Farming for Longevity

Kathy Kaesebier and her husband, Rick, started helping her father farm their family’s Illinois farm in 1980.

They were implementing no-till on all 700 acres of the farm when they decided to attend an AFT Advanced Soil Health Training. While there, Kathy learned about AFT’s Women for the Land learning circles.

The soil health training and the learning circles have inspired the Kaesebiers to make changes on their farmland. Since the workshops, they have increased their cover crop conservation practice to about two-thirds of the land.

Kathy says she has benefited from the “unique experience” of the learning circles and the Advanced Soil Health Training program. They both gave her “courage to seek out more women in the farming community and to continue talking with professionals on implementing best conservation practices for soil health,” she says.