Dawn and Grant Breitkreutz know about taking chances.

Converting their conventional cow-calf, row-crop farm into a regenerative agriculture showcase didn’t happen overnight nor without risk. Yet they say their farm’s survival once depended on it.

Shortly after taking over his family’s farm in 1996, crop yields were failing, and cattle health was declining. This prompted the Breitkreutzes to begin exploring a more sustainable approach to raising cattle and crops. They began to see that focusing on growing healthy soil would lead to healthy air, water, livestock, and wildlife.

However, their initial attempts at soil health practices were questioned by some friends and family.

“We were at the edge of quitting,” Dawn recalls.

“And then the ‘teachers’ began appearing in our path,” she said of a new network of peers who were making similar changes. As their circle of friends and mentors expanded around the globe, the acreage and herd size at Stoney Creek Farm grew as well.

Today they manage 1,759 acres across Redwood and Renville counties where diverse crop rotations of corn, soybeans, oats, cereal rye, and alfalfa are grown with a cover crop and no-till system. About 100 head of Red Angus cow-calf pairs are rotationally grazed on 675 acres of pasture and fields of cover crops throughout the year. About half of the pasture was converted from cropland, with the rest being remnant prairie.

The Breitkreutzes are pioneers of a prescribed and adaptive grazing system that reduces the need for cropping inputs while increasing forage production and pounds of beef raised per acre.

After splitting a pasture in half during their first year of grazing, they recorded increased grass growth and a prolonged grazing season. It convinced them to enroll in an Environmental Quality Incentives Program contract that provided financial and technical assistance to slice a 49-acre pasture into nine paddocks served by two summer water tanks.

The next year, grass production doubled again. They now leave more grass to rest for the winter than was previously grown in an entire growing season. With proper management and without reseeding, the number of native grass species found in their pastures has ballooned from three to more than 40.

“Our goal is to be the first farm in the neighborhood to be green across every acre in the spring, and stay green throughout the summer and into the fall,” Grant said.

Adding to the green are the cover crops interseeded prior to the corn and soybean harvests to provide soil a layer of protection. Their foliage prevents erosion above the ground, while their deep roots improve water infiltration beneath it. This helps protect water quality as Stoney Creek Farm sits on a bluff along the Minnesota River.

Transitioning to growing non-GMO grains eliminated or slashed their use of synthetic insecticides, fertilizers, and herbicides. A diverse seven-grain feed mix was developed for the hogs and chickens they now market direct to consumers. Populations of deer, pheasants, grouse, and bobolinks have all rebounded at Stoney Creek Farm.

“We don’t feel the need to compete with other farms. We learned that it’s okay to share information and to be an open book,” Grant said. “The new principles we abide by can work all over the world.”

The Breitkreutzes say farming is now more enjoyable and profitable, proving the risks of conservation agriculture were certainly worth the reward.