NORTHFIELD, Minn. (AP) — The towering maple trees and native hazelnut bushes on Salvatierra Farms break up the surrounding corn and soybean fields that sprawl across southern Minnesota.
Small compared with its neighbors, the 63 acres (25 hectares) of land was once a conventional row crop farm. Transformed by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, an agronomist and regenerative farmer who grew up in the northern Guatemalan rainforest, Salvatierra Farms embraces crop diversity and natural solutions — no herbicides, pesticides or chemical fertilizers — for its poultry or other operations. He wants it to be a model for others.
Drawing on his formal agricultural education and the wisdom of his Indigenous elders, Haslett-Marroquin’s approach to farming has brought together an unlikely network of Midwesterners dedicated to caring for the Earth for spiritual reasons. They include Lakota tribal members, former large-scale farmers and Catholic sisters.
Their shared motivation comes amid rising interest in nature-based spirituality and related societal shifts: a rethinking of modern agriculture, growing secularization, climate change anxiety and intensifying interest in health and wellness.
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