Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
Policy Program
Michael Fields Agricultural Institute's policy program is predicated on the simple belief that people should be empowered to use democratic processes to direct government resources to advance their agricultural vision.​ We catalyze grassroots and organizational power to cultivate the ecological, social, and economic resilience of food and farming systems. With strategic partners, we facilitate coalitions, convene thinkers, author papers, and organize farmer networks around policy initiatives at both federal and state levels.
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Click the cover to read our integrated analysis and literature review of current US federal farm policy as it relates to regenerative agriculture and diversified farming systems.
Click the cover to read the Wisconsin Natural Climate Solutions Roadmap developed in collaboration with our partners utilizing on-the-ground case studies and peer-reviewed science.
“This study makes clear that business-as-usual and limited interventions like cover crops and no-till alone come nowhere near achieving our shared climate goals. To protect our climate, water, and rural livelihoods, Wisconsin agriculture needs to take bold steps to reduce fertilizer while incorporating more crop diversity, perennials, and trees."
-Sara Walling, Clean Wisconsin
"Despite potentially higher total economic value to society, the diversified system appears less profitable due to market failure. This misalignment is reflected in recent legislative proposals, where the House draft of the 2024 Farm Bill emphasizes commodity price support (10–21% increases in reference prices) while reducing projected conservation funding by $1.8 billion (CBO, 2024), further reinforcing incentives toward conventional production systems."
-Success Okafor, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
Click the cover to read our literature review that explores a simple but important question: What happens when we put a dollar value on the usually hidden societal costs and benefits of perennials?
"By reviewing dozens of scientific studies and assigning economic values to environmental impacts, Clare's analysis estimates how different farming systems affect society beyond the farm gate. It turns out that farmers who have their land in perennial grasslands are producing a lot of valuable goods for the rest of us that are going unrewarded."
-Chuck Anderas, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
Click the cover to read the Measuring Societal Benefits of Soil Health report on how different conservation practices reduce the amount of contaminated water leaving farm fields.
Click the cover to read the Measuring Societal Benefits of Soil Health report that explores the potential economic value of watershed-scale soil health practices that reduce the risk of downstream flooding and pollution.
History
and
Overview
For many years, we coordinated the national sustainable agriculture movement’s annual grassroots campaign to obtain funding for sustainable agriculture programs. We have worked through many Farm Bills to advocate for the creation of new programs and improvement of existing ones and have worked with agencies to optimally implement those programs. Examples have ranged from local food programs like the Farmers Market Promotion Program, to conservation programs such as the Conservation Stewardship Program, to payment limits on federal commodity and crop insurance programs.
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In Wisconsin, we have successfully advanced numerous programs such as the Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin program and Farm to School programs, whose legislative passage Michael Fields coordinated and led, and sustainable agriculture research and outreach programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Over many years, we have also promoted managed grazing, bioenergy, new markets and opportunities, local food, agricultural innovation, and resources for the next generation of farmers.
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Michael Fields’ policy work is undertaken collaboratively. We are very active in the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) and other national partners in federal Farm Bill authorizations and annual appropriations work. At the state level, virtually every initiative that we undertake engages other partners in the enterprise; we are especially known for finding unexpected partnerships.
Federal Policy
Highlights
Measuring Societal Benefits Project
In 2020, MFAI launched a national discussion about the non-farm, or societal, benefits of soil health practices. With the National Center for Appropriate Technology, we convened an interdisciplinary team that chose to begin with the question, “How do different conservation/soil health-building practices reduce the amount and contamination of water leaving farm fields from storms of differing severity and timing?” Under the principal authorship of Dr. Dianna Bagnall, with the Soil Health Institute, and consultant Juli Obudzinski, we developed and in March 2022 presented two papers reflecting our discussions, Measuring Societal Benefits of Soil Health: Biophysical Dynamics and Hydrological Ecosystem Services, and Cost Savings for Local Municipalities, Rural Communities, and States.
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In June 2026, Clare Dietz, Graduate Research Assistant, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and Department of Plant & Agroecosystem Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, completed an integrated analysis and literature review of the societal benefits of perennial agricultural systems. This work builds on the previous papers and is supported byAFRI Sustainable Agricultural Systems Coordinated Agricultural Project (SAS-CAP) grant no. 2021-68012-35917 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
When considering the ecosystem services we reviewed, perennial grasslands produce at least $144 more per acre per year in value for society compared to row crops.
State Policy
Highlights
The state policy work of Michael Fields Agricultural Institute is based on mobilizing farmers and farmer networks to organize and offer policy feedback to state representatives at public hearings, in capital office meetings, and during farm visits.
MFAI also leads the Wisconsin Grazing Coalition, which convenes organizational partners to promote managed grazing through legislative engagement, advocacy, and public education in the media. Most recently, the WI Grazing Coalition has been working to get the bi-partisan Transition to Grazing Bill through the Wisconsin legislature.
For More Information Contact:
Chuck Anderas, Policy Director