Sharing Our Roots Farm

is home to our innovative land access work, natural land restoration, and whole-ecosystem community building.

At our 163-acre farm outside of Northfield, Minnesota, we are championing how formerly monocropped farmland can be transformed into thriving ecosystems of people, livestock, wildlife, and plants that benefit soil and water health.

  • We are demonstrating a model for a resilient future.

    On the Sharing Our Roots Farm, we model a biodiverse system of symbiotically connected livestock and perennials, with no chemical inputs, that builds soil, retains and cleans water, and delivers economic benefits to our community.

  • We are transforming degraded soil into a thriving ecosystem.

    When we began stewarding the acreage in 2016, the soil was legally classified as marginal farmland from years of monocropped corn and soy harvests.

    In partnership with Dakota County, we serve as an example of how, with care and relationships, conventionally farmed land can be restored into thriving ecosystems teeming with community and healthy soil life.

  • We are land stewards to this piece of land with a long history.

    The Sharing Our Roots Farm is on the homelands of the Wahpekute Band of the Dakota Nation. This land was stolen in the 1851 Dakota Land Cession Treaties, for which little payment was ever received.

    Prior to white colonization and settlement, the land would have consisted of wetlands, wet meadows, wild ricing ponds, and hills with scattered oak trees.

Our Farm-Based Initiatives:

  • We are sharing our land and resources with emerging farmers.

    We provide an innovative land access solution in our region by offering long-term land agreements and shared infrastructure for immigrant, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and emerging farmers through a commons-based cohort model.

    By supporting emerging farmers with marginalized identities, we seek to prevent systemic obstacles for emerging farmers and diversify the face of local farming.

    commons cohort

  • We are restoring diverse wildlife habitat for the benefit of all.

    Conventional large-scale agriculture has had significant negative impacts on biodiversity and wildlife habitat. Through regenerative farming practices and conscious conservation efforts, we can be part of the solution.

    Our citizen science-centered initiative, Wildlife Counts, documents the return of wildlife to the Sharing Our Roots Farm after decades of land degradation from conventional agriculture.

    wildlife counts

  • Visit the Farm

    We hold regular events throughout the year, including workshops focused on a variety of topics, from coppicing elderberries to sequestering carbon on-farm.

    We also provide regular public farm tours throughout the growing season.

    Events Calendar