Producer Spotlight

Name

Jesse Starks

Operation

Starks Farm

Location

Owatonna, Minnesota

Carbon Sequestration Practices

Reduced Tillage, Cover Crops

Jesse farms near Owatonna, Minnesota with his dad where they grow corn, soy, and finish out hogs. He gained an interest in conservation ag practices in college, both for agronomic benefit, and to maximize operational efficiency – doing more work with less manpower. In pursuit of this interest, he has incorporated cereal rye cover crops, and use of vertical tillage. He also utilizes a 4R approach to nitrogen management, including the use of split application and stabilizers, as well as using manure to reduce synthetic nitrogen when available. This led to a great fit with our program, which he has been a part of since 2021.

I looked into cover cropping and reduced tillage; that’s when carbon programs started picking up. And I thought I’d look into that. I researched a couple different programs, and then I ended up going to the Agoro Carbon program.”

Jesse Starks, Montana Farmer

As the support agronomist for Jesse Starks, I help support him with our data collection, which is a seamless process through partnerships with his digital ag software. We also bounce various agronomic ideas off each other, such as cover crop mixes and tillage reduction strategies. Working with folks like Jesse who are excited about conservation agriculture and the benefits it holds makes my job fun.

I don’t think there’s any negatives. Definitely the support’s been good… I can say it’s been a good experience so far.”

Jesse Starks, Montana Farmer

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