By Sarah Zeiler and Christine Charles
In February 2026, Michigan State University Extension partnered with the MSU Center for Regenerative Agriculture to offer a special webinar series on regenerative agriculture. These sessions brought together farmers, educators and landowners who are interested in healthier soils, stronger farms and more resilient rural communities.
The series introduced six key principles that help guide regenerative agriculture. These principles focus on things like keeping living roots in the soil, minimizing soil disturbance, increasing plant diversity, integrating livestock, and understanding your unique farm context. One important message from the series was clear: regenerative agriculture is not “one size fits all.” Every farm is different. Climate, soil type, crops, livestock and personal goals all matter. The goal of the webinar series was not to tell farmers exactly what to do, but to share ideas, examples and research that can help guide decisions.
Livestock integration
Denny Person of Person Farms along with Michigan State University (MSU) Extension educators Kable Thurlow and Frank Wardynski discussed integrating livestock into cropping systems during one session of the webinar series.
How soil systems work together
The session highlighted the principles of soil health and how applying them to your farm’s management can create farms with increased soil health. Healthy soils depend on several connected processes: mineral, water, energy and diversity. Plants capture sunlight and turn it into energy. Animals eat plants and return nutrients to the soil through manure. Microbes in the soil then recycle those nutrients so plants can use them again.
At the same time, good soil structure helps rainwater soak in instead of running off. This decreases soil loss and increases water storage for crops during dry times and replenishes the aquifer. Diverse plant systems also support wildlife. As soil health improves, farms may see more insects, birds and other animals. Strengthening these cycles can support a healthy and balanced farm ecosystem.
A significant and often highlighted goal in regenerative agriculture can be to integrate animals and cropland to encourage these cycles. While this is not a new concept, bringing animals back to cropland or starting this combined system may have some complications.
Source : msu.edu