Last Digital Dialogue of the spring coming up May 17th

The latest news from the Grassland 2.0 team on grassland-based agriculture and sustainable agriculture.

Author: Anne Nardi

Last Digital Dialogue of the spring coming up May 17th

Image by Finn Ryan

Grassland 2.0 is once again hosting our monthly Digital Dialogue webinar series!

In the fall of 2021 the Digital Dialogues Series focused on what makes a healthy agroecosystem. This spring, we are changing lanes and will be focusing on the levers of change for our agricultural system. Tune in and hear about the policies, legal reforms, and partnerships needed to regenerative farming and balance the power in our food system from the input suppliers, processors, and retailers to the farmers, workers, small business and consumers.

New tool helps dairy farmers explore the economics of grazing dairy heifers

To graze or not to graze? The newly debuted Heifer Grazing Compass is a spreadsheet tool designed to help farmers predict and understand the cash flow and long-term financial outcomes of deciding to raise heifers on pasture. Developed by the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems of CIAS and Grassland 2.0, the Heifer Grazing Compass compares the total economic implications of a farmer’s existing system with a potential pasture-based heifer raising system.

Cattle and Brookies: Making Modern Agriculture and Trout Habitat in Wisconsin

Some 10,000 years ago, glaciers from the last Ice Age were retreating from the Upper Midwest. While much of Wisconsin was scraped into the rolling landscape that is representative of much of the state, a roughly 24,000 square mile piece of land at the intersection of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, was left untouched by continental glaciers. Broad ridge tops with shallow soil, river-formed valleys, and steep, craggy ravines make the Driftless area a geological anomaly. For millennia, this was a fertile Brook Trout habitat but in an evolutionary blink of an eye, these waters became threatened by modern agriculture. Across this region of sandstone and dolomitic limestone bedrock, there is more than 6,000 miles of trout water, with about 1300 miles of public access. But the health of these waters continue to compete with agriculture to survive.

U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard incentivizes land use change with environmental consequences

In order to address global climate change, the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) aims to increase the use of biofuel in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to a new study by Tyler Lark of UW-Madison and co-authors, including several members of Grassland 2.0, the RFS may have missed the mark in reducing emissions – in fact, the greenhouse gases produced consequentially negate any advantages of corn ethanol over gasoline. Why? The RFS policy makers did not predict the full-scale impacts of the land use change that would result from its implementation – mainly more corn and less pasture.

Creating a grazing movement in Sauk County

Serge Koenig has been serving Sauk County, Wisconsin as a county conservationist for the past 27 years. So, needless to say – he knows the community well. During his tenure he has helped a lot of farmers get back in touch with nature and rediscover why they farm. Koenig’s journey in conservation started in Madagascar where he grew up, where he says he basically lived outside.

New GrassCast podcast shares cutting edge research linking animal and human health

How does the way we raise our agriculture impact our health as humans? That is the critical question surrounding Stephan van Vliet’s research. Stephan is a nutrition scientists and metabolomics experts at the Center for Human Nutrition Studies at Utah State University and in the fall of last year Stephan spoke to the Grassland 2.0 team as part of the teams fall Digital Dialogue Series.

GrassWorks: A place where working dogs (and their humans) belong

Exactly when dogs and humans started hanging around together is a matter of debate, but it’s been a good long time. Scientists suggest that ancestral wolves were likely the first animals to be domesticated by early humans, some 10,000 to 30,000 years ago. And what was those first dogs’ primary job? Herding! On grasslands around the world, wild ruminants were a food source for humans and wolves. As hunting partners, ancestral wolf-dogs’ herding abilities and hunter-gatherers’ hunting tools and skills benefited both. Domestication of ruminants (cattle, sheep, goats) came later with the help of those same herding dogs.

Six ways to incorporate grass-fed meat and dairy this holiday season

December abounds with cultural and religious holidays. There’s Christmas and Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Rohatsu, and the winter solstice, to name a few. It’s a time for family gatherings, celebrations, reflection – and sharing delicious meals with those we hold dear.

New podcast episode features poetry discussing the changes in dairying over the last 50 years

This fall Grassland 2.0 hosted a four-part Digital Dialogue webinar series exploring the question of “What are healthy agroecosystems?”. The dialogues were hour and a half long conversations with farmers, researchers, and agricultural professionals who each explored the different aspects that make up a healthy agroecosystems and the benefits these systems have on people, farms, communities and the land.

Introducing Grassland 2.0’s Digital Dialogue Series

Cows grazing at WICST. Photo by Finn Ryan

This fall Grassland 2.0 is hosting a 4-part Digital Dialogue focusing on the question – What are healthy agroecosystems? The series will explore the different aspects that make up a healthy agroecosystems and the benefits these systems have on people, farms, communities and the land.