On-farm: Conversations With Practical Farmers

Phil Specht Phil Specht of Pearlmaker Holsteins was our guest this week on the show. Phil farms with his wife Sharon near MacGregor in northeast Iowa. He’s been running a grass-based, rotationally grazed dairy in the hills of Clayton County since the 1970s, and conservation has always been important to him. In 2013, his brother Dan passed away in a farm accident, and Dan’s friend Mary Damm purchased Dan’s farm. Since then, Phil and Mary have been conducting on-farm research on the links between pasture management, plant and soil diversity and grassland birds. On the show, we range from the practical to the esoteric – talking with Phil about the politics of conservation, grazing management, Facebook poetry, ways of knowing and much more. Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher | Google Play Music On June 22, Phil Specht and Mary Damm will host a field day at Dan’s farm focused on grazing, grassland birds and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). You can RSVP for the field day, which will include dinner and cam