can’t find the page you’re looking for. Check the URL, or head back home. Go Home