For any “old-school” farmer who passes Medicine Creek Farm, the winter fields with cattle and sheep look “messy,” with “lots of wasted feed,” said farmer Hannah Bernhardt. She knows, however, that such bale grazing reaps future benefits, both in soil health and in her bottom line.

“I have not fertilized anything with synthetic fertilizer, or even applied manure, other than what the animals are putting out there,” she said. During Minnesota’s four-year drought, Bernhardt’s bale-grazed fields stayed green, while other farmers were buying hay. 

Bernhardt farms in Pine County, Minnesota, a sweet spot in the middle of everywhere. Not far off I-35, the farm is halfway between the Twin Cities and Duluth, close enough to commute to the metro’s edge. There’s cabin and lake tourism, but it’s not a singular economic driver as it is in communities farther north. The geography and diverse economy are a recipe for growth. In 2023 Pine County had the highest increase in population percentage of any county in the state this millennium. 

Farmland is cheaper than it is in the rich corn and soybean fields of southern Minnesota where Bernhardt grew up. While yields are also lower on this sub-optimal ground, farmers feel less pressured to out-perform their neighbors and more willing to explore conservation and diversification.

As Bernhardt and her family put down roots in Pine County, she has used USDA conservation funding to develop a farm that improves water quality and soil health for her community. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) through the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) helped pay for water lines and fencing to establish rotational grazing on the 160-acre farm.

Now, she’s utilizing the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) to develop multiple conservation practices at Medicine Creek Farm. Her CSP payment will be higher because she rotates her animals to new pastures daily instead of the minimum rotational grazing requirement of once every five days.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) made available an additional $3.25 million nationwide for CSP over a five-year period. In 2023, minimum payments increased from $1,500 to $4,000 annually. “I do still feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of it, because it is going to be a lot of work, but the compensation makes it worth it,” Bernhardt said.

She’ll be planting 1,300 trees that will provide wildlife habitat and provide shade for livestock. She’s creating a pollinator planting, and planting fruiting trees. Another enhancement will interseed pastures with flowering forbs and legumes to increase plant diversity and forage quality.

She has already interseeded some of the former hayfields with red clover to boost the “tired” plant stand. “What the CSP contract will do is afford a really diverse mix of things I wouldn’t feel like I could invest in for my entire farm,” she said.

Bernhardt would like to see more NRCS staff resources, more flexibility for innovative practices and funding at a level that doesn’t restrict the number of farmers who can participate, similar to the way crop insurance applications are automatically funded.

“These are the practices that are providing the biggest public benefit,” Bernhardt said. “My practices are keeping the water and air cleaner. My soil is healthy, so the manure is breaking down quickly. It’s not running off into my water, and it’s not causing smells for my neighbors. There should be funding for these programs in the Farm Bill, with enough money for anyone to have access to it.”

Before becoming a diversified farmer, Bernhardt worked in politics and government advocacy, both in St. Paul and Washington, D.C. Working part-time with the National Young Farmers Coalition introduced her to organic farmers who were direct marketing their meat and vegetables to consumers, but she worried about the scalability of these models to farming in the Midwest.

“I dabbled for a while,” Bernhardt said. She worked on rooftop vegetable farms and the last dairy processing facility in New York City, then took a yearlong apprenticeship at Kinderhook Farm in upstate New York, where she found a model she could build on.

Besides selling grassfed beef and lamb and pastured pork, Bernhardt with her husband Jason Misik operate two farmstays, give tours advertised on AirBnB Experiences, and host a farm-to-table dinner in the fall. This fall, she also got to participate in another special meal, a local community dinner featuring her own beef.

The Local Food Purchase Assistance program, jumpstarted by the American Rescue Plan Act, purchased four of Bernhardt’s beef to provide fresh, locally-grown food for those in need. Bernhardt’s beef helped feed people facing insecurity in the Twin Cities, as well as provided a community dinner in Pine County.

The meal was free to all, providing food access with dignity, including for those who face food insecurity and might hesitate to use a food pantry or apply for assistance. Such meals also bring people together to enjoy friendship and community around a shared table.

“I got to eat my own beef in meatloaf with other farmer friends who were there with us,” Bernhardt said. “There’s nothing more satisfying than that.”