Field Day 2021: July 17 – Virtual

Our annual Grain Place Foundation Field Day on July 17, 2021 gave guests a virtual opportunity to tour the farm and grain processing plant and to hear David R. Montgomery in conversation with experienced local organic farmers about what’s new in regenerative, organic agriculture.

Soybeans growing in soil at the Grain Place

At our annual Grain Place Foundation Field Day on July 17, guest speaker David R. Montgomery shared about his work on soils and civilization (and why he’s hopeful!) as our keynote speaker. His presentation gave a big-picture frame to the importance of our work, and underlined the importance of making farming decisions that promote the health of our soil.

Grain Place Farm founder David Vetter offered this year’s farm tour, with a description of our 9-year crop rotation system, as well as some history about rotations we tried over the decades of organic farming on this land. Our Grain Place Farm Tour gives you an introduction to our 9-year crop rotation.

Grain Place Foods President Christian Evans led our tour of Grain Place Foods, focusing on the community of people who work at our organic food and feed processing plant; these are some of the people who make it possible to live out our motto: How your food is produced does matter. Our tour of Grain Place Foods features the people who make it happen

Grain Place Foundation Board Member Dr. Charles Francis (University of Nebraska) gave a quick overview of some of the research we’ve been working on, including long-term comparisons of crop yields on conventional and organic farms.

Dr. Charles Francis shares about some of our research on organic farming

We were inspired by the conversation we shared–we talked about the farm with current Grain Place farmers Raymond Hain and Jason Smith. We also reflected on David Montgomery’s presentation with a panel discussion that featured Grain Place Foundation board member Dr. Kathleen Delate (Iowa State), and Mad Agriculture’s Rebecca Baldwin-Kordick.


Tilth Sponsors

Roots Sponsors


Planter Sponsors

Marianne and David Meyer

Falcon Trading Company/SunRidge Farms


Seed Sponsors

The Organic & Non-GMO Report


We are currently seeking additional Sponsors for Field Day 2021. Your donations support not only the Field Day event, but enable the ongoing work of the Grain Place Foundation.