The benefits of grass-based systems are many, and they extend beyond farms. Meagan Farrell milking a cow in the milking parlor with her daughter at the Paris Farm in Belleville, Wisconsin.

“This grant is a major win for thousands of farmers across the state and beyond, and a major win for citizens of the Upper Midwest, who desperately need incentives, expertise, and policies that promote sustainable agriculture.” Well-managed grazed perennial grasslands do that,” says Jackson. “We’re going to need farming practices that simultaneously produce healthy food, support thriving communities, and restore ecosystem processes. According to Randy Jackson, a UW–Madison professor of agronomy who is leading the project, the grant represents an important investment in grazing. The project is based at UW–Madison and includes over 30 collaborators from research universities and producers to processors and farm organizations. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture. The Grassland 2.0 project is funded by a five-year, $10 million grant from the U.S. A multi-decade analysis by the UW–Madison Center for Dairy Profitability found that although grazing-based dairies often produce less milk per cow, the money they save by grazing ultimately increases their profitability. Consumer data suggest that while red meat and milk consumption are declining overall, both grass-fed dairy and meat sales are surging. Grassland-based farming practices represent a bright spot in an industry that is feeling the combined effects of low commodity prices, extreme weather events, rising production costs, and limited processing and marketing options. The project is bringing together stakeholders to envision and plan a future of profitable, productive farmland that also provides many of the benefits of the region’s original prairie, such as clean water, healthy soil, biodiversity and resilience to extreme weather. Well-managed grasslands can reduce soil erosion and nutrient runoff, sequester carbon, increase water retention, reduce flooding and support wildlife while providing an income source for farmers. Paris joins a network of UW–Madison researchers, state and local agency staff, milk and meat processors, citizen groups, and other farmers coming together to seek transformative solutions to the growing number of threats facing Midwest food and farming systems.

Paris is a participant in Grassland 2.0, a newly formed collaborative group based at the University of Wisconsin–Madison that is working to create more opportunities for grazing and other types of perennial grassland farming. “Grazing, financially speaking, was the best thing I’ve ever done for my business,” Paris says. After more than 30 years, he’s beginning to transition the farm he operates near Belleville, Wisconsin, to his daughter, Meagan Farrell, who is excited about moving her family home to run it.ĭespite years of terrible headlines about the dairy industry, farmers like Paris and Farrell are bullish on dairy because, despite chronically low and erratic milk prices, they’ve controlled their production costs with managed grazing. Photo by Finn Ryanīert Paris loves dairy farming. With chronically low and erratic milk prices, Bert Paris has controlled dairy production costs with managed grazing.

Grassland diarly