What we learned feeding oats to cattle
Depending on where you are, agriculture today is based mainly on simplified rotations such as the corn/soybean system in the Midwest. Planting cover crops is a great first step, but…
Funding Secured to Continue to Make Diverse Rotations Work!
The Food Lab is thrilled to announce that together with Practical Farmers of Iowa, we have been awarded a Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) which will expand our work to understand the value…
A View of the Future While Standing in the Mud
By Elizabeth Reaves Just a few weeks ago the Food Lab and some of our corporate partners were standing around in the muddied farmyard of a large Washington State dairy,…
Small Grains in the Corn Belt Newsletter
This month, Sustainable Food Lab launched a monthly Small Grains in the Corn Belt Initiative newsletter. In partnership with Practical Farmers of Iowa, the goal of this initiative is to…
Animated Videos to Communicate the Importance of Soil Health
Animated videos designed to help our partners communicate the importance of soil health Together with Graphic Harvest, the Sustainable Food Lab created two short educational videos to simplify the critical…
Soil Under Our Feet
Soil Under Our Feet Click here for PDF version Soil Building Dilemmas and Breakthroughs Elizabeth Reaves and Hal Hamilton This past June, while facilitating a learning journey with a group…
Organic Grain Collaboration News
The booming organic industry continues to be a bright spot for growth in the US farm economy averaging double-digit growth over the last five years. While the organic industry thrives,…
Oats and cover crops: long-term benefits but collaboration is needed to share costs
Many Midwestern farmers remember oats as a part of their grandparents’ farm, a thing of the past. Corn and soybeans (or 2-crop rotation) now accounts for 95 percent of Iowa’s…
The Food Lab in 2016
Dear colleagues, Any of us with sustainability in our job descriptions can look back with pride or look forward with some trepidation. The launch of the new UN Sustainable Development…
