As a follow up to the 2025 Cultivating Resilience Winter Conference, Ottawa Conservation District has partnered up with the Michigan State University Kellogg Biological Station and Shady Side Farm to bring you a field day focused on incorporating prairie strips into your farmland operations and crop fields. Strategically placed native prairie strips in crop fields can increase local pollinator biodiversity, improve local water quality and soil health, and can increase your farm profitability!
Attendees will learn from MSU staff and MiSTRIPS farmer, Mike Bronkema from Shady Side Farm, about the benefits of planting native prairies into and around your crop fields. Using Shady Side Farm as our example, we’ll look at soil health, improved habitat, and discuss how these prairie strips have increased profitability by planting them in low producing sections of fields. The main event attraction will include a farm tour on a hay wagon where Mike will showcase his prairie strips and talk about the site preparation, implementation, and benefits he’s seen since their establishment. Additionally, Ottawa Conservation District and the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP) will provide information on farmer resources for planting prairie strips.
*More detailed agenda info to come soon!*
This event is FREE and includes lunch catered by The Beard and The Gal.
Location: Shady Side Farm – 13275 Blair St, Holland 49424
Date: Friday, July 25th, 2025
Time: 11 AM – 3 PM
Credits Available: MAEAP Phase 1 Educational Credit
Register Here: https://forms.gle/2jL7GHPobGzH666A6
For questions, please email sarah.bowman@macd.org or call 616-842-5852 Ext. 5.
Event organized by Sarah Bowman, Ottawa County Conservation District; Liz Schultheis, Kellogg Biological Station LTER; and Kathryn Docherty, Western Michigan University. Supported by the MiSTRIPS program and USDA SARE.