Megan Benage, a Regional Ecologist for the Minnesota DNR, brings her passion for the prairie to 32 counties in southern Minnesota--and to thousands of listeners on the Prairie Pod, which she hosts with fellow scientists. And today, she brings it to Dirt Rich!
Once covering a full third of the state, Minnesota’s tallgrass prairie is now 235,000 acres of remnant reference prairie. Megan shares what the day in the life of an ecologist is like, and how her work intersects with agriculture. In fact, she describes the balanced prairie ecosystem function that she works towards as incredibly relevant to the farmer: “Every regenerative agriculture model that we have is based on how a prairie is just living its life.”
There’s a lot to be learned from the prairie, especially in a changing climate. Megan distills it down to diversity, connection, and community. “When we put our natural resources first, we are putting ourselves first, because we all need the same basic things to live.”
Additional Resources:
Prairie Pod
Xerces Society
USDA NRCS
Minnesota DNR
‘Beyond Your Backyard’ archive
Katie Feterl, SFA Communications Director
Megan Benage, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Regional Ecologist
The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not necessarily reflect the goals and mission of SFA.
Dirt Rich is produced by the Sustainable Farming Association.
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71: Shifting Agriculture with Dan Kittredge
70: Building Your Dream Team and Farm with Derek Schmitz
69: Grazing Management, Drought, & the NRCS
68: Dealing with Drought Roundtable
67: What is Farm Profitability?
66: From Farm to SFA and Back
65: The Emerging Farmers Office
64: Grazing Tech - PaddockTrac
63: Business Management at Cedar Crate Farm
62: From Planting to Pack Shed at Cedar Crate Farm
61: What’s on your mind?
60: Consults & Conferences
Revisited: Wintering Cattle Roundtable
59: Enchanted Meadows - In Transition
58: Old Farm, New Visions
Revisited: AMPed for Grazing
57: Fundamentals of Adaptive Grazing
56: Get to Know Jonathan Kilpatrick
Revisited: Planting Minnesota Garlic
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