Wildly Successful Farming: Public Policy and the New Agricultural Land Ethic

January 30, 2020
UW Eau Claire Barron County, Ritzinger Hall

Brian DeVore spoke on farmers in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and across the Midwest who are balancing profitability and food production with environmental sustainability and a passion for all things wild. These farmers are using innovative cropping and livestock production techniques and strategies to develop their “wildly” successful farms as working ecosystems and are adhering to the principles of the “land ethic,” which Aldo Leopold discussed in the 1949 book, A Sand County Almanac. Discussion also turned to the role public policy can play in promoting and supporting the kind of regenerative agriculture that produces numerous environmental and economic benefits in local communities.