READ ANNE’S STORY

Anne Schwagerl is a fifth generation farmer who has experienced the effects of climate change firsthand on her farm near Browns Valley, MN on the western border of the state. She credits soil health benefits and climate resilience as the partial drivers behind her use of conservation practices like diverse crop rotation.

Growing up on a hobby farm south of the Twin Cities gave her an introduction to farm life early on. However, her parents had to leave farming in the 1980s, a decade notorious for high farm debt and low farm income, creating a perfect storm of an agricultural crisis that drove a mass exodus of small and family farms. Now, Anne farms with her husband and his family, farming corn, beans and small grains as well as some winter annuals and perennial production. She is also the Vice President of Minnesota Farmers Union (RIPE Steering Committee Member).