(bolded supported partly or fully by Grassland 2.0 grant from USDA NIFA #2019-68012-29852)
Camisa Nova et al. 2026 – Pasture-raised heifers produce more milk, with higher milk fat, and higher profitability than confinement-raised heifers in first-year lactations
Winsten 2024 – Pasture-based dairy estimated to be 4x more profitable than confinement dairy on average for hypothetical 300-milk cow operation in southern Wisconsin
Kalscheur et al. 2024 – Heifers raised on pasture had similar body weight, age at calving, and greater dry matter intake (DMI) at end of 2nd grazing season. Cost of heifers raised on pasture 26.7% less in the first grazing season and 58.4% less in the second grazing season compared to heifers raised in confinement.
Meyer & Raff 2024 – Shows WI phosphorus pollution regulations increases the average sewer utility bill 7–12% (~$65.8 million/yr) to residential sewer rate payers.
Wiedenfeld et al. 2022 – Dairy needs real innovation, which should include transitions from confinement dairy to well-managed grazing that has been shown to be ~2x more profitable on a per-cow basis over 15 years on real Wisconsin farms
Raff & Meyer 2021 – Calculate external costs of surface water quality damages from CAFOs in Wisconsin of at least $203,541 per CAFO per year.
Winsten et al. 2020 – Coordinating a ‘basket of incentives’ for regenerative dairy
Chavas et al. 2009 – Pasture grazed by heifers at WICST most profitable cropping system (with or without subsidies to commodity crops)
Slessarev et al. 2026 – Switchgrass can increase belowground carbon storage by growing deep roots
Judd et al. 2025 – Perennial pastures build and stabilize soil organic matter differently than annual row crops at WICST
Dietz et al. 2024 – Soil C lost from all WICST cropping systems over 30 years except perennial grassland, which was not significantly changed (interpretations would have been much more sanguine if only surface soils were analyzed)
Mehre et al. 2024 – Soil C greater under rotational grazing than continuous grazing or row crops in Ontario, Canada
von Haden et al. 2024 – Soil C change accounting is possible with rigorous methods and here’s how
Raffeld et al. 2024 – Soil C accounting must be more rigorous for C markets to be effective
Augarten et al. 2023 – Across >700 Wisconsin soil samples, biological indicators of soil health were up to 195% greater in pastures than other cropping systems [Top 10 most-cited articles in 2023]
Becker et al. 2022 – More than 5 tons more C per acre in perennial pasture surface soils than nearby row crop surface soils across ~30 sites in Wisconsin [Top 10 most-downloaded articles in 2023]
Rui et al. 2022 – Incorporating legumes and manure into annual cropping systems at WICST enhanced soil health indicators (i.e., POM-C, microbial biomass, and microbial C-use efficiency) but did not significantly increase soil health metrics (i.e., microbial necromass accumulation, MAOM-C, or total SOC storage)
Sanford et al. 2022 – Land use-land cover gradient demonstrates the importance of perennial grasslands with intact soils for building soil carbon
Cates et al. 2022 – Warmer conditions under climate change may more substantially alter mineral-associated C content, while changing water regimes will alter C content in physically protected environments, with the most significant changes under cool and moist conditions
Jackson et al. 2015 – Soil N2O emissions spiked in 3-day period post-grazing in managed grazing system, but were negligible thereafter in cool-season pastures of southern Wisconsin and southeastern Nebraska
Oates et al. 2014 – Net ecosystem C balance best in managed grazing (MIRG) compared to continuous, hayed, or unharvested cool-season pastures
Osterholz et al. 2014 – Soil N2O emissions lowest in managed grazing cool-season pasture at WICST, compared to other cropping systems
Cates et al. 2016 – Frequent cultivation for weed control in Organic grain rotation likely disrupting aggregate formation and storage of C and N, but systems that were chisel plowed every one to three years, high biomass C inputs maintained POM-C and POM-N and soil aggregation equivalent to the fully perennial system
Sanford et al. 2012 – Soil C lost from all WICST cropping systems over 20 years except perennial grassland, which was not significantly changed
Jackson et al. 2007 – N2O emissions more sensitive to management than location in cool-season pastures of southern Wisconsin
Singh et al. 2025 – Literature review concluding perennial crops enhance water infiltration capacity, increase soil water retention, and reduce erosion
Young et al. 2023 – Very little nutrient runoff under perennial pastures, but lowest under Adaptive Management Paddocks.
Wepking et al. 2022 – Modeled nutrient losses lower under perennial grassland significantly lower than annual row crops
Campbell et al. 2021 – Modeling analysis of Yahara River Watershed showing that meeting US EPA-mandated Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for phosphorus requires ~half ag land must be transformed to perennial grass, ~half fewer confined livestock, and these must be in place for ~50 years. We need transformative landscape change.
Bendorf et al. 2021 – Flooding exacerbated by annual rowcrops in Driftless Area
Waller et al. 2021 – Phosphorus loads downstream from CAFOs increased 91% after CAFO expansions
Jackson 2020 – Mini-review of nitrate leaching under managed grazing and annual row crops showing leaching from unfertilized pastures about same as atmospheric deposition
Basche & DeLonge 2019 – Infiltration rates higher under perennials than annuals
Basche & Edelson 2017 – Perennial agriculture improves water resilience in upper Midwest
Hemberger et al. 2021 – Historical decrease in agricultural landscape diversity is associated with shifts in bumble bee species occurrence
Weigel et al. 2000 – Stream reaches with intensive rotational grazing tended to have macroinvertebrate assemblage characteristics intermediate of the buffer and continuously grazed reaches. Macroinvertebrate assemblages reflected very local land use, but mostly responded to large-scale watershed influences.
Paine & Ribic 2002 – considered a water quality best management practice, well-managed rotational grazing may be a reasonable alternative to buffer strips, which can contribute to protection and enhancement of native vegetation biodiversity.
Lyons et al. 2000 – Evaluated riparian intensive rotational grazing (IRG) as an alternative stream rehabilitation practice. Compared bank erosion, fish habitat characteristics, trout abundance, and a fish-based index of biotic integrity (IBI) among stations with either riparian continuous grazing, IRG, grassy buffers, or woody buffers along 23 trout stream reaches in southwestern Wisconsin. After statistically factoring out watershed effects, stations with IRG or grassy buffers had the least bank erosion and fine substrate in the channel. Buffers and IRG appeared similarly effective for rehabilitating Wisconsin streams.
Lyons et al. 2000 – Maintenance of grassy riparian vegetation usually requires active management (e.g.,mow-ing, burning, herbicide treatments, and grazing), a ssuccessional processes will tend ultimately to favor woody vegetation. Riparian agricultural practices that promote a dense, healthy, grassy turf, such as certain types of intensively managed livestock grazing, have potential to restore degraded stream ecosystems.
Temple et al. 1999 – To improve per-farm avian productivity, recommend a grassland management regime in which areas of ungrazed grassland and rotationally grazed pastures are maintained in a 1:2 ratio on farms during the nesting season (15 May-1 July).
Paine et al. 1996 – Increasing vegetation height and cover associated with reduced nest trampling rates, but pasture forage production and removal not associated with nest damage
Jackson & Gratton 2026 – Grassland 2.0-agroecosystems that care for us today while building capacity for future generations to do the same
Fochesatto et al. 2026 – Articulate a Just Transitions Participatory Action Research (PAR) Implementation Framework highlighting 4 interconnected elements: engagement and trust-building, collaboration and co-design, action and co-production of knowledge, and reflection and iteration. Argue that without intentional, justice-centered adaptations, participatory agricultural and transitions research risks reinforcing the very exclusions it aims to challenge.
Gratton et al. 2024 – Agroecological innovation — it’s at the nexus of technological, ecological, and social innovation!
Jackson 2024 – America’s Dairy Grassland-Wisconsin milk production that regenerates people and land
Jackson 2022 – Enough land to finish all our beef on grassland?…yes!…but see important rebuttal encouraging more full accounting (Hayek 2022) and reply (Jackson 2022). [CSA News Outstanding ‘Perspective’ Paper of the Year (2022) and National finalist (1 of 3) Frontiers Planet Prize 2022]
Jordan et al. 2013 – LandLabs: An integrated approach to creating agricultural enterprises that meet the triple bottom line
Williams et al 2013 – We believe institutional researchers are uniquely positioned to serve as agents of change. There is much room for their leadership in grassshed initiation and deployment over time. To do this, however, they will need to be properly motivated and equipped to lead. Researchers’ institutions, therefore, must innovate appropriate systems of reward and advancement for such efforts . Here, there is ample opportunity for realigning institutional capacities and norms to more fully support advancements in praxis and scholarship relevant to the grass-shed model.
Lyon et al. 2011 – Grazing farms demonstrate rich variability and individuality as a result of their position within a number of biophysical and social contexts. Graziers emphasized the importance of nding ways to work with the variables of their speci c context, rather than trying to control that variability. This effort entails the development and use of local knowledge, as graziers respond to the idiosyncrasies of their farms. It also leads graziers to reject mainstream agricultural research that has produced formulas for agricultural uniformity.
Lyon et al. 2010 – Accepting the maculate conceptions of participatory work means recognizing the problems that we bring with us, but trusting the creative process of dialogue to uncover possibilities we do not yet see.
Bell et al. 2008 – Most agronomic research seeks to limit the variability of productivity, offering universal ‘recipe knowledge’ that attempts to overwhelm contextual differences. Based on participatory research with a group of eight graziers in Wisconsin, we present the counter hypothesis that the productivity of variability is a key principle of agroecology. Contextual variability across space and time presents farmers with productive opportunities. Appreciating these contextual possibilities offers a universal principle that is not also a recipe.
Rissman et al. 2023 – Policy needs and recommendations to promote well-managed grazing of perennial grasslands in Wisconsin
Lowe & Fochesatto 2022 – Just transitions for more diverse, equitable, and inclusive ag
Van Vliet et al. 2020 – Plant-based meats, human health, and climate change
Van Vliet et al. 2021 – A metabolomics comparison of plant‑based meat and grass‑fed meat indicates large nutritional differences despite comparable nutrition facts panels
Provenza et al. 2019 – Is grassfed meat and dairy better for human and environmental health?
Provenza et al. 2021 – We are the earth and the earth is us: how palates link foodscapes, landscapes, heartscapes, and thoughtscapes
Timlin et al. 2024 – Pasture feeding improves the nutritional, textural, and techno-functional characteristics of butter
Hill et al. 2019 – Growing corn in the US results in >4000 pre-mature deaths each year from elevated PM2.5 emissions
Gerkens et al. 2024 – Industrial ag pesticide use driving cancer types with correlations that rival those between smoking and lung cancer
Reynolds et al. 2021 – Envision perennial agriculture as the perennial management of an agroecological endeavor that includes perennial plants and perennially supports people
Sanford et al. 2021 – Diversity and perenniality important to stability and resilience at WICST
Jordana Rivero et al. 2021 – Global livestock network that includes WICST
Spratt et al. 2021 – Grazing to tackle environmental and social challenges
Franzluebbers 2012 – Well-managed grazing-the forgotten hero of conservation
Chasen et al. 2025 – Pasture yield simulation model for Wisconsin
Chamberlain et al. 2012 – Warm-season grasses have forage quality similar to cool-season grasses if grazed early before setting seed
Paine et al. 1999 – Management-intensive rotational grazing paddocks had significantly higher forage quality than continously grazed pastures at equivalent levels of forage biomass
Oates et al. 2011 – Management-intensive rotational grazing enhances forage production and quality of subhumid cool-season pastures
Bouressa et al. 2010 – Combined use of burning and grazing as a management tool for warm-season grass persistence in pastures possible with deferred grazing during the establishment phase
Sabatier et al. 2015 – Identified key management practices that led to both high production and high robustness of cool-season pasture management, but attaining these results will require not only acquisition of new technical knowledge but also a change in the way the system is managed: from controlling environmental variability with external inputs to understanding and managing stochastic systems in a way that reduces negative externalities while increasing production efficiencies
Sabatier et al. 2015 – Adaptive grazing management of pastures makes it possible to benefit from environmental variability and increase the level of production, while management strategies based on resistance are coherent when managers do not target maximal production and can maintain a margin to cope with unexpected events.
Doll et al. 2011 – Grazing management for warm-season grasses – burning facilitated and N addition inhibited warm-season prairie grass re-introduction and establishment into cool-season grass pastures.
Doll et al. 2009 – Pasture management effects on pasture productivity and quality
Alber et al. 2014 – Meadow fescue and orchardgrass above- and below-ground response to extent and timing of grazing
Brink et al. 2010 – When is pasture renovation a good idea? Our results suggest that renovation with improved grasses increases pasture productivity, but producers should also consider their management and pasture production goals before renovating
Jackson et al. 2010– Warm-season grasses essentially disappear from a prairie with high-intensity summer bison grazing
Woodis & Jackson 2009 – Pasture plant communities in southern Wisconsin are entrained by grazing management