Posts (archive)

Herdsperson, Northwood Farm
Alumni, 2008
Public Policy Internship Program

“The impact of those encounters illuminated my yearning to become a grass-based dairy farmer.”

Rural Policy Organizer
Alumni, 2004

“…health care reform, Farm Bill implementation, and small business policy.”

Funding by USDA-ARS and by USDA-NIFA-OREI is accelerating our work in the development of high methionine and nitrogen efficient corn.

Still time to sign up for CSP!
There’s still time to sign up for this NRCS green payments program that rewards farmers for conservation practices. […]

Deadline – Dec 20th
The Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) is embarking on an exciting new mentoring program that links a new farmer with an experienced organic farmer in the same type of farming. […]

Welcome Erika and Sara!

We are pleased to welcome our new policy interns, Erika Jones and Sarah Buzogany! […]

Michael Fields Agricultural Institute has been in the business of building community by encouraging environmentally sound, profitable, socially responsible agriculture […]

Our policy program empowers citizens to use democratic processes to direct government resources to support sustainable agriculture’s many objectives.

Taken as a whole, these and other policies help move the nation’s agriculture toward a more environmentally, economically and socially sustainable future.

Biodynamic agriculture is a way of living, working and relating to nature and the vocations of agriculture based on good common-sense practices, a consciousness of the uniqueness of each landscape, and the inner development of each and every practitioner. […]

No single policy is designed to address all aspects of sustainable agriculture, and many serve farmers who would not characterize themselves as sustainable agriculture adherents as well as those who would.  But taken as a whole, policies help move the nation’s agriculture toward a more environmentally, economically and socially sustainable future. Our policy program empowers […]

Take Action to Support Sustainable Agriculture!
We want sustainable agriculture supporters to recognize their tremendous power. Here’s what you can do…

While it seems like a straightforward concept, Farm to School programs are more diverse than you might think. Schools across the country have used Farm to School programs to: Provide local fruits, vegetables, dairy, and meats in school lunches Offer local food snacks during the school day Plant a school garden Bring farmers into the […]

The average age of farmers is increasing, and 70 percent of farmland is expected to change hands in the next 20 years. While a growing number of young people and new immigrants want to enter into farming, they face challenges such as the cost of farmland, a critical shortage of training, and lack of financing. […]

Our policy staff works hard to ensure that graziers have access to the resources they need to be successful.

For too long, communities across Wisconsin have seen the decline in our state’s agricultural economy. Farmers vulnerable to commodity markets’ ups and downs have lost their land, businesses that support them closed, and rural communities have waned. But there are many bright spots, where agricultural entrepreneurs are not only making a living, but growing local […]

MFAI is committed to helping farmers implement conservation practices in ways that help their bottom line while protecting natural resources.

The WICST project is a collaborative research and extension effort to compare the productivity, profitability and environmental impact of agricultural production systems in Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest. The trials compare six different cropping systems (three cash grain and three forage based crops) ranging from diverse, organic systems to less diverse conventional systems. The trials […]

A successful agricultural enterprise requires a lot of expertise, from business planning and financing to distribution to marketing. Quietly and with very limited resources, the Agricultural Innovation Center has been providing that expertise to agricultural entrepreneurs and creating successful new businesses across Wisconsin. The  Agricultural Innovation Center was established in 2005 as a partnership between […]

For many years, MFAI’s Policy Program has coordinated the movement’s annual grassroots appropriations campaign, seeking to optimize funding of programs chosen as priorities by members of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC). The sustainable agriculture movement benefits from increased federal funding to its priority programs.  These programs advance the goals embedded in sustainable agriculture, such […]

It is insufficient to secure federal appropriations if the movement doesn’t use these resources optimally to advance its goals.  Michael Fields Agricultural Institute offers workshop training around the nation in grant writing and use of federal resources, covering three main topics: Designing effective projects Identifying programs suited to one’s needs Grant writing basics Workshops range […]

Policy gains of the sustainable agriculture movement offer inspiring examples of representative democracy’s power to change markets, culture and essential social structures. But only a fraction of the movement’s passionate adherents actually receive MFAI or National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) action alerts on policy initiatives, and many supporters’ contact information is outdated. In Wisconsin, MFAI’s […]

Neither Good for Farmers nor Consumers

Corn is the highest yielding, best-adapted cereal crop, and the most lucrative seed business in the country. There used to be many small companies that bred corn. However, in the last two decades there have been major consolidations as a few large companies struggle to dominate the supply of elite corn seed.

In 1988 Michael Fields Agricultural Institute began to breed, test, and produce new kinds of corn to provide an alternative to mega-business corn.  We did this in response to a request from farmers for better quality corn.  Farmers knew that gains in yield and other agronomic characteristics had come at the expense of nutritional value.  […]