November 8, 2024 • 13 mins
Farmer Jonathan Kemmerer talks with host Makayla Voris about how his experience living abroad in France impacted his approach to farming; why he raises Meishan pigs; and advice for people who want to get started with agriculture.
This Podcast is part of the MU Extension Podcast Network.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Regenerative Reflections, a podcast produced in partnership with MU Extension.
(00:11):
I'm Makayla Voris, your host from the University of Missouri's Center for Regenerative Agriculture.
Our mission is to provide farmers with the research, resources, and connections to implement
practices that improve soil health, crop yield, and livestock systems.
Today I chatted with Jonathan Kemmerer, a producer part of the FIRST Farmer Cohort of
the Climate Smart Fieldscapes Incentive Payment Program.
(00:34):
This is one of eight incentive payment programs part of the Missouri Climate Resilient Crops
and Livestock Project, or CIRCL for short.
The CIRCL project seeks to empower farmers and producers to add or maintain regenerative
practices on their operations.
Jonathan spent time living in France and brought this experience to his farming operation.
Let's hear from him now.
(00:57):
I'm currently at Jonathan's farm.
And Jonathan, so how did you get into farming at FIRST and how did you come into contact
with the Center for Regenerative Agriculture?
Well, I've grown up around agriculture all my life.
My grandpa ran a pig farm and did row crops growing up and we spent a lot of time there
when I was a kid.
I became interested in agriculture again later in life in college.
(01:21):
I lived and studied in France for a year in a pretty rural part of France and I saw all
these, you know, small family farms that were doing really traditional stuff, really high
quality stuff.
I was really interested in that and later when I was working in restaurants after college,
I went back to France to learn about wine and food, ended up working on some of those
farms and just became really interested in the difference between making really high
(01:43):
quality food versus commercial mass production sort of thing.
And the chefs back here, they were all really excited about it, really wanted someone doing
something like that in the area and that's kind of what gave me the motivation.
A friend of mine that I worked with at the winery now works for the extension there and
she's been kind of helping me with resources.
(02:03):
Currently one of our biggest projects at the Center for Regenerative Agriculture is the
Circle project and you are part of the Climate Smart Fieldscapes project.
Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
Sure.
So I'll be instituting three new practices on the farm.
So one of them is going to be planting about 350 trees or so.
(02:24):
All native trees and all are going to be fruit or mass-bearing, so it's like mulberries,
burr oaks, hazelnuts.
So not only will those sort of help retain soil, sequester carbon, they'll also feed
the pigs eventually.
The second that I'm doing is with a cornfield that I grow for the pigs to forage on.
(02:44):
There's an old technique called hogging down that was really prevalent in the late 1800s,
early 1900s.
It's doing minimum till, so instead of tilling the whole field, I'm just tilling little strips
or rows where the corn is planted and then leaving the rest there.
And then I think the third is that I'll be using cover crops in conjunction with that.
(03:05):
So once the pigs have grazed it down, I'll plant nitrogen-fixing things and just cover
crops for the soil.
When you took me on a tour of your farm, you mentioned that obviously the pigs are your
main source of income for your farm.
What sort of pigs do you have on your farm right now and what are you hoping to do with
them?
So the pigs that I raise are Machon pigs.
(03:26):
They're a very old breed, they're very endangered, they were nearly extinct when I started raising
them.
But I think they have a really incredible potential for regenerative agriculture.
One of the two main things that are different about them that I think are really beneficial
is that they have really large litter sizes and they can digest a lot more fiber.
(03:48):
So with pigs, it's really hard to get around grain feeding with a pregnant sow.
They need something like 18,000 or 19,000 calories a day once they're producing milk.
And so if you're going to feed that much to a pig, you know, 10, 15 pounds, and you can
get two or three times as many pigs out of it, that's a much more efficient use of the
grain that you're buying.
(04:09):
The other thing that makes the Machons different is that the way they were traditionally raised
in China is that their job was to basically convert garden scraps into compost.
So because of that, they've adapted the ability to consume significantly more fiber and not
need as much protein as most pigs.
And that means that they can get significantly more of their diet from pasture, as well as
(04:31):
other byproducts.
So for example, I get spent brewer's grain from a brewery, I get wheat middlings from
a local flour mill.
And that's able to displace a lot of the grain that I would have to buy to feed the pigs.
And I think that they will be much more adapted to eating the fruit and the mass of trees
as well.
So circling back to your three practices that you're implementing, how long have you been
(04:55):
in the Climate Smart Fieldscapes program?
I believe it's been going on for about a year, right?
Yes.
I was accepted this winter and I just hashed out my plan with my advisor here in the last
couple months.
I'm Kelly Wilson, Associate Director for the Center for Regenerative Ag.
(05:23):
I am jumping in on your podcast listening to share the news that we are opening our
second year application period for Regenerative Grazing, Climate Smart Fieldscapes, and Silvopasture
programs.
I'm joined by our Regenerative Grazing and Silvopasture program leads, Erin Keiley.
Erin, can you tell us about these programs?
Thanks Kelly.
The Regenerative Grazing program is about encouraging Missouri livestock producers to
(05:45):
implement adaptive grazing and really focus on the outcomes.
So a focus on soil health, increasing biodiversity, and carbon sequestration.
Think of it like prescribed grazing, but next level.
Farmers will develop a grazing plan and monitor across the grazing season.
Using these plans can be super helpful for producers to understand pasture composition,
(06:06):
recovery periods, key production dates, and this year, it's especially relevant, using
a grazing chart can help farmers understand drought and plan for de-stocking dates well
ahead of the market.
The program pays $50 per acre for a one-year contract, and our farmers will also have access
to grazing webinars, field days, and cost share on really robust soil testing through
(06:29):
SHAC so they can monitor and improve their soil health.
Thanks Erin.
The Climate Smart Fieldscape program is tailored for small and underserved producers in Missouri.
Farmers accepted into this program will work with technical assistance providers to develop
an operational plan that includes using three or more Climate Smart practices over the course
of three years.
We are offering a flat payment of $10,000 over the course of that three-year contract.
(06:53):
In this program, participants will also benefit from being part of a virtual cohort where
you'll meet with fellow farmers and technical assistance providers every few months on a
virtual meeting.
You'll also be a partner in education, so lastly you do some type of demonstration activity
like this podcast over the course of those three years.
The last program that we wanted to just briefly mention is the Silver Pasture Program.
Here, we are paying $250 per acre for producers to plant trees in pastures where livestock
(07:18):
will graze.
So if you are a Missouri producer interested in either general grazing, the Climate Smart
Fieldscape Program, or silver pasture, head over to our website at cra.missouri.edu to
learn more.
I think the trees being able to provide cover for the pigs and feed the pigs is huge.
(07:45):
I mean, pigs are naturally woodland animals, so that is a little bit more in line with
their natural habitat.
I know looking at the trees that I'm bringing on that are native trees, each one can be
either food or habitat for over a hundred different insects, and that's one thing that
I've noticed since starting my farm.
(08:07):
My farm was a corn-soy rotation field, so it was bare dirt when I got it, and one of
the things I've noticed over the last five years is that as I see more plant diversity,
I start seeing more insect diversity, eventually more diversity of birds, and it kind of just
goes from there.
So I think some of these initiatives of just bringing a wider range of plant life is bringing
(08:30):
more food and habitat for more other creatures.
One is that with more cover crops, with added trees, you're going to be able to sequester
a lot more carbon in your soil.
That's going to help you provide more nutrients to the plants that you're growing to feed
the animals.
It's going to produce more nutrient-dense forage for the animals.
(08:55):
Higher organic matter in the soil is also going to help you retain more moisture when
it rains, and that will help you, for one, take in more moisture when you get a heavy
rain event, but also allow it to retain more moisture so that when you have droughts, you're
not suffering as much.
And at the same time, I think the trees are a really great way of feeding the pigs, because
(09:17):
they're deeper-rooted systems.
I know out of the last five years, I would say three of them, I've had a really hard
time establishing winter crops, just because we're not getting a lot of rain.
I mean, last year is a great example.
I planted my fall and winter cover crops in August, and we didn't get any significant
rain until maybe mid-October, and that was not enough time to establish the cover crops
(09:41):
before winter.
Whereas the trees I have, like the baroques, persimmons, they're dropping in the fall and
the winter, and they would be able to withstand that kind of drought and still produce.
What would you say to a farmer who maybe has never done any regenerative agricultural practices
before, and kind of wants to get into it, but doesn't know where to start?
(10:05):
I think working on an operation can be a huge help.
I would also encourage people to work on an operation that is actually a for-profit farm.
There's just a big difference between something that actually has to function as a business
versus something that's grant-funded or is a passion project.
(10:26):
There's just different constraints on resources that I think are incredibly important to understand.
But I think also just having experience of doing the day-to-day work is really important.
I think people forget how much of a skill agriculture is.
You know, I feed pigs with double the efficiency that I used to just because of figuring out
(10:48):
different efficiencies.
You know, like I said, with this kind of agriculture not being standardized, there's a ton of different
ways that you can house pigs, transport them, load them up for the butcher.
I mean, all of those things, they can take you 20 minutes or they can take you two hours.
It's really only through working on an operation that you can kind of figure out those efficiencies
(11:10):
that are really important.
I would say the other thing is being a part of your local food, whatever it is.
I think before you start a business, you need to understand what the demand is, what it
is that people are actually looking for, what they're willing to pay for it, who's out there
doing it already, what isn't being produced that people are interested in.
(11:33):
I mean, you can't have a farm without a market of end consumers.
And so just kind of getting a foot in the door there and knowing what you're going to
do with your product when you sell it is huge because I've seen.
I think that, to me, seems to be the biggest mistake that people make in this type of agriculture
(11:55):
is they think that all they have to do is produce something.
And I don't think that they allocate enough time towards actually selling it.
I don't think they think that, well, for example, I probably spend as much time in a given week
marketing and selling my pork as I do actually producing it.
(12:16):
And I think people don't allocate that time.
They think that all they have to do is produce it and then it moves out the door.
So yeah, having a solid background and experience in the actual agricultural production and
then also understanding your local marketplace and what is needed, I think are the two most
important things.
(12:37):
A big thank you to Jonathan for letting me come out to his farm and chat.
Again, I'm Mikayla Boris, your host from the University of Missouri's Center for Regenerative
Agriculture.
If you have questions, comments, or any thoughts on this podcast, let us know by visiting our
website at cra.missouri.edu and go to the podcast page.
You can also find us on social media at MU Regen Ag.
(12:59):
And also don't forget to leave us a rating wherever you're listening.
This podcast was produced in partnership with MU Extension.
The music you're hearing is called Back to the Woods by Jason Shaw, and we snagged it
from the Free Music Archive.
Watch out for another regenerative reflection, and we'll see you next time.
Welcome to Regenerative Reflections, a podcast produced in partnership with MU Extension.
(00:11):
I'm Makayla Voris, your host from the University of Missouri's Center for Regenerative Agriculture.
Our mission is to provide farmers with the research, resources, and connections to implement
practices that improve soil health, crop yield, and livestock systems.
Today I chatted with Jonathan Kemmerer, a producer part of the FIRST Farmer Cohort of
the Climate Smart Fieldscapes Incentive Payment Program.
(00:34):
This is one of eight incentive payment programs part of the Missouri Climate Resilient Crops
and Livestock Project, or CIRCL for short.
The CIRCL project seeks to empower farmers and producers to add or maintain regenerative
practices on their operations.
Jonathan spent time living in France and brought this experience to his farming operation.
Let's hear from him now.
(00:57):
I'm currently at Jonathan's farm.
And Jonathan, so how did you get into farming at FIRST and how did you come into contact
with the Center for Regenerative Agriculture?
Well, I've grown up around agriculture all my life.
My grandpa ran a pig farm and did row crops growing up and we spent a lot of time there
when I was a kid.
I became interested in agriculture again later in life in college.
(01:21):
I lived and studied in France for a year in a pretty rural part of France and I saw all
these, you know, small family farms that were doing really traditional stuff, really high
quality stuff.
I was really interested in that and later when I was working in restaurants after college,
I went back to France to learn about wine and food, ended up working on some of those
farms and just became really interested in the difference between making really high
(01:43):
quality food versus commercial mass production sort of thing.
And the chefs back here, they were all really excited about it, really wanted someone doing
something like that in the area and that's kind of what gave me the motivation.
A friend of mine that I worked with at the winery now works for the extension there and
she's been kind of helping me with resources.
(02:03):
Currently one of our biggest projects at the Center for Regenerative Agriculture is the
Circle project and you are part of the Climate Smart Fieldscapes project.
Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
Sure.
So I'll be instituting three new practices on the farm.
So one of them is going to be planting about 350 trees or so.
(02:24):
All native trees and all are going to be fruit or mass-bearing, so it's like mulberries,
burr oaks, hazelnuts.
So not only will those sort of help retain soil, sequester carbon, they'll also feed
the pigs eventually.
The second that I'm doing is with a cornfield that I grow for the pigs to forage on.
(02:44):
There's an old technique called hogging down that was really prevalent in the late 1800s,
early 1900s.
It's doing minimum till, so instead of tilling the whole field, I'm just tilling little strips
or rows where the corn is planted and then leaving the rest there.
And then I think the third is that I'll be using cover crops in conjunction with that.
(03:05):
So once the pigs have grazed it down, I'll plant nitrogen-fixing things and just cover
crops for the soil.
When you took me on a tour of your farm, you mentioned that obviously the pigs are your
main source of income for your farm.
What sort of pigs do you have on your farm right now and what are you hoping to do with
them?
So the pigs that I raise are Machon pigs.
(03:26):
They're a very old breed, they're very endangered, they were nearly extinct when I started raising
them.
But I think they have a really incredible potential for regenerative agriculture.
One of the two main things that are different about them that I think are really beneficial
is that they have really large litter sizes and they can digest a lot more fiber.
(03:48):
So with pigs, it's really hard to get around grain feeding with a pregnant sow.
They need something like 18,000 or 19,000 calories a day once they're producing milk.
And so if you're going to feed that much to a pig, you know, 10, 15 pounds, and you can
get two or three times as many pigs out of it, that's a much more efficient use of the
grain that you're buying.
(04:09):
The other thing that makes the Machons different is that the way they were traditionally raised
in China is that their job was to basically convert garden scraps into compost.
So because of that, they've adapted the ability to consume significantly more fiber and not
need as much protein as most pigs.
And that means that they can get significantly more of their diet from pasture, as well as
(04:31):
other byproducts.
So for example, I get spent brewer's grain from a brewery, I get wheat middlings from
a local flour mill.
And that's able to displace a lot of the grain that I would have to buy to feed the pigs.
And I think that they will be much more adapted to eating the fruit and the mass of trees
as well.
So circling back to your three practices that you're implementing, how long have you been
(04:55):
in the Climate Smart Fieldscapes program?
I believe it's been going on for about a year, right?
Yes.
I was accepted this winter and I just hashed out my plan with my advisor here in the last
couple months.
I'm Kelly Wilson, Associate Director for the Center for Regenerative Ag.
(05:23):
I am jumping in on your podcast listening to share the news that we are opening our
second year application period for Regenerative Grazing, Climate Smart Fieldscapes, and Silvopasture
programs.
I'm joined by our Regenerative Grazing and Silvopasture program leads, Erin Keiley.
Erin, can you tell us about these programs?
Thanks Kelly.
The Regenerative Grazing program is about encouraging Missouri livestock producers to
(05:45):
implement adaptive grazing and really focus on the outcomes.
So a focus on soil health, increasing biodiversity, and carbon sequestration.
Think of it like prescribed grazing, but next level.
Farmers will develop a grazing plan and monitor across the grazing season.
Using these plans can be super helpful for producers to understand pasture composition,
(06:06):
recovery periods, key production dates, and this year, it's especially relevant, using
a grazing chart can help farmers understand drought and plan for de-stocking dates well
ahead of the market.
The program pays $50 per acre for a one-year contract, and our farmers will also have access
to grazing webinars, field days, and cost share on really robust soil testing through
(06:29):
SHAC so they can monitor and improve their soil health.
Thanks Erin.
The Climate Smart Fieldscape program is tailored for small and underserved producers in Missouri.
Farmers accepted into this program will work with technical assistance providers to develop
an operational plan that includes using three or more Climate Smart practices over the course
of three years.
We are offering a flat payment of $10,000 over the course of that three-year contract.
(06:53):
In this program, participants will also benefit from being part of a virtual cohort where
you'll meet with fellow farmers and technical assistance providers every few months on a
virtual meeting.
You'll also be a partner in education, so lastly you do some type of demonstration activity
like this podcast over the course of those three years.
The last program that we wanted to just briefly mention is the Silver Pasture Program.
Here, we are paying $250 per acre for producers to plant trees in pastures where livestock
(07:18):
will graze.
So if you are a Missouri producer interested in either general grazing, the Climate Smart
Fieldscape Program, or silver pasture, head over to our website at cra.missouri.edu to
learn more.
I think the trees being able to provide cover for the pigs and feed the pigs is huge.
(07:45):
I mean, pigs are naturally woodland animals, so that is a little bit more in line with
their natural habitat.
I know looking at the trees that I'm bringing on that are native trees, each one can be
either food or habitat for over a hundred different insects, and that's one thing that
I've noticed since starting my farm.
(08:07):
My farm was a corn-soy rotation field, so it was bare dirt when I got it, and one of
the things I've noticed over the last five years is that as I see more plant diversity,
I start seeing more insect diversity, eventually more diversity of birds, and it kind of just
goes from there.
So I think some of these initiatives of just bringing a wider range of plant life is bringing
(08:30):
more food and habitat for more other creatures.
One is that with more cover crops, with added trees, you're going to be able to sequester
a lot more carbon in your soil.
That's going to help you provide more nutrients to the plants that you're growing to feed
the animals.
It's going to produce more nutrient-dense forage for the animals.
(08:55):
Higher organic matter in the soil is also going to help you retain more moisture when
it rains, and that will help you, for one, take in more moisture when you get a heavy
rain event, but also allow it to retain more moisture so that when you have droughts, you're
not suffering as much.
And at the same time, I think the trees are a really great way of feeding the pigs, because
(09:17):
they're deeper-rooted systems.
I know out of the last five years, I would say three of them, I've had a really hard
time establishing winter crops, just because we're not getting a lot of rain.
I mean, last year is a great example.
I planted my fall and winter cover crops in August, and we didn't get any significant
rain until maybe mid-October, and that was not enough time to establish the cover crops
(09:41):
before winter.
Whereas the trees I have, like the baroques, persimmons, they're dropping in the fall and
the winter, and they would be able to withstand that kind of drought and still produce.
What would you say to a farmer who maybe has never done any regenerative agricultural practices
before, and kind of wants to get into it, but doesn't know where to start?
(10:05):
I think working on an operation can be a huge help.
I would also encourage people to work on an operation that is actually a for-profit farm.
There's just a big difference between something that actually has to function as a business
versus something that's grant-funded or is a passion project.
(10:26):
There's just different constraints on resources that I think are incredibly important to understand.
But I think also just having experience of doing the day-to-day work is really important.
I think people forget how much of a skill agriculture is.
You know, I feed pigs with double the efficiency that I used to just because of figuring out
(10:48):
different efficiencies.
You know, like I said, with this kind of agriculture not being standardized, there's a ton of different
ways that you can house pigs, transport them, load them up for the butcher.
I mean, all of those things, they can take you 20 minutes or they can take you two hours.
It's really only through working on an operation that you can kind of figure out those efficiencies
(11:10):
that are really important.
I would say the other thing is being a part of your local food, whatever it is.
I think before you start a business, you need to understand what the demand is, what it
is that people are actually looking for, what they're willing to pay for it, who's out there
doing it already, what isn't being produced that people are interested in.
(11:33):
I mean, you can't have a farm without a market of end consumers.
And so just kind of getting a foot in the door there and knowing what you're going to
do with your product when you sell it is huge because I've seen.
I think that, to me, seems to be the biggest mistake that people make in this type of agriculture
(11:55):
is they think that all they have to do is produce something.
And I don't think that they allocate enough time towards actually selling it.
I don't think they think that, well, for example, I probably spend as much time in a given week
marketing and selling my pork as I do actually producing it.
(12:16):
And I think people don't allocate that time.
They think that all they have to do is produce it and then it moves out the door.
So yeah, having a solid background and experience in the actual agricultural production and
then also understanding your local marketplace and what is needed, I think are the two most
important things.
(12:37):
A big thank you to Jonathan for letting me come out to his farm and chat.
Again, I'm Mikayla Boris, your host from the University of Missouri's Center for Regenerative
Agriculture.
If you have questions, comments, or any thoughts on this podcast, let us know by visiting our
website at cra.missouri.edu and go to the podcast page.
You can also find us on social media at MU Regen Ag.
(12:59):
And also don't forget to leave us a rating wherever you're listening.
This podcast was produced in partnership with MU Extension.
The music you're hearing is called Back to the Woods by Jason Shaw, and we snagged it
from the Free Music Archive.
Watch out for another regenerative reflection, and we'll see you next time.
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