Armored Soil

Join us while we celebrate 70 years of conservation in Renville County! In this episode we talk with the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Renville County SWCD, and our County Commissioner liaison to the SWCD. To celebrate our anniversary, we reminisce on past events, uncover why our representatives felt called to serve, and most importantly – celebrate you! The landowners and operators of Renvill...

Join Renville SWCD district administrator, Holly Hatlewick, as she chats with farmer and seed dealer, TJ Kartes, about his experience with soil health practices personally and professionally. In this episode TJ will discuss: Diversifying cover crops and cash crops Keep it simple – each cover needs a purpose Cereal cover crops before cereal cash crops Keeping your purpose in mind when planting cove...

Join District Manager, Holly Hatlewick, as she talks with Phil and Robin Smith about their journey from a conventional farming system to a regenerative farming system in their 45 years of operating the farm! Discover how overtime Phil and Robin have added in soil health practices since 1992 as they have made agronomic and economic sense on their land. Phil and Robin will discuss: - Unconventional...

Join Pamela Winzenburg as she chats with Grant and Dawn Breitkreutz of Stony Creek Farms. The Breitkreutzes have transitioned from a conventional row crop and livestock operation to a regenerative agriculture system over the last 20 years. In this episode you will hear about: • Their current row crop and cattle operation • Finding a mentor at the beginning of their regenerative agriculture journey...

Join Kyle, Brad, and Naomi Freyholtz as they talk in depth about how they have introduced livestock and many other soil health principles into their row crops and garden. In this episode you will hear them discuss: • Current row crop practices & how they translated that to their garden • Hogo-culture gardening • Livestock & small grain opportunities • Earthworm impacts & residue • Cove...

Join Kyle as he talks with Joe Ailts, an independent agronomist from Northwest Wisconsin, with a passion for soil health. Kyle and Joe will discuss: Changes in soybean's relative maturity to implement more cover crops Biological activity and brassica cover crop interactions Equipment changes New markets & expanding crop rotations Nitrogen credits in cover crop biomass Harvesting sunlight Incre...

Join Holly Hatlewick as she talks with local grower Macius Schreoder about our third principal of soil health: diversity. Macius isn't afraid of any challenges when it comes to trying something new on his operation, especially when it comes to diversifying his cover crop mixes. Throughout the episode he will talk about: His 19 species mix cover crop planted this year His crop rotation Improved wat...

Join us as we take a pause on the Soil Health Principles and gain a better understanding of the soil biology for your fields, garden, or even your flower beds. In this episode Kyle, Holly, and Pamela will discuss What is soil biology? Similar ideas of body biology and soil biology Reliance on synthetic vs. building up a natural system Mindset change from conventional to regenerative Rainfall infil...

Local grower, Erik Dean, talks about his journey from conventional farming to soil health focused farming in South Central MN. Erik has figured out how to utilize cover crop biomass and leaving crop residue on the surface to increase his soil armor. Erik will discuss: Conventional till to vertical till to strip till to no till and cover crops Diversified crop rotation Residue management Fertilizer...

Today we will meet Heidi from the Hawk Creek Watershed project and our first grower, Dean Dambroten. Dean is the 'financial manager' of the family farm in Western Renville County and is the 4th generation to farm the land. Dean will discuss the operation's: Reduced inputs with switching to strip-till from conventional tillage Fertilizer management Interseeding in young corn and dormant seeding aft...

Welcome to the Renville County Soil and Water Conservation District’s premiere episode of Armored Soil! This is the first of four episodes that we will be releasing in Spring of 2024, with hopes to release the rest of this series this summer and fall. In this episode we will   meet the SWCD team and our passion for conservation learn what the SWCD is and how it can help landowners and operators di...

In season one of Armored Soil, we will introduce you to who the Renville County SWCD is and some of our partners, but most importantly we'll talk soil health. This season will focus on the basics-the sixth principles of a healthy soil and talk with real area farmers who have implemented these practices in their operation. Stay tuned for our first drop coming early spring! By commenting/posting...