MFAI Annual Alternative Crops Field Day
Wed, Aug 05
|MFAI New Farm
Our Institute staff look forward to welcoming neighbors, friends, guests, and collaborators for our first Field Day at New Farm. Join us for field tours and a lunch of delicious alternative crops! This is a rain or shine event - we have a large equipment shed and tents for shelter.
Time & Location
Aug 05, 2026, 9:30 AM – 2:30 PM
MFAI New Farm, N8832 Pickeral Lake Rd, East Troy, WI 53120, USA
About the event
We hope you'll join Michael Fields Agricultural Institute staff and conservation partners for a first-ever field day at our New Farm, set in the heart of the Southern Kettle Moraine. These production fields and research plots are managed in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy near their Pickerel Lake Fen Preserve in East Troy, WI. Fens are among the rarest types of wetlands in North America. They are dependent upon natural springs, and so management of the surrounding Mukwanago watershed's sensitive agricultural acres is imperative. Pickerel Lake Fen, a State Natural Area, is one of the most biologically diverse fens in southeast Wisconsin and is one of the few fens in conservation protection.
The New Farm is upland of the fen, but includes several kettle depressions, through which contaminants can infiltrate groundwater. MFAI utilizes careful conservation practices - prairie strips, agroforestry, alternative crops, low tillage, and covers - to protect this landscape and create demonstration opportunities. Come see conservation and production in action!
"The MFAI New Farm is a beautiful property with views of the terminal moraine, glacial kettles, native forest and conservation pollinator strips. Nestled amongst these beautiful landscape features, MFAI staff get to trial alternative crops and perform regenerative ag research that we’re excited to show to our guests, friends, and partners. We hope you are able to join us for this first year at New Farm!” - Dr. Nicole Tautges, Research Director
Lunch will feature a spread of Alternative Crops including South Indian dosas and cakes made with millet, buckwheat crepes, buckwheat soba noodles, and salad with sprouted mung beans. There will be lots of alternative crops cookies to sample for dessert, and our Fields Best Small Batch Grains flours and baking mixes to purchase. We'll have sponsors and vendors to visit, and a presentation by Marbleseed on the Advancing Markets for Producers (AMP) project. This innovative program supports organic and transitioning to organic grain producers across the Midwest with direct enrollment incentives, one-on-one technical assistance, and assistance with organic certification and marketing. The project is a collaboration between Marbleseed, MFAI, OEFFA, and OFARM. Funding helps cover the real costs of maintaining certification and building continuous improvement into your operation, whether that means refining your Organic System Plan, strengthening recordkeeping, or developing new buyer relationships for crops like the millet, buckwheat, popcorn and Kernza you'll see in the trial plots.
While the Education Stations will be fairly technical in nature, this is a family-friendly event and guests should feel free to bring children.
“Alternative crops bring a lot of diversity to the farm – in terms of fitting into rotations, nutrients they forage and the support of soil microbial communities. They break the pest and disease cycle and have different rooting patterns. And many of the crops we research on are sources of food for people and meet varying nutritional needs. Most importantly, alternative crops provide farmers with another option when weather conditions, input costs, market prices, or pest pressures change. We want to do MORE of this!” - Dr. Esther Durairaj, Education Director
MFAI started alternative crops research trials in 2021 with lines of crops like buckwheat and millets from the National Plant Germplasm Bank. Although our research is not a result of selections from these lines, it gave us an idea of the performance of these crops. Our agronomists, Dr. Durairaj and Dr. Tautges started pilot trials by connecting with other breeders and production scientists in the country working on these crops, and the portfolio of crops are slowly growing to add kernza, mungbeans, industrial hemp etc. Dr. Tautges has worked intensely on the supply chain of Kernza and Buckwheat and has created amazing products from many of these crops.
We are really excited to be launching our brand new WI Meat Processing Deserts paper at the Field Day, and author Dr. Success Okafor will be there to talk about the project and explain the maps.
“I’m excited to show how the crops and farming practices people will see at Field Day connect to the larger economic and policy conditions that determine whether diversified farming can succeed. My work examines the value these systems create, why farmers are not always rewarded for that value, and how limited access to inspected meat processing can prevent integrated livestock operations from reaching the market. Through the Wisconsin Meat Processing Desert project, I hope to make those gaps visible and begin practical conversations about where infrastructure investment, mobile slaughter, and stronger policy support could make the greatest difference for Wisconsin farmers.” - Dr. Success Okafor, Policy Fellow
Many thanks to Larryville Gardens, Albert Lea Seed, The Nature Conservancy, Victory Garden Initiative, Marbleseed, Regenerative Agriculture Foundation, Kernza CAP, Resilience CAP, and SHARE (Soil Health Alliance for Research and Engagement) for supporting this event. We are grateful for produce donated by Wild Trillium Farm and Circle M Market Farm.
