The Ashfount blog
Practical writing on regenerative agriculture, the US local food scene and farm to table: soil, grazing, markets, policy and the people doing the work.
Gene editing is not transgenic engineering, and its rules are in flux after a court threw out USDA's 2020 rule. What the research says, what the organic standard allows, who owns the seed, and how a regenerative farm reasons about it.
Camera-guided cultivators and laser weeders are working on US vegetable farms in spring 2026. What they do, what the Rutgers, Cornell and Wisconsin trials found, how the cost stacks up against hand weeding, and what a grower on ten acres can actually use.
Most US farmland is worked by someone who does not own it, and USDA's one land access program was canceled last week. How written leases, soil clauses, lease-to-own, easements and land trusts let a farmer build soil on rented ground without losing the investment.
Calves bring $505 a hundredweight and the January Cattle report shows a herd that has nearly stopped shrinking. Before you keep more heifers, line calving up with the grass: peak lactation on peak forage, a 45 to 60 day window, bulls on a calendar.
Early March is when a small town decides whether it will have a farmers market by June. Here is the organizer's list: legal structure, the site agreement, insurance, vendor rules and fees, permits, the manager's job, SNAP, grants and a first-season budget.
Kernza is a grain you plant once and harvest for years. Here is what it is, where the acres are, what it yields, how it doubles as forage, what the soil and water research shows, and whether a small farm should try it.
How EBT works at a market stall, what the free equipment program covers, how GusNIP incentives double a shopper's produce money, what the July 2025 reconciliation law changed and when, and the paperwork a vendor or market manager has to do before the season opens.
January is when a farm decides who it will sell to, and the cheapest customer is the one who already bought. How to build a list at the stand, what to send, how to segment CSA and bundle buyers, and how to measure repeat rates.
How to plan one barn that shelters equipment, keeps hay dry, houses animals and holds a wash corner: pole barn or steel, siting for drainage, flexible bays, permits, the winter 2026 price picture and the USDA storage loan that fits part of the bill.
The shelf price was never the cost of the meal. What true cost accounting counts in soil, water, health and labor, what the US estimates say, why local food looks expensive next to a subsidized bargain, and how a farm talks about price.
Every farm app collects something: field boundaries, yields, herd records, invoices. What the law says about who owns it, how the Farm Bureau principles and the Ag Data Transparent seal work, and how to keep a record system that survives any vendor.
Most farms still have no written succession plan. A practical guide to the first family meeting, fair versus equal, the entity and lease tools that make a gradual handover work, and what to do when the successor is not family.
