The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Sept. 29 increased financial assistance for the Regenerative Pilot Program from $700 million to $1 billion in fiscal year 2027, providing more producers with the opportunity to adopt conservation systems that improve soil health, water quality and long-term farm resilience, according to a USDA news release. Additionally, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is making changes to the program, including using NRCS’s locally led conservation model to allow State Technical Advisory Committees to add conservation practices that reflect local resource concerns, production systems and producer needs. “American farmers are the frontlines of our fight to make America healthy again, and we will work with them to achieve this goal,” said Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins said in the release. “Under Secretary Rollins’ leadership, USDA is increasing funding for this program to $1 billion to help farmers build soil health, reduce dependence on costly chemical inputs, and adopt regenerative practices,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “Last fiscal year, NRCS obligated more than 5,100 contracts for more than $851 million to implement whole-farm conservation practices for regenerative agriculture. Through this program, farmers and ranchers continue to make improvements to soil...

Minnesota accounts for more than half of the U.S. flocks and birds hit by highly pathogenic avian influenza in the past 30 days, as the virus returns to the state's turkey barns with fall migration. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has confirmed the virus in 10 Minnesota flocks totaling 261,450 birds in that span. Seven were commercial flocks and three were backyard flocks. Nationwide, 19 flocks and 517,840 birds in seven states were affected, according to APHIS. South Dakota was second, with three commercial flocks and 135,300 birds. Wisconsin had one commercial flock of 79,100 birds, and North Dakota had one of 41,600. Iowa, Idaho and Montana reported only backyard cases, together fewer than 400 birds. "We've seen kind of a spike here since our state fair last week in cases of high path avian influenza or bird flu coming back into Minnesota in our commercial turkey flocks, and that's a concern," Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen told Agweek at the Big Iron Farm Show, held Sept. 15-17 in West Fargo, North Dakota. Petersen said cases are not unusual as bird migration starts, but this season is starting out "kind of a little concerning."...

VERNDALE, Minn. — Two moments in time stand out very clearly in Eric Blaha’s journey to building a sustainable livestock operation. Both were times when he was forced to sit down, think about what he was doing and learn from someone else. One such trip was while on a flight to Europe. He climbed onto the plane with a plan to buy a six-bottom plow, 20-foot disk and a corn planter, but as he sat in his seat, he read Gabe Brown’s book "Dirt to Soil." In that book, he learned that instead of determining to farm mostly conventional row crops and buying large amounts of inputs every year, he would turn his operation into a rotationally grazed pasture that let the livestock do the work. “I decided to go a different path and now we’ve been doing regenerative, managed intensive grazing,” Blaha said. He eventually added multi-species grazing after another sit-down moment on the phone with a farming consultant while driving to the Twin Cities. Jonathan Kilpatrick is the farmer education director for the Sustainable Farming Association in Minnesota. Their mission for the last 35-plus years has been to transform agriculture one farmer at a time by supporting unconventional...

The indeterminate tomatoes at Meadowlark Garden start at the ground and stretch up toward the roof. They grow until about December, when the vines are pulled.

BROOKINGS, S.D. — Understanding your plant’s health is vital to having a successful farming operation.

Jan Sanderson, 66, owner of Sanderson Gardens of Aurora, S.D., starts his season in the early summer with asparagus and rhubarb crops, then goes to

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Pollinator gardens are blooming into a more popular form of gardening, bringing together a collection of native plants that attract a

BROOKINGS, S.D. — Carl Madsen of Brookings, South Dakota, has a life-long passion for gardening, something he’s continued to do well throughout retirement.

PIERRE, S.D. — Conservation and agriculture go together hand in hand, and South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks works with state producers to ensure that they can make the most of ground. There are many organizations that offer ways for agricultural producers to earn a profit through conservation, said Kevin Robling, secretary of South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks. Game, Fish and Parks is one of those ways. “We have food plot programs, we have grassland establishment programs, we have woody habitat programs. We have programs that talk about cross fencing and rotational grazing with programs that talk about or offer, I would say, water infrastructure, those sorts of things. We do a lot of prescribed fire, we help producers with that as well,” Robling said. “There’s just a plethora of different things when it comes to offering opportunities for producers to be a part of the conservation story.” South Dakota is primarily a private land state, so land owners are an important part of the wildlife in the state. “Without producers in South Dakota that care about wild things and wild places, we wouldn’t be the pheasant capitol of the world. We wouldn’t have the highest per capita of...

ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Board of Animal Health confirmed its first West Nile virus case of 2026 this week in a Polk County horse. The horse is an unvaccinated 3-year-old standardbred gelding and is recovering from the infection with supportive treatment from its veterinarian. West Nile virus is a preventable disease with routine vaccinations. The infected horse showed signs of moderate weakness, loss of muscle coordination, and fell down during a routine neurological exam conducted by its veterinarian. The veterinarian started treating the horse with steroids and it began showing improvement within a few days, according to a news release from the Minnesota Board of Animal Health. “Late summer is the typical highpoint of WNV season in Minnesota,” said Dr. Heather Damico, senior veterinarian leading the Board’s equine program. “Birds carry the disease and mosquitos can contract it from birds and spread it to horses. Unfortunately, almost all cases of WNV we’ve seen in Minnesota affect unvaccinated or under-vaccinated horses.” The virus is regularly found in the United States and birds serve as the primary host of the disease. The virus circulates between infected birds and mosquitos. Once infected, the mosquitos can transmit the virus to horses or people...

Marvin Baker is an organic produce producer at Carpio, N.D. Photo taken Oct. 28, 2018, at Carpio, N.D. Photo courtesy of North Star Farms. North Star Farms /

MORGAN, Minn. — Times in the agriculture industry have many farmers worried, with farmers who farmed through the

Meg Stuedemann manages a 60-head dairy herd, cares for and vaccinates calves, maintains pastures, operates field equipment, cuts and bales hay, spreads manure, and handles all bookkeeping and organic certification paperwork for Derrydale Farm in Le Sueur County. She's also a staff member with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, working to improve livelihoods for Minnesota's farmers. Stuedemann is one of five finalists for the 2026 Minnesota Farmfest Woman Farmer of the Year award. She shared more about herself with five questions from Agweek. 1. What is your role in agriculture? I dairy farm with my husband Kevin and work part time for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, where I help develop new projects and programs and lead our efforts to support farmers in stress. Each of these careers has really helped me in the other. Kevin and I milk about 60 cows and ship to Organic Valley. I belong to both the Minnesota Farmers Union and the Minnesota Farm Bureau. I have served on a number of agricultural boards and advisory committees (including the Organic Farming Research Foundation, Catholic Rural Life, Center for Rural Behavioral Health, and others) — sometimes in my capacity as a producer, and sometimes in my...

BROOKINGS, S.D. — In her search to learn more about sustainable agriculture, Chelsea Cordsen traveled from Germany to get some hands on learning in South Dakota. Cordsen is from Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. As a part of her practical school semester, she visited South Dakota State University for three weeks as a portion of her 16-week internship. During her time in South Dakota, she worked at Odegaard Family Farms where she was able to get hands-on experience within the swine industry. She also worked at the SDSU feed mill for a week helping to prepare research feed rations and was also able to shadow a swine nutritionist for a day. Cordsen was able to tour all of the SDSU barns, labs and facilities as well as help in the swine barn. “I got to work in the on-site sow barn. We bred some gilts there for a running trial and helped them with chores a little bit,” she said. “So it’s been really interesting.” While the sustainable agriculture degree encompasses a broad range of topics, animal science and swine are the areas that Cordsen is most interested in. She grew up on a swine and crop operation. “We have like around 250...

The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy has appealed the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s decision to issue Riverview LLP a permit for an expansion of its West River Dairy near Morris, Minnesota. That expansion, the largest proposed dairy operation in state history, would be able to grow from 7,855 to 18,855 cows. The group says the appeal is due to a lack of a plan to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. The appeal was filed in the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Tuesday, July 22, and centers on the feedlot permit that MPCA issued June 23 after an extended comment period and open house. “MPCA cannot issue a permit for a massive industrial feedlot that fails to address greenhouse gas emissions. Minnesota law requires Riverview to explain the methods and practices it will deploy to minimize greenhouse gas emissions from its unprecedented operation,” said Jay Eidsness, supervising attorney at MCEA, in an MCEA news release. “If Minnesota is serious about meeting its climate goals and being part of the solution to slow the growing climate crisis, we cannot continue to give giant industrial agriculture operations like Riverview a free pass on their climate pollution.” Within the petition, MCEA explains that Riverview, in...

STREETER, N.D. — Researchers at North Dakota State University Central Grasslands Research Extension Center are seeing big improvements in pollinator populations on pastures where they used virtual fencing. Taleigh Adrian, a graduate student at NDSU, said pastures with virtual fencing had more bee and butterfly species than pastures that used season-long grazing or patch-burn grazing. "Utilizing virtual fencing technology is actually really beneficial for that pollinator community," graduate student Taleigh Adrian said. Adrian spoke during an afternoon demonstration on virtual fencing at the Central Grasslands Research Extension Center's July 6 field day. The presentation included demonstrating how to put a virtual fence collar on a cow and also included speakers explaining the research results on virtual fencing trials at the center. Researchers are using a virtual fence system to patch graze cattle. The cattle spend 50 days in a quarter of the pasture. After that, researchers adjust the boundary so the cattle have access to half the pasture for 50 days, then adjust it again so they have access to three-quarters of the pasture for 50 days. The other quarter of the pasture is rested for the season. Over a four-year period, each quadrant will get each treatment. "We have...

We are having a break from the heat this week. The mornings are so nice and cool.

This week on AgweekTV, clean-up and damage assessments are underway in parts of South Dakota hit hard by a record-breaking wind storm. Turkey producers seem

Sharing Our Roots director details response to fear and disruption for immigrant farmers  Agweek

BROOKINGS, S.D. — Researchers at South Dakota State University have developed a vaccine for avian metapneumovirus subtype B, which is a respiratory virus that has been impacting poultry production across the United States. In 2024, researchers at South Dakota State University’s Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory were the first to identify the virus outbreak. The research into identifying the virus and creating the vaccine was led by assistant professors Sunil Mor and Tamer Sharafeldin and their team. “It caused a lot of economic losses and mortalities in both the chicken and turkey industry in the U.S. and unfortunately there has been not any vaccine until a year, year and a half ago when imported vaccine from Europe was approved conditionally to be used here in the U.S. poultry,” Sharafeldin said. They were the first team to create a vaccine for this virus in the United States. “So far, this avian metapneumovirus vaccine and biosecurity measures are the only solution to control this disease. So, that’s why this vaccine is extremely important, because there is no commercial vaccine available in the U.S. against this virus,” Mor said. “So, our work on this vaccine development is extremely valuable for the poultry...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Kelly Rae Kirkpatrick checked the weather forecast before sending out a seed-sowing event invitation for the next day to volunteers at the Slatterly Park Community Food Forest. They had squash seeds that needed to get in the ground, raspberries needed trimming and the soil temperatures were finally ideal for planting, she said. A group showed up. Volunteers, young and old, came from school and work, by car, bike or foot to the food forest located in a park in southeast Rochester. While serving on the Rochester City Council in 2022, Kirkpatrick, produced a proposal for city officials to use the northeast corner of Slatterly Park near downtown Rochester for the food forest. “The original vision, when we first put the proposal together, was to provide a second community garden in the city that could utilize an existing orchard,” said Kirkpatrick, a landscape designer, volunteer educator and urban farmer. The project was developed as a companion to Rochester's Martin Luther King, Jr. Park Community Food and Learning Garden, which also integrates food production, pollinator habitat and community education into a public park setting. Urban agriculture can have a "profound impact on food security for all levels of income...

The latest enrollment period for the 20-state incentive program aimed at increasing cover crop adoption is open now through the end of the summer. The Farmers for Soil Health program provides financial assistance and local technical support. It's open to farmers growing corn, soybeans, wheat, grain sorghum or cotton, who are eligible to receive $35 per acre, per year, on up to 2,000 acres. The initiative led by the United Soybean Board, National Corn Growers Association and the National Pork Board is supported through a $95 million USDA grant. Producers in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin are eligible. The updated acreage payment and new one-year contract structure are meant to "more accurately reflect on-farm costs and the agronomic value of cover crops,” said Ben West, executive director of Farmers for Soil Health. “We wanted to remove every potential barrier to getting involved in the program,” West said. Farmers for Soil Health originally launched in 2023, under the USDA's Biden-era Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities umbrella, which has been restructured and renamed the Advancing Markets for Producers. West called the impact from the program "immediate," with nearly 200 producers enrolling in the first year, and over 400 participating the...