Project Type: Organic Soil Carbon

Continuous No-Till since the early 90’s, Variable Rate Fertility since 2013, Cover Crops since 2014, Grazing since 2017, Pollinator Habitat strips since 2020.

Wilson Organic Family Farm is a 7th generation family farm nestled in the Driftless Area of Southwest Wisconsin. An organic farm since 1998, the soil is the base of our ecological farming and stewardship beliefs that food production must occur in sync with nature, wildlife, and the world we share. This philosophy is rooted in our practices from diverse crop rotations that include many diversified perennials to cover cropping and eliminating chemicals and synthetic fertilizers.

Roger Wahlgren is a 3rd generation farmer and started on his own in 1971 after completing a tour in the Army. Around 2009-2010 the decision was made to change the entire farm to a strip till/ no till rotation. The benefits from the changes made are many. Our organic matter has risen 1tenth of 1% per year by leaving the residue and not tilling. This has raised our organic matter from 2.1% to 3.3-3.5%. This has been a big part of soil health. Soli erosion and wind erosion have all but been eliminated. Our rainfall infiltration rates have steadily climbed because of this residue duff. The duff also acts to armor coat the ground, lessening compaction, and keeping wetter cooler soils.

Crop rotations between corn, wheat and soybeans have always been used. Continuous no till practices implemented in 2015. Variable rate fertilizer applications started in 2016. Reduced rate fertilizer applications implemented in 2016. Cover crops started in 2015. Aggressive land management to reduce runoff and erosion started in 2018.

Came Farms is a family farm, currently in its’ fifth generation, located in central Kansas. We have always worked hard to be at the front edge of conservative/regenerative farming practices. We began experimenting with no-till in the early nineties and by 2002 had converted all of our acres to no-till. With no-till, came the ability to graze our cattle on the corn and sorghum stalks after harvest, which we continue to do today. In 2016, we began to utilize variable rate, at first with fertilizer, but later using variable rate for seeding as well.

The Ullrich family has been involved in agriculture for several generations. The Ullrich family has always been interested in agricultural innovations to increase both yields and profits and in so doing has made significant strides to build more productive and healthier soils. The Ullrich operation has implemented soil conservation practices such as no-till farming, implementing the use of cover crops and enrolling certain farms or portions of farms in the Conservation Reserve Program administered by the Farm Service Agency for decades.

John is a 5th generation farmer. He started farming nearly 20 years ago when he was right out of high school. After a few years of watching fields erode he knew there had to be a better way. That is what lead him down the road of regenerative practices. Now after using this system for years, the differences he sees are huge. He also looks forward to learning and implementing more new practices in the future.

MBS Family Farms is a multi‐generation farming operation based in north central Iowa. Stan and Karmen Mehmen started farming together in 1976 and were joined by their son, Kyle and daughter‐in-law, Kerri in 2005. While our core operation is based in Iowa, we also have a strategic farming partnership in south central Minnesota. MBS Family Farms is committed to conservation, safety and on‐farm security practices. As good stewards of earth’s resources, MBS is committed to preserving and enhancing the soil, water and wildlife. We will continue our third party environmental certification audits on an annual basis and will continue to participate in government conservation stewardship programs. In addition, we are committed to worker safety and on‐farm security measures exceeding standards more exacting than audit requirements.  

We started ridge tilling in the early 80’s as a way to reduce tillage, fuel, fertilizer, and chemicals. We later switched to zone, vertical, and no till in 2013 when ridge till became too labor intensive. Then, we started using more hog manure and chicken litter in 2013. We’ve started to use more cover crops recently and we like to look at fields with residue or cover.

Garrett Land and Cattle has been on a progressive movement to build healthier soils, increase overall production, utilize all-natural nutritional products to increase the sequestering of carbon and provide a steady increase in the financial ROI in every aspect of the operation.