Clayton's Favorite Story of 2024

Editor's Note:

As the year came to a close, we once again asked the DTN/Progressive Farmer reporting team to pick out the most significant, most fun, or otherwise their favorite, story of 2024. They range from solar events to seeing how seed corn is produced, political/policy coverage to wildfire impact, to including profiles of American farmers and ranchers who shared their marketing, production and even life choices with our writers. We hope you enjoy our writers' favorites, continuing the series with today's story by DTN Ag Policy Editor Chris Clayton.

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OMAHA (DTN) -- Sometimes you just need a day or two to get away from the election cycle, the farm-bill-that-ain't-coming cycle and the news cycle in general.

In late September, I drove across Iowa to cross the Mississippi River into southwest Wisconsin. On the drive, I didn't actually know what the Sinsinawa Mound was or who I was meeting. What I knew was a collection of farmers were coming together to talk about regenerative agricultural practices and a farm tour.

And then I learned a little about the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa (sin-sin-ah-wa) and their 343 acres at the Sinsinawa Mound convent. The convent has been at that location just across the river from Dubuque, Iowa, for 177 years. At one time in the early 1960s there were 2,000 sisters at the convent, which today looks like a small college campus.

Convents aren't quite the same as they used to be, so Sinsinawa Mound has a much bigger footprint than is really needed for the operation today.

The sisters, though, oversee about 200 acres of farm ground that the convent continues to own. The facility also has deep ties to the agricultural community. The sisters explained that during the 1980s farm crisis they took on a roll of helping boost support for rural communities, and formed the Food, Faith and Farming Network, which still exists today.

"We've always seen it as a place of education not in the way we're doing it now -- the leadership of farmers -- but as inviting in people and putting on programs," Sister Sheila Fitzgerald explained. "Down through time we saw the need to care for the land. This is part of our heritage."

The sisters talked about meeting Dave Brandt, a legendary Ohio farmer who was one of my favorite people to hear when he talked about his no-till practices and cover crops on his farm. Before his death in 2023, Brandt had begun a relationship with the Sinsinawa sisters. He had pitched the idea to them of creating a hub for soil health practices at their convent.

"He had the conviction and the vision, and it became our vision," said Sister Julie Schwab, a member of Sinsinawa's leadership team. "It matches our values to care about God's creation."

From a memorial service that the convent held for Brandt came the group "Fields of Sinsinawa," which ended up creating the field day and workshop I ended up attending. Farmers from Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and other areas all came to talk about soil-health practices on their farms.

The two days were inspiring and reminded me why I enjoy covering conservation in agriculture more than almost anything else.

See, "Convent Finds Legacy in Soil Health," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @ChrisClaytonDTN

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