Please come support a great event celebrating a big milestone and learn how nature and farming can work in harmony. Registration is free! Join SILT for the 40th Annual Loess Hills Prairie Seminar: Presentation1_439C6C0DBCED2 "Fascinations of the Loess Hills: Celebrating Forty Years of Nature in Western Iowa" June 3 (evening) to June 5 (noon) West Monona High School – 1314 15th Street, Onawa These seminars were founded to foster recognition, appreciation and the educational use of those natural wonders found within eyesight in our communities. Suzan Erem, SILT founder and president will be giving a talk on what nature-friendly farming and [...]

According to the Center for American Progress, training and providing land for young farmers to produce food sustainably is a best practice for creating a sustainable and equitable food system. The Center also calls for land use or zoning ordinances that can  “allow healthy food to be grown and sold in communities, allocate public space for community food-growing initiatives such as community gardens, and permit farmers markets in more locations.” SILT's mission is to protect our farms to grow healthy food forever. Learn SILT does this using best practices: https://silt.org/solution/plan-so-far/ https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/report/2016/05/12/137306/best-practices-for-creating-a-sustainable-and-equitable-food-system-in-the-united-states/

"America’s organic industry is booming, creating important opportunities for farmers and ranchers and adding to the vibrancy of rural America." wrote U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The government is increasingly investing in organic agriculture through research, grants and loans. Read more here: https://www.morningagclips.com/vilsack-on-organic-trade-assn-report/?utm_content=articles&utm_campaign=NLCampaign&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_term=newsletteredition&utm_medium=email More needs to be done, particularly around land access for beginning and aspiring farmers who want to grow healthy food. SILT  seeks land and easement donations from Iowa landowners dedicated to protecting land to grow healthy food and provide opportunity to our next generation of farmers.

We know that poor land management and the conversion of native ecosystems to agriculture can lead to release greenhouse gases. Two papers recently showed that improving agricultural management can substantially reduce these emissions and in some cases sequester carbon from the atmosphere in the soil: The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and Breakthrough Strategies and Solutions, LLC, jointly published a paper that explores how soil carbon is sequestered, the state of soil carbon research, and the debate on its potential. The journal Nature published a review that was all about the role of soils in addressing climate change SILT supports [...]