SERVICES
Michael Fields Agricultural Institute- East Troy, WI
Advocacy
Conservation Stewardship Program Field Days,
Katie Wied, Policy Organizer, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, takes us on-farm to discuss governmental “green payments” in the Conservation Stewardship Program. “Why I love going to farms to talk about CSP: Create a sense of community; Help bridge the gap between policy and on the ground work; Show respect and give praise to the farmers for their hard work and conservation practices; Educate farmers and give them the tools to empower themselves through grants and other available resources.”
Convening
Farm to School
Michael Fields hosted a Farm-to-School interest meeting in East Troy, May, 2009. Various food service directors, teachers and farmers from across Southeast Wisconsin came to discuss the opportunities and challenges of serving fresh produce from local farms in the state. Sara Tedeschi, the Midwest Regional Farm-to-School director, was in attendance and provided the group with valuable advice and numerous resources. (Click for more information about the National Farm-to-School Program). The meeting served as the perfect forum for area farmers to connect face-to-face with the food service directors, a connection that is extremely important in a successful Farm-to-School program.
The AmeriCorps Farm-to-School program was also discussed as the perfect opportunity to obtain the appropriate assistance in implementing the educational and procurement aspects of Farm-to-School. Currently MFAI is applying to get 2 AmeriCorps volunteers to assist at their Teutonia Urban Garden (TUG) project in Milwaukee (Read more about TUG) and would like to assist area schools with potential AmeriCorps volunteer programs. For more information please contact Katie Wied
katiew@michaelfieldsaginst.org
, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute.
Education
Farm & Food Education features the New Farmer Foundation Year and Whole Farm Workshops bringing the benefits of sustainable agriculture to beginning farmers, advanced growers and consumers. Stella Gardens is the certified organic outdoor classroom where participants receive hands-on training and agricultural experience with a community purpose. The goal of the program is to teach practical skills for garden, farm and horticultural vocations.
Enterprise Development
Jodie Janovec, Piper Road Gardens Flower CSA
Jodie Janovec is a flower farmer incubating her enterprise, Piper Road Gardens Flower CSA, at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, sharing garden space in Stella Gardens with the New Farmer Foundation Year students. Read about Jodie.
Tim Huth, LotFotL Community Farm
2009 marks year three of LotFotL Community Farm. We grow on certified organic land in East Troy, WI, at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute. We are an incubator farm; we rent land and infrastructure from Michael Fields on the cheap with the promise not only that we will demonstrate care and consideration, but also that we will do what we do excellently. So far, so good!
Research
Corn is a major crop for organic farmers as well as conventional farmers. Corn breeding has become dominated by a few mega-companies and less and less is done by public entities. This is because there is little or no funding for public breeding; in fact, in many cases public breeders are in danger of becoming anachronisms.
In the face of that, with support from an appropriation, we (USDA-ARS, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, and Practical Farmers of Iowa) are running a public corn breeding and farmer outreach program for sustainable agriculture in the Midwest. Our strategy is new because we involve farmers, Universities, small seed companies, and the organic livestock industry. Our goal is to breed high-yielding corn hybrids with enhanced nutritional value. In particular we are increasing the content of the amino acids lysine and methionine in the grain of many of our corn cultivars.Urban Agriculture
Elaine’s Project
Inspired by Dr. Elaine Kohler’s passionate dedication to improving the health of inner city children. Elaine’s Project will address the damaging and often deadly health effects that inner city economic, environmental and social conditions have on its resident children and their families, particularly through increased health services and educational programs emphasizing lifestyle, nutrition and access to healthy foods. The goal of Elaine’s Project is to create a replicable Project-Based Learning program for healthier lifestyles and living environments toward improving student and family health, building awareness and capacity with an emphasis on generational sustainability.
Teutonia Urban Garden
Michael Fields Agricultural Institute installed and stewards the maintenance of Teutonia Urban Garden (TUG-ALL) providing an Environmental-Based site for hands-on health and sciences fieldwork and the physical and mental benefits of outdoor activity for the Academy of Learning and Leadership student body during the school year and in summer in partnership with the LaVarnway Boys and Girls Club to which the Academy is attached. The Garden Educator will provide ecological education to students in their classrooms, on-site at TUG and through ‘mirrored learning’ on sustainable, rural farms as well as facilitate ALL teachers in garden-curriculum integration.
Whole Farm Planning
Quinney Farm-The Challenge:
The majority of the farmland in Southern Wisconsin is still owned in relatively smallholdings of 160 to 250 acres. Much of this land however, is no longer farmed as integrated landscapes but rented to neighbors, put in government conservation reserve programs, or left unmanaged. However, the recent and rapidly growing demand for differentiated agricultural products (natural, grass fed, organic, locally grown) has made it more likely that smaller, market savvy operations will develop that could re-integrate these farms, creating a more vibrant farming sector. Also, as an integrated, working landscape, it is more likely that good farm planning focusing on water management, biodiversity management, wild life habitat and aesthetics would be successful and eligible for government programs. The overall challenge to our team is “Can we take a 160 acre former dairy farm and develop a management system that will re-articulate the farm into a working landscape and meet the two goals of generating enough income to partially sustain a family, as well as meeting a higher standard of land stewardship”. This project will contribute to the long-term outcome of increasing farm numbers, increasing farm profitability and improving land stewardship in the Upper Mid-west.WICST 10th Technical Report
Reintegrating A Former Dairy Farm As A New Agricultural Enterprise: The Quinney Farm
http://wicst.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/quinney-report-figs.pdf
Michael Fields Agricultural Institute is a public, non-profit institute for education and research in sustainable agriculture, which admits students of any race, color and national or ethnic origin.
