Down on the farm: Conference looks at future of farming in state

What do Minnesota farmers do in the wintertime? Aside from livestock chores, machinery repair, record analysis, next-season planning, and a little more family time, they can improve their knowledge and networks by attending conferences. When meat and poultry farmer Mark Thell, chair of the Carlton County Chapter of the Minnesota Farmers Union, fell ill last week, I was asked to attend the 21st annual Minnesota Organic Conference Jan. 11-12 in St. Cloud.

The event drew over 300 hundred participants from across the state and beyond for two days of meetings and a sold-out 80-booth trade show of manufacturers, producers, suppliers, services, associations, and agencies. A program of 35 one-hour breakout sessions and two larger gatherings was complemented by nutrient-rich meals and lively discussions. The event had two dozen major sponsors and was organized by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture; our state is a leader in having the government vigorously promote organic farming.

This year’s topics ranged from the ecological benefits of regenerative techniques to developing “new” products (e.g., Kernza, camelina, hemp, elderberries), to numerous how-to sessions for improving production and business practices. In the two keynote sessions, Dr. Daphne Miller focused on health benefits, and Carolyn Olson spoke about leadership. Miller, a UC Berkeley researcher and family physician practicing in an underprivileged neighborhood in the midst of the high-powered Silicon Valley, spoke on how diet affects health and how it can be a healing factor in fighting disease. She regularly prescribes specific “food boxes” for patients and promotes a “food as medicine” philosophy. She recommends boosting diversity (in soil, seeds, plants, and in people practicing agriculture), minimizing disturbance (no-till or low-till field work, integrative pest management and weed control), and conserving resources (perennial plants, edible cover crops, water conservation). Carolyn Olson, a row-crop farmer and vice president of the Minnesota Farm Bureau Board of Directors, emphasized the importance of setting life goals, working hard to achieve those goals, and practicing an open-minded approach to people and problems.

A special feature of this year’s conference was the Legislative listening session, where conference-goers met in open forum with a panel of Minnesota state legislators. Moderated by Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture Thom Petersen, the panel comprised Sen. Arik Putnam, chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Broadband, and Rural Development; Rep. Samantha Vang, chair of the House Committee on Agriculture Finance and Policy; and Rep. Paul Anderson, ranking member of the House Committee on Agriculture Finance and Policy. About 50 people showed up, and for an hour the panelists heard and responded to farmers’ concerns on several topics.

• Organic farmers, who must avoid many pesticides, are affected adversely when wind causes clouds of pesticide to drift onto their organic-certified fields.

• Small- and medium-sized dairies face increasing competition from large-scale operations and relentless consolidation in the milk processing industry.

• Young people who bring the entrepreneurial spirit to farming need the encouragement that would be provided by an affordable healthcare insurance program.

• The water conservation measures mandated a few years ago require farmers to leave a 50-foot-wide uncultivated buffer zone along water courses that deprived farmers of land without compensation or reduction in property taxes, which is clearly unfair.

• The recent decriminalization of cannabis has left a jumble of regulations that are confusing and counterproductive.

While the listening session resulted in no promises nor conclusive solutions, the panelists engaged in dialogue with the farmers and expressed appreciation for their input. One sensed that important issues had a hearing.

My interests led me to sessions about the following.

• Holistic weed management: Since organic farmers avoid chemical pesticides, they turn to mechanical inventions drawn by tractors. The variety is fascinating: tine weeders, box weeders, discs and chisel plows, and finger weeders. At the trade show, I was drawn to videos of these tools in action.

• On-farm events: The Minnesota nonprofit Renewing the Countryside received a large grant to sponsor a one-day festival at nine farms around the state last summer. In their session, they gave details about planning and implementation and showed how the festivals bring small communities together to highlight farm life. It reminded me of the Wrenshall events Breakfast on the Farm at the Laveau family Grandview Dairy and the annual Free Range Film Festival.

As an enterprise, farming demands ingenuity, resilience and, especially, hope. Learning and networking at the Minnesota Organic Conference is a valuable way to up one’s own game and to help fellow entrepreneurs.