How Crooked Porch Farm Built a Thriving Year-Round Vegetable Farm with High Tunnels and Soil Health Practices

Learn how Crooked Porch Farm in Virginia uses high tunnels, soil health practices, EQIP funding, and farm grants to grow vegetables year-round while building a sustainable family farming business.

How a Backyard Garden Sparked a Career in Soil Health and Conservation

Discover how a childhood garden inspired a career in soil health, regenerative agriculture, and conservation. Learn how biochar, composting, and land stewardship can help farmers build healthier soils and more resilient agricultural systems.

To Thrive, Farmers Need Conservation To Improve Their Bottom Line

Discover how regenerative soil health practices can improve farm profitability, resilience, and long-term sustainability while strengthening rural communities and food systems. Learn about the latest economic tools, research, and resources helping farmers make informed conservation decisions that support both their bottom line and the future of agriculture.

Brewing Conversations: Coffee Chats Bring Illinois Farmers Together

This winter, I hosted a series of informal “virtual coffee chats” with farmers across Illinois. These conversations started with a simple goal: to provide ongoing agronomic support to farmers participating in ADM’s re:generations™ program in Illinois. Through its partnership with ADM, American Farmland Trust works directly with producers to offer agronomic advice and support as they adopt and expand their use cover crops, reduced tillage, and other soil health practices.

Cover Cropping in the High Desert: An Oregon Learning Circle at Sungrounded Farm

Farmers and farm workers gathered to discuss cover cropping strategies at Sungrounded Farm in the high desert of Terrebonne, Oregon, this past March.

Fourteen Farms in Two States: What We Learned in Year One of New England Biochar Trials

Biochar — a carbon-rich material made by heating organic matter in a low-oxygen environment — has emerged as a potential tool for building soil organic matter, improving water retention, and storing carbon long-term. But for many farmers, biochar still feels more like a research concept than a practical option.

In My Garden: A Q&A with AFT’s Caro Roszell

Caro is AFT New England’s Soil Health Program Manager, where she organizes farmer networks, provides technical support, and conducts research on agricultural practices and soil health. From perennial gardens to peer learning spaces, her work is rooted in connection — to land, farmers, and community. Read on to learn what she’s planting this spring and the farm lessons that continue to shape her work.

Grazing Between the Panels: How Sheep Are Expanding What’s Possible for Solar and Agriculture in Massachusetts

Solar grazing is reshaping how energy and agriculture share the land — with benefits for farmers, soils, and solar developers alike.

Grit, Grace, and Growth: New Video Celebrating Women and Nonbinary Farmers in Massachusetts

American Farmland Trust (AFT) has launched a new video spotlighting women and nonbinary farmers across Massachusetts who are leading the way in regenerative agriculture and soil health.

Farming with the Seasons: On-Farm Soil Health Videos with Randy and Jayden Salisbury

American Farmland Trust (AFT) and Cargill partnered to create educational videos for corn and soybean farmers interested in adopting soil health practices, including cover crops, reduced tillage, and nutrient management. Both AFT and Cargill recognize that a major barrier to the adoption of soil health is knowledge of technical details, like cover crop species selection or termination options, and understanding the potential costs and benefits for their operation.

From Family Roots to Farmer Networks: Growing Soil Health in Illinois

Since starting with American Farmland Trust in June, I have worked with farmers across the state of Illinois through our Farmer-Led Advances in Soil Health (FLASH) program. Attending the FLASH group meetings, I’ve met many passionate conservationists dedicated to protecting farmland for future generations, a sentiment very personal and important to me. I grew up in Ramsey, a small town in south-central Illinois. My family has been farming in the area since around the 1850s; my great-grandmother grew up on the same farm as I did. My dad still farms the land, maintaining an operation of corn, soybeans, and beef cattle.

Getting Our Hands in the Dirt: Celebrating Five Years of Soil Health Stewards

Five years ago, American Farmland Trust launched the Soil Health Stewards program with an ambitious idea: if we could train the people protecting farmland to also champion healthy soils, the benefits would ripple far beyond property lines.

Moving Agrivoltaics Forward in the Midwest

AFT Celebrates Five Years of Soil Health Stewards Program

AFT recently released a Soil Health Toolkit on the Farmland Information Center website.

Farmer-Led Innovations in Tillage Reduction: New England Organic Farmers Lead the Way

Organic farmers across New England are rethinking tillage. Through American Farmland Trust’s Farmer Led Innovations project, seven farms are testing new ways to build soil health, save time, and learn from each other’s successes and failures.

Emerging Leaders: Midwest Professionals Sharpen Their Skills and Take Their Learnings West

In August, AFT’s Midwest team program staff completed the Soil & Water Conservation Society’s Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) and attended the 80th Soil and Water Conservation Society’s Annual Conference in Costa Mesa, California. Midwest staff Rachel Lechuga, Floreal Crubaugh, and Marlee Giacometti are AFT’s most recent graduates of the second class of the Emerging Leaders Program (fun fact: Helen VanBeck, our Midwest Program Manager) graduated from the first-ever program. Here’s a look back at what the program meant to them and the snapshots that capture their achievements.

Listening First: What Farmers Taught Me About Conservation Programs That Work

How Bardwell Farm is Experimenting with Tillage to Adapt and Advance Soil Health

At Bardwell Farm, farmer Harrison Bardwell is blending innovation with tradition to tackle soil health and disease pressure—proving there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to resilient farming.

Soil Stewardship at Astarte Farm

At Astarte Farm, leaf mulch is proving to be a powerful tool for building soil health—offering a plastic-free, low-cost solution for weed suppression and resilience.

From the Taj Mahal to Midwest Soil: Global Agricultural Lessons from Dubai and India

Can you name one of the Seven Wonders of the World? It’s a bit of a trick question, because it turns out there are multiple different lists. It makes sense … why limit the wonders to just seven?

From Soil to Stream: How Regenerative Grazing Supports Texas Watersheds

Regenerative grazing practices in Texas enhance watershed health by rotating livestock across pastures, these methods improve soil structure, increase water infiltration, and reduce runoff, leading to cleaner waterways and more resilient ecosystems.

How Healthy Food Starts with Healthy Soil

AFT's Bonnie McGill is excited about this nutrient-density movement and how it connects to all the great work we’re already doing with farmers across the country to build soil health and further, healthy food.

Honoring & Empowering Farm Identities at Women in Agriculture Gatherings in Illinois

During this past Women’s History Month, AFT collaborated with local partners in Northern Illinois to host events focused on farmland succession planning, sharing resources to empower women farmers and landowners to guide their land or family farm transition to the next generation.

Meeting Farmers in the Field: Scouting for the Kentucky Rye Project

I recently spent time traveling and visiting Kentucky farmers growing rye as part of AFT's Kentucky Rye Cereal Crop Initiative.