Spotlight series

MFU's Climate and Working Lands Team created the Conservation Advisor Spotlight series to recognize the advisors doing this great work across the state and introduce them to our farmer members.

Kilpatrick

Jonathan Kilpatrick, farmer education director

Jonathan Kilpatrick is a farmer education director at Sustainable Farming Association. He works with farmers across the state.

"What we’re about is a farmer-to-farmer network, and the idea of the program is for farmers to learn from farmers because that's the best way to make the change. Conferences and field days can help get you started, but the personalized context with a consultant can really help."

Read more about Kilpatrick and his work.

Sabrina Claeys, grazing biologist

Claeys

Sabrina Claeys is a grazing biologist for Ducks Unlimited. She works in 12 counties in northwestern Minnesota.

"My strong suit is helping people navigate what they haven’t done before, and I specialize in helping farmers find management practices to complete their goals. I feel like a jack of all trades rather than an expert in anything. If a producer’s objective is to improve soil quality, I try to find different management practices to accomplish that. I'm a problem solver in that sense. I work a lot with native forages, like warm season grasses and forbs. From an organizational standpoint, Ducks Unlimited’s number one priority is waterfowl habitat, but in reality, creating good habitat for one species ends up being good for the whole ecosystem."

TJ Kartes, regional sales manager

Kartes

TJ Kartes is a regional sales manager for Saddle Butte Ag. He is based in Blooming Prairie, but serves customers across Minnesota in addition to several other states. He's been promoting cover crops and forages since 2011.

"Some farmers we’ve been working with for eight or nine years are going up to 1,000 acres of cover crops and they’re giving us great reviews and are seeing the benefits financially, with some ROI. That's the whole reason to make changes. The environmental side is huge, but the ROI really matters."

Alan Kraus, soil health specialist

Kraus

Alan Kraus is a Soil Health Specialist who splits his time between the Rice and Steele Soil and Water Conservation Districts. Kraus is a former dairy farmer.

"I have a strong passion for keeping the soil in place and helping farmers farm. It’s an urgent work that needs to be done, and we need more conservation practices on the landscape. I have dedicated myself to working on that."

Tarah Young, U of M Extension educator

Young

Tarah Young is a University of Minnesota Extension educator. Her office is in Hubbard County.

"I’m a plant person who went to school for agronomy, and I have a master's in plant science from the University of Minnesota, but it’s funny how many topics lead back to the soil. It’s a big cycle and everything is interconnected, so everything I’ve learned is applicable to livestock too."

Troy Salzer, U of M Extension educator

Salzer

Troy Salzer is a University of Minnesota Extension educator in Ag Production Systems. His office is in St. Louis County and that is where he works one-on-one with farmers, but he also helps out in other counties.

"I spend a fair amount of time working on pasture-related items and I really do believe that pastures are almost always the most underutilized and unappreciated resources for most producers," Salzer said.

Erik Heimark, Farm business managment specialist

Heimark

Erik Heimark is a farm business management specialist for Renewing the Countryside. He works with farmers across Minnesota and in Wisconsin.

"Most of us got into farming so we could farm, not so we could make a balance sheet and do financial projections. But if we want to farm for the long haul, you have to know your finances," Heimark said.

Amy Robak, Lead environmental specialist

Robak

Amy Robak is the Lead Environmental Specialist at Centra Sota. She works with farmers across the state, but primarily in the central and northern part of the state.

"I would say one benefit of working with Centra Sota Co-op is you’re working with a team of people. We have the crop adviser, environmental services team, and a whole group of people working with us. We can help write government contracts, and we are the liaisons to those government offices, so there's cases where the producer doesn’t need to step into the government office. We have been in business for so long and have so many connections to people, it gives producers peace of mind that we can take care of the leg work."

Read more about Robak and her work with Centra Sota Cooperative.

Danielle Evers, Southwest Minnesota Area Certification Specialist

Evers

Danielle Evers is the Southwest Minnesota Area Certification Specialist at Pipestone Soil and Water Conservation District. She serves landowners in 11 southwestern Minnesota counties: Cottonwood, Jackson, Lac qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, Murray, Nobles, Pipestone, Redwood, Rock and Yellow Medicine.

"I started off studying basic agronomy and agricultural science, thinking I might go into plant genetics—but then I realized I like to talk to people too much to work in a lab. One summer, I did an internship at a local soil and water office, and that really opened the door to this role." Read more about Danielle Evers and her work.

Mitchell Janson, Irrigation and agronomy specialist

Janson

Mitchell Janson is an irrigation and agronomy specialist and Certified Crop Advisor who coordinates both the Irrigation Scheduler and Soil Health Programs for East Otter Tail and Wadena Soil and Water Conservation Districts.

“Technical assistance at a local level is a huge benefit [of participating in programs offered at East Otter Tail and Wadena Soil and Water Conservation Districts]," Janson said. "I get to cover a lot of ground and work with farmers in a five-county area, so I can observe a lot of methods for implementing these practices which helps me when I’m working with a specific farmer or situation.” Read the Mitchell Janson article here.