Join this community of innovative farmers who are keeping Wisconsin green and profitable!
Welcome to GrassWorks Online!
The Natural Resources Conservation Service announces there will be 2013 Conservation Stewarship Program Sign-up!
The program that rewards farmers for the conservation they
are already doing and provides the means to do even more will have a signup
this year after all! We urge farmers to go to their local NRCS office now to get signed
up.
While the Conservation Stewardship Program was accidentally left out of an earlier government spending
bill, a recent legislative fix means that the program will accept new
applicants this year. This is great news, but the snafu means that the deadline
is going to be sometime during the growing season. So farmers: apply before
planting season gets underway!
The
first step to apply is a three page application that you can get here.
The Conservation Stewardship Program has a continuous signup, so farmers can
visit their local NRCS office at any time and
begin the application, even before the deadline is announced.
We may not know the official deadline yet, but farmers have a natural deadline:
planting season! Farmers can go in and get signed up, and then can decide later
what specific practices they want to do.
Since 2009, 50 million acres nationwide have been enrolled in the Conservation
Stewardship Program. In Wisconsin, there are almost 2,000 Conservation
Stewardship Program contracts covering over 760,000 acres of cropland, pasture,
and non-industrial private forestland. Through five-year contracts, Wisconsin
farmers have protected and improved water quality, soil health, and wildlife
habitat. Every county in the state has participating farms, which cover a wide
range of types and sizes.
The NEW GrassWorks Foundation Fund was established to provide long-term support and promotion of managed grazing as an important component of agricultural production in Wisconsin and the USA. Your donation provides education and resources for grass-based farmers and supports our efforts to increase awareness of the benefits of managed grazing among farmers, policy makers and the general public. Financial contributions are fully deductible for income tax purposes. Please make your tax-deductible charitable contribution to:
Community Foundation of North Central Wisconsin
500 Third Street, Suite 310
Wausau, WI 54403
Please note on your check: GrassWorks Foundation Fund. You may also donate online:donate here
In Winter Grazing - a Better Way to Feed, three livestock producers describe how extending the grazing season has saved them time and money, while also improving the environment, and they demonstrate the methods used to achieve these savings. This 16-minute video produced by the University of South Carolina and the USDA NRCS East National Technology Support Center shows that livestock producers in any region where there are pastures can take advantage of this system. Thanks to ATTRA for this link.
Welcome to the grazing community, in which a long line of forward-thinking farmers and supporters have worked for more than twenty years to bring balance to agriculture in the U.S. by implementing grass-based farming practices.
Since the 1980’s, many smart, dedicated people have recognized that profitable, healthy farms could be created with sustainable tools like Managed Grazing. Managed grazing is a farming method that actually builds soil, keeps nutrients in place, restores clean water and provides a little habitat to share with other critters in the neighborhood. Livestock harvest the crop and spread their own nutrients back on the land, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers and fossil fuels. Animals are healthy and produce meat, milk, and eggs with superior taste and nutrition. Grazing farms provide a good living for family farmers while making rural communities stronger.
If you are a farmer, you will find a wealth of grazing information and resources on this website. Be sure to check out the new “Grazing Marketplace,” where member farmers can promote your farms and grass-fed products, post free classifieds advertisements and find grazing suppliers. Sustainable consumers will find delicious, nutritious grass-fed meat, milk and eggs and learn more about the Environmental Benefits of managed grazing.
It’s easy to show your support for sustainable agriculture! Shop locally, get to know your farmer, ask questions, support policies that encourage the responsible land stewardship, get involved and make your voice heard. Together we can restore and revitalize the countryside.To find out more about the important ideas that guide our work, read the Principles of Managed Grazing. If you would like to join GrassWorks, download the full GrassWorks Member Brochure or the one-page Membership Application. You don't need to be a producer to join!
We look forward to working with you toward a better agriculture and a better tomorrow.
Sustainably, Dave Johnson
GrassWorks Board President
GrassWorks is a 20 year-old organization formed in Wisconsin as part of the sustainable agriculture movement of the 1980’s. As member-based, producer-run 501(c)3 non-profit organization, GrassWorks works to support on-farm research, education and adoption of managed grazing. It is a voice for sustainable farming. Email us at info@grassworks.org
