Liz Haney. Russell Hedrick. Jerry Hatfield. Roy Pfaltzgraff. Lance Gunderson. David Kleinschmidt. Dan Luepkes. Sarah Martello. Talk about a cavalcade of All-Stars. With heavy hitters like those on the program, we knew this year’s Soil Regen Big Soil Health Event was once again going to be a can’t-miss event. I was lucky enough to be there for some of the action earlier this week in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

The great Jerry Hatfield kicked things off with the keynote presentation, discussing some of the “what ifs” of soil health. He challenged attendees to examine and evaluate the performance of each of their fields. Understanding what your baseline is and how you’re moving away from your baseline is the key to moving forward in the soil health journey, he says.  

“One of the most enlightening conversations that I’ve had is with a group of producers in Illinois,” Hatfield says. “I was doing a tour of the state — 5 days, 5 talks, 5 cities. I asked one group if all their fields were making money. They said, ‘We don’t know.’ Your farms are making you money, but are each of your fields — as a subset of that farm — making you money? Why aren’t we examining individual fields for their performance and their efficiency? That’s going to be a critical step as we move forward in soil health.”

Even though Hatfield is technically retired, the former director of the USDA ARS National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment is still learning something new every year. He credits that to the number of farmers who are willing to share information and compare results.

“I’m a firm believer that in a conference like this, that it’s really all about what’s working, what isn’t working and what we have questions about,” Hatfield says. “In the 5 years I’ve been retired, I’ve concluded that every day is a learning experience and that most of what I knew before, I’ve had to reshape in the last 5 years because things aren’t always like they seem. If we’re going to move forward, we’re going to have to figure out how to share those experiences more effectively.”  

Haxtun, Colo., no-tiller Roy Pfaltzgraff embodies that philosophy. He revealed key data and lessons learned from his dryland no-till system and also highlighted “Seeding Circles” — an online community he’s building for farmers to connect and share soil health ideas, experiments and innovations.

“It’s a culmination of everything we’ve done on our farm from when I took over 7 years ago,” Pfaltzgraff says. “I went through the evolution of learning soil health, what worked for me and how I can actually increase my profitability. We were raising crops that were more nutrient dense and better quality. I wanted to realize that quality and be able to monetize the extra effort that I was putting in. We started finding specialty markets and milling our own grains. A lot of farmers want to know how to do it. They want to raise different crops, but they don’t know how to find a market. As farmers, we sometimes feel like we’re competing against the neighbor across the road, but if we talk to someone 500 miles away, there isn’t that competition or risk of being judged. Seeding Circles allows like-minded farmers to come together and help each other.”

David Kleinschmidt helped attendees understand how to get more bang for their buck with cover crops. He says it’s crucial to consider the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio when selecting a species to plant (see video below for a great analogy to illustrate his point). He also explained why he’s considering pairing strip-till with cover crops on his farm. 

“I think we can increase our nutrient use efficiency with strip-till while maintaining good soil armor,” Kleinschmidt says. “We’re basically checking all those soil health boxes, and we’re minimizing disturbance. There’s nothing in the soil health principles that says eliminate disturbance, it’s about minimizing disturbance.”  

Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for the entire 3-day conference, as I had to book it back to Lessiter Media headquarters to take care of some business in the office. But I was able to catch the inspirational Leopold Conservation Award presentation before I left. Charles City, Iowa, no-tiller Wendy Mariko Johnson was honored as the 2024 Iowa recipient of the prestigious award. Wendy no-tills 1,000 acres of corn, soybeans and small grains. She also established prairie strips, grows cover crops and hosts 60-inch corn research trials. 

“When I came back to start farming in 2010 (after a career in California’s fashion industry), I knew it was going to be a fight against consolidation,” Mariko Johnson says. “I pushed back on the notion that I must get bigger to stay in the business of farming today. How I’m pushing back is through conservation. 

“Taking care of land is incredibly fulfilling and meaningful. It’s a constant celebration of life. Land has a voice. All we have to do as farmers is to be able to listen to it and it guides our way.”

Click here to read more about Wendy’s operation.

The knowledge picked up at conferences like the Big Soil Health Event is priceless, especially for a rookie like me who’s relatively new to the world of conservation ag. Let’s keep learning and networking next month at the 2025 National No-Tillage Conference in Louisville, Ky. I hope to see you there!