In the hills near St. Louis, Big River Grain and Cattle has shifted practices to protect soil and stabilize production after both heavy rains and dry spells challenged the operation. Owner Daniel Bonacker uses no-till and cereal rye cover crops to hold soil, suppress weeds and maintain moisture between cash crops. He also practices "planting green," seeding cash crops into living rye and terminating the cover crop later in spring to reduce bare soil exposure and weed pressure. "We never went back to leaving the soil bare," Bonacker said, describing the farm’s steady move away from frequent tillage and exposed ground.
Translating research
The University of Missouri Center for Regenerative Agriculture and MU Extension provide field days, workshops, on-farm demonstrations and one-on-one technical support that help producers test practices on their own fields. CRA also helps manage cost-share and incentive programs that lower the upfront risk of adopting new methods. The Missouri CRCL Project is supported by a $25 million USDA grant, funding technical assistance and temporary payments for practices such as cover crops, multispecies mixes, delayed termination and grazing of cover crops.
Producers tell CRA staff what problems they face, then use demonstrations and pilot funding to compare outcomes on their ground. For Bonacker, neighbor recommendations and CRA resources made experimenting less risky and sped his adoption of cover crops and reduced tillage. The incentive payments were useful mainly because they let him test changes without bearing the entire financial risk alone, he says.
Practice variety
CRA’s work extends beyond cover crops and no-till to nutrient management, diversified rotations and grazing systems designed to improve both soil health and farm economics. Adjusting fertilizer timing and placement helps crops use nutrients more efficiently and reduces runoff to streams, while longer rotations can disrupt pest cycles and spread market risk. Management-intensive grazing matches stocking rates and recovery periods to soil and forage conditions, and integrated crop-and-livestock systems use animals to cycle nutrients and build soil structure.
Staff also assist producers with equipment choices, fencing and labor planning so changes are practical at scale. Projects frequently combine hands-on demonstration with financial incentives so producers can measure yield, input use and soil indicators before committing fully. That combination of on-farm evidence, technical advice and cost-sharing is central to how CRA encourages wider adoption of regenerative practices.
Technology on pasture
At Big River Grain and Cattle, management-intensive grazing has improved water infiltration, distributed manure more evenly and increased pasture productivity by giving plants time to recover between grazings. To reduce labor and increase flexibility, Bonacker is part of a CRA pilot testing virtual fencing collars that use GPS-linked boundaries he can adjust from a phone or computer. The collars let him refine paddock size and recovery periods in response to weather and forage, saving time that would otherwise go to moving temporary fence.
MU Extension’s local research and peer networks helped Bonacker evaluate whether the technology fit his operation before making larger investments, and CRA’s pilot structure reduced his initial exposure. He is piloting GPS-linked virtual fencing collars on his herd.
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