There’s a whole world of funding that can help to bring conservation practices onto a farm, but wading through the web of federal, state, and private programs can feel like a full time job of its own. So Zach Johnson and Mitchell Hora bring on Kevin Norton, the Associate Chief of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to learn about government cost share programs. Then, Wisconsin dairy farmers Tom Zwald and Todd Doornink explain how their farming community has banded together to find money for sustainable agriculture on their own through the Western Wisconsin Conservation Council.

Be sure to check out a video of Mitchell’s visit to Tom’s farm on our YouTube channel, where Tom describes what he’s doing on the crop side of his farm to protect water, and how his dairy is also re-using water multiple times in its operation.

Food companies are seeing a lot more demand from consumers for sustainably-grown food. But how is that demand translating into actual incentives for farmers to adopt conservation practices? In this episode, we bring you the conversation Field Work co-host Mitchell Hora moderated in November 2019 at the Sustainable Agriculture Summit. Panelists included Unilever’s Stefani Millie Grant and Ben Crook from Hellman’s Mayonnaise, who explain how big food companies are trying to encourage more farmers to use sustainable ag practices, and farmer Scott Henry, who participated in Unilever’s sustainable soy program.

Special thanks to the host partners for inviting Field Work to record at the 2019 Sustainable Agriculture Summit. It’s an annual gathering for major food companies, government agencies, academics, conservation groups, and farmers committed to advancing a coordinated and comprehensive approach to driving change in agriculture sustainability. The Host Partners are Field to Market and Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. The next summit will be held in Phoenix, AZ in November 2020.

There are certain regenerative practices that help to put carbon back into the ground, which can be beneficial for crops, soil, and the broader environment. Some companies are trying to provide another benefit to these practices -- a way for farmers to get paid. Through emerging carbon markets, companies trying to offset their carbon emissions can pay farmers for the services that take carbon out of the atmosphere. This week, Field Work hosts Zach Johnson and Mitchell Hora talk to Christophe Jose, the co-founder of Nori, one of the companies working to make this possible, about the challenges and benefits of carbon markets.

Water plays an important role in all of our lives. But how much do we actually understand key water topics, like the share of Americans who get their water shut off or the biggest causes of pollution? Field Work co-host Zach Johnson talks to Andi Egbert from the American Public Media Research Lab as well as Kinsie Rayburn and Drew Slattery from Farm Journal’s Trust in Food initiative about research into average Americans’ and farmers’ understanding of key water issues.

Farmers often get the advice that they should “start small” when it comes to conservation practices. But Indiana farmer Rick Clark of Clark Land and Cattle is proof that you can do regenerative ag at scale. He raises no-till soybeans, no-till corn, and has had great success planting cover crops on his 7,000 acre farm. What’s more, this is the first year that all his acres will be grown without chemicals as he transitions to organic. Field Work co-host Mitchell Hora visited Clark’s farm to learn about his journey as a farmer. And he learned the secrets to Rick’s massive cost savings of $670,000 a year.

After a big bet on growing asparagus backfired, the Nuss family had to rethink their approach to running Nuss Farms. Tim and Tyler Nuss, the 5th generation on the farm and the hosts of The Modern Acre podcast, join Mitchell Hora and Zach Johnson to talk about how their family decided to embrace regenerative agriculture. Featuring: pastured poultry, diversifying your business, how to change an old school farmer’s mind, and a really bad chicken joke.

Like much of the world, agriculture is facing a lot of uncertainty and change from COVID-19. In this bonus episode, Field Work host Mitchell Hora hops on the mic in his home studio to talk to AgriTalk host Chip Flory about the biggest challenges and solutions facing farmers right now. The two talk about the pork, dairy, and ethanol industries and the role sustainable agriculture could play as farmers assess how to diversify their crops and boost their bottom lines.

The word “organic” is familiar to a lot of consumers -- in the last decade we’ve seen a rise in organic foods in our grocery stores and markets. And there’s a whole raft of standards, developed by federal regulators, that farmers have to meet in order to certify as organic. That kind of check list does not exist for food grown according to “regenerative” principles, which are gaining traction in conservation circles. Field Work hosts Mitchell Hora and Zach Johnson talk to Eric Jackson from Pipeline Foods and Sara Harper from Grounded Growth about the differences, markets and challenges of regenerative and organic practices.

Growing hemp was illegal in the U.S. for decades. But recent changes in federal law have opened the door to growing the crop. So as farmers across the country begin to experiment with hemp, hosts Zach Johnson and Mitchell Hora decide to learn more about commercial hemp production. In October, Mitchell visited Scott Thellman at Juniper Hill Farms in Kansas to hear about his first stab at growing industrial hemp. They talk sourcing seeds, keeping hemp under legal THC limits, harvesting with chainsaws, and much more.

Tim Hammerich is the founder of AgGrad, an agribusiness recruiting company, and the host of the Future of Agriculture podcast. He joins Zach Johnson and Mitchell Hora to talk about the latest innovations in farming, the changing skill sets agriculture demands, and the essential role of data management in sustainable ag. They also discuss the reasons why it’s so hard to recruit young people into ag and why more farmers should think of themselves as CEOs.