Brian Pfarr

bpfarr@mnsoilhealth.org

Brian was on the steering committee that helped shaped the Minnesota Soil Health Coalition and is also the Chair of the Board.  Brian grew up farming with his father in Redwood County and always knew he wanted to continue the family farm.  Brian and his father Bill, raise corn, soybeans, wheat, and rotationally graze cattle.  Brian started experimenting with cover crops in 2010 and began integrating reduced tillage and no-till.  They have also been reducing their fertilizer rates due to the increase in organic matter and the increased nutrient efficiency of their soils as they increase their soil health.  Brian enjoys and is driven by the learning curve of increasing soil health, there are always things to learn and try out to incorporate into their management.  Brian wants to improve his soils for his three children so that they will have a great baseline when they continue the family farm.

Brian received his Bachelor’s in Agronomy at SDSU, previously worked for NRCS, and is employed at the Redwood SWCD in addition to farming with his father. Brian believes in the importance of education and information exchange and is involved in teaching children, colleagues, and farmers about the management of our resources completing demonstrations, hosting field days at his farm, is involved with testing of his soil and management, and has been interviewed by Pioneer TV for their Compass Series.  Brian has also received awards for his commitment, he received the Conservationist of the year Award from the Redwood SWCD and the Star Ag Award for professional success and visionary, giving time, talent, and resources to benefit the community in 2019.  Brian and Bill’s farm was Minnesota Ag Water Quality Certified in 2017 and enjoyed going though the process to see where they were at with their operation and utilized the $5,000/year grant opportunity MDA offers for certified farms to implement more conservation practices.  Their MAWQCP local contact was very easy to work with and provided additional opportunities for their farm.  Brian has also had a positive experience working with NRCS currently on his second CSP contract and has utilized EQIP for implementation of conservation practices to improve efficiency and his natural resources.  Brian looks forward to continuing and expand on what they’ve learned and to experiment to learn what works best for them.