When Jesse Starks joined his dad on their Owatonna farm, he changed some of the farming practices considered the norm in southeastern Minnesota – things like conventional tillage, disc ripping and field cultivation.
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Soybeans are planted into a standing cover crop of cereal rye on the Jesse Starks farm near Owatonna, Minn.
Submitted photo by Jesse Starks
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SDSU Extension Agronomist Anthony Bly talks about the Every Acre Counts program at the South Dakota Grasslands Summit in Oacoma March 18, 2024.
Tri-State Neighbor photo by Janelle Atyeo
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The Poet ethanol plant near Chancellor, S.D., is seen from the air Feb. 28. Poet is paying extra to farmers who provide low-carbon-intensity corn through the Gradable program.
Tri-State Neighbor photo by Janelle Atyeo
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Jesse Starks holds a cereal rye plant from his field near Owatonna, Minn. Growing the cover crop, as well as reduced tillage build carbon in his soil, a practice he’s rewarded for through a program that sells carbon credits.
Submitted photo by Jesse Starks
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Janelle Atyeo is a small town South Dakota girl enjoying her work as regional editor of the Midwest Messenger and Tri-State Neighbor while raising kids and no-till vegetables in central Sioux Falls. Reach her at janelle.atyeo@lee.net .
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