Nearly 80 farmers, agricultural professionals, food system advocates and community members gathered at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute’s New Farm on August 5, for the Institute’s Annual Alternative Crops Field Day. The event marked the organization’s first field day at the East Troy property and gave attendees an opportunity to explore research on alternative crops, soil health, conservation practices, and agricultural policy.
“The field day was a fantastic kickoff for our research program at the New Farm on Pickeral Lake Road in East Troy. Farmers, eaters, and ag support professionals were introduced to what buckwheat and millet look like growing in a Midwestern field. Then they got to taste it in their lunch,” says Dr. Nicole Tautges, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute (MFAI) Research Director, who supervises the crop trials. “The work is still early in terms of whole production system recommendations for these crops, but our trials demonstrate much potential to improve crop rotations and our food system.”
MFAI manages the production fields and research plots at the 200-acre New Farm in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy. Located in Wisconsin’s Southern Kettle Moraine near The Nature Conservancy’s Pickerel Lake Fen Preserve, the property provides a unique setting for MFAI to study how farmland can stay productive while supporting healthy soils, clean water, and wildlife habitat.
Field Day
Throughout the day, guests traveled across the farm to visit research plots featuring proso millet, buckwheat, mung beans, Kernza perennial grain, cover crops, prairie strips, and agroforestry plantings. MFAI researchers and farm partners shared practical information about how these crops and conservation practices perform under Wisconsin conditions, where they may fit into Midwestern farming systems, and how they can give farmers more options in their rotations and new opportunities in the marketplace.
The field day also highlighted MFAI’s education and policy work. Staff members Christine Johnson and Dr. Mrill Ingram led an interactive station focused on soil health education and farmer outreach, while MFAI Policy Fellow Dr. Success Okafor shared findings from the Institute’s new paper, Processing Deserts and the Missing Middle: Mapping Meat-Processing Infrastructure Gaps Across Wisconsin’s Pasture Landscape. The study maps Wisconsin’s inspected red-meat slaughter facilities against the state’s pasture landscape. Okafor’s report identifies areas where limited processing infrastructure may create barriers for livestock farmers trying to reach local and regional markets.
Food was also an important part of the day. After seeing alternative crops growing in the field, attendees had the opportunity to taste many of those same crops at lunch. MFAI staff prepared a menu featuring South Indian millet cakes and dosai, French-style buckwheat crepes, South Indian chutneys, Kernza crackers with local cheese and honey, buckwheat soba noodles and a salad topped with sprouted mung beans
Members of the public will have another chance to visit the MFAI New Farm on October 17 for Fall Fest on the Prairie. This family-friendly event will feature food, vendors, bonfires, children’s activities and tour of the research fields.
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