Highway 14 Tour Held at University of Minnesota Southwest Research & Outreach Center

Keynote Speaker Carolyn King opens the Highway 14 Tour.

The 3rd Annual Highway 14 Tour was held on February 21, 2024 at the Southwest Research & Outreach Center located in Lamberton, Minnesota. The meeting opened with a warm welcome and introductions by Breanna Wagner, Program Technician; Cottonwood County SWCD who introduced our first keynote speaker, Carolyn King. Carolyn is the Director of Operations for Continuum Ag, a soil health data intelligence company that enables farmers to profit from sustainable and regenerative practices. She talked about Carbon Intensity and how farmers can look to profit from Regenerative Ag practices. This topic generated lots of good questions and feedback from the farmers, landowners, and staff from other counties that attended.

Local farmer Brian Ryberg presents at the Highway 14 Tour.

The next speaker was a local farmer, Brian Ryberg, from Buffalo Lake, Minnesota. Brian and his family have a strip till/minimum tillage operation in which they raise corn, soybeans and sugar beets in 4 counties in Southern Minnesota. Brian shared his learning experiences farming with cover crops with what worked and what didn’t work. He expressed the importance of cover crops and protecting our land from wind erosion during our open winters and hard rains. Brian showed pictures from his fields and explained about actively growing fibrous root systems and root channels left after decomposition allow for a mellow, well-drained soil bed. While Brian talked about his experiences, the group shared some of their experiences that worked and didn’t work with each other as well. After a great morning of learning and sharing experiences, we took a break with a nice warm free lunch, and a few door prizes were given out.

Manure Panel discusses soil health at the Highway 14 Tour.

In the afternoon we invited a panel of 4 farmers who utilize manure to share their experience and expertise. Panelists: Peter Noding (Sheep), Tom Cotter (poultry, beef grazing), Peter Bakken (beef), and Mark Vander Pol (swine) shared what kind of livestock manure they had, how they manage manure and soil health systems together, application methods, along with successes and changes they would like to make. The panel generated many questions and discussion with good advice and suggestions.