In April, the Institute was awarded a USDA Sustainable Agricultural Research and Education (SARE) Partnership Program grant to evaluate the economics of cover crop use in no-till grain production. The project entitled “Do Cover Crops Pay? Expanding Learning Circle for Peer to Peer Cover Crop Promotion Using Economics as a Theme” will couple research and […]

Dr. Jim Stute, Research Director at Michael Fields Agriculture Institute, talks about rye as a cover crop with Wisconsin Agriculturalist. Read the article  

                    The project entitled Farmland Conservation through Land and Water Protection has been nominated in 3 categories: Most Environmentally Friendly Project, Best Public/Private Partnership, and Most Creative Deal of the Year. The award focuses on the best real estate deals and projects that were completed in 2016 within Milwaukee, Kenosha, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth, Washington […]

The Wisconsin Cover Crop workgroup has launched a new website designed to be a clearinghouse for cover crop information in Wisconsin. We are a multi-agency group that conducts research and provides unbiased information to help farmers use cover crops to improve their production systems and minimize soil loss. Jim Stute, Research Director at the Institute […]

  A recently completed study entitled “Economic analysis of cover crops: impact of interseeding red clover in wheat on corn production economics” evaluated the costs, returns and risk of this cover cropping practice and found that in addition to conservation benefits, it can significantly improve the bottom line. It used published data from side-by-side mid-western […]

Tuesday August 30, 9 am to 4 pm, Lancaster WI Starts and ends at the Grant County UW-Extension Office: Youth & Agriculture Center 916 E Elm Street, Suite A Lancaster, WI 53813-0031 The theme of this year’s conference is “Coupling soil quality and economics” featuring a bus tour of cover crop research at the UW […]

The Institute will be holding a cover crop field day on Thursday, September 8th from 1 to 4 pm, beginning at our research farm, W2857 County ES, East Troy. The field day will feature our latest research work in both organic and conventional systems with topics including Sunn hemp cultural trials, no-till cover crop sequences, […]

The University of Wisconsin- Extension recently compiled county-level cover crop acreage from the 2012 USDA Census of Agriculture and produced this Map. It clearly shows that Wisconsin is a leader in cover crop adoption!    

The Wisconsin Farm Technology Days is the largest agricultural show in Wisconsin and one of the largest in the nation. The three-day outdoor event showcases the latest improvements in production agriculture, including many practical applications of recent research findings and technological developments. Each year, it is held in a different Wisconsin county – on a […]

Tuesday, August 30, 2016 in Lancaster, Wisconsin. The one-day conference whose theme is “Coupling soil health and economics” will feature a bus tour highlighting the operations of several local cover crop uses, both dairy/ livestock and cash grain as well as cover crop research at the Lancaster Research Station. Special emphasis will be placed on […]

Walk onto the Michael Fields Agriculture Institute’s recent land purchase, you will see 200-plus acres of farmland that is vital to the surrounding ecosystem. Land, and how it is cared for, is integral to overall environmental health. The Institute and its partners will be contributing to the protection of Wisconsin’s natural resources by tending the […]

MFAI has long recognized the value of cover crops, which help keep farms resilient and profitable through periods of extreme weather and protect soil and water quality. For over 20 years, we have collaborated on cover crops research and outreach, and we know how important it is to understand how cover crops actually work on […]