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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Friday, April 11, 2025
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Spring Planning Maximizing the
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of regenerative ag Lundgren shares lessons learned from 1,000 farms
-Submitted photo
By DARCY DOUGHERTY MAULSBY
ABOVE: Dr. Jonathan Lundgren, a South Dakota farmer, scientist and beekeeper, spoke to more than 100 students, professors and members of the public during the 2025 Shivvers Memorial Lecture at Iowa State University in February.
Farm News writer
AMES — What’s the main crop or food product that people associate with Florida? Orange juice? “Much of Florida’s culture and economy have been shaped around orange production for generations,” said Dr. Jonathan Lundgren, a South Dakota farmer, scientist and beekeeper who spoke to 100-plus students, professors and members of the public during the 2025 Shivvers Memorial Lecture at Iowa State University in February. “But all that has changed in the last 20 years — and it’s not good.” Why should Iowa farmers care about Florida’s citrus woes? These trends reflect some ag realities that go far beyond the citrus groves, right into the heart of the Corn Belt. Florida’s citrus industry has suffered a staggering 90% decline in production during the past two decades, according to a report from Florida TaxWatch. Much of this dramatic decline is due to citrus greening disease, which has infected nearly 100% of Florida’s commercial groves. Once trees are infected with this bacterial disease, most die within a few years. While citrus growers have been spraying various chemicals to try to save their trees, the products haven’t stopped the destruction. Conventional ag practices just aren’t cutting it, Lundgren said. “It’s time to ask, ‘How’s this working for you?’” The Florida citrus crisis points to a larger issue that’s common throughout modern agriculture. “Disease is always just a symptom,” said Lundgren, who received his doctorate in entomology from the University of Illinois in 2004. “Our farm management practices are driving some of these challenges.” The central problem is that agriculture has become far too “simplified,” Lundgren said. “The prairies that used to cover much of Iowa were incredibly complex ecosystems. Through the years, agriculture has evolved to replace what the natural habitat used to do on its own with products in a jug,” said Lundgren, referring to the array of crop input products to control insect pests, weeds and disease. This dependency on crop input products creates a new set of challenges. “It’s an addiction, and farmers are terribly addicted right now,” Lundgren said.
-Farm News photo by Darcy Dougherty Maulsby
LEFT: Dr. Jonathan Lundgren (shown here during his presentation at Iowa State University in February 2025) and his colleagues have found that the world’s most widelyused family of pesticides is likely causing serious birth defects in wildlife. Their research keyed in on neonicotinoids, a group of synthetic insecticides that are used widely on farms and can be highly toxic to bees and other pollinators.
Understanding Unintended Consequences Since 1969, the Shivvers Memorial Lecture Series has brought distinguished speakers like Lundgren to ISU to speak about the ways agriculture can sustain, rather than destroy, natural resources. This lecture series also explores agriculture’s responsibility to both the land and the farmer, and its interdependence in the web of life. These concepts are reflected in a groundbreaking study conducted by scientists in South Dakota, including Lundgren, who found that the world’s most widely-used family of pesticides is likely causing serious birth defects in wildlife. This report, which made news headlines in 2019, keyed in on neonicotinoids, a group of synthetic insecticides that are used widely on farms and can be highly toxic to bees and other pollinators. “About 75% of the land in Iowa is planted with neonicotinoids,” said Lundgren, referring to seed treatments containing the insecticide. Neonicotinoids don’t always stay put, Lundgren added. They can persist in the environment and be transported by rainfall or runoff, potentially contaminating soil, surface water and groundwater. The South Dakota research, which examined neonicotinoids’ effects on white-tailed deer, deepened concerns about the chemical’s potential to harm large mammals, including humans. The study showed that white-tailed deer with high levels of neonicotinoid pesticide in their spleens developed defects such as smaller reproductive
organs, pronounced overbites and declined thyroid function. Fawns with elevated levels of the pesticide in their spleens were found to be generally smaller and less healthy than deer with less of the chemical in their organs. The study marks the first time neonicotinoid pesticide consumption has been linked to birth defects in large mammals. “These (neonicotinoids) were deemed to be safe for higher organisms, so the fact that we saw so many diverse impacts on white-tailed deer was a big thing,” said Lundgren, who co-authored the study. “The fact that whitetail deer are not that far off from our livestock or even humans suggests that maybe we need to be examining these insecticides’ risks a little bit more closely. Neonicotinoids affect organisms in ways we don’t understand.” Doing Science Differently and Growing Life Finding these answers is important to Lundgren, who was a leading scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) for a number of years. He became disillusioned, however, and left ARS to become an independent scientist. “When I was with USDA, even though I was getting lots of grants and was publishing often, I kept coming back to the question, ‘How’s it working?’ Things weren’t getting better in agriculture. Pollution was rampant. Rural communities were declining. We needed to do science differently.” Today, Lundgren’s research and education programs focus on
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assessing the ecological risk of pest management strategies and developing long-term solutions for regenerative food systems. He’s the CEO of Blue Dasher Farm near Estilline in eastern South Dakota. This research and demonstration farm combines science with hands-on experience to remove barriers to the adoption of regenerative ag practices. “At Blue Dasher Farm, we believe in a food system that promotes soil health, farm biodiversity and nutrient dense food — all while benefiting the farmers who grow it,” Lundgren said. Lundgren is also the executive director of Ecdysis Foundation, a nonprofit research organization that’s incorporating science to transform agriculture with regenerative principles. The Ecdysis Foundation spearheads the 1,000 Farms Initiative. Researchers and farmers have been collecting data to help paint a picture of how specific farming practices (from conventional to regenerative and everything in between) are impacting soil composition, water infiltration rates, microbial life and other factors that impact soil health. The 1,000 Farms Initiative analyzes a number of key factors to show producers the health of their land, how their land compares with others, and how to incorporate regenerative methods into their agricultural production. “This is a very hands-on type of science,” Lundgren said. “We need science, but it has to be done right.” He points to the results he has seen on farms across America that use regenerative
ag practices, including reduced tillage, no-till, cover crops and more grazing animals on the land. “These farmers are doing things that science said couldn’t happen — like building soil faster, and controlling insect pests and weeds in ways that science says wasn’t possible.” The biodiversity of regenerative ag systems is another plus, offering essential habitat for pollinators, birds and other wildlife. “Farmers are meant to be stewards of life,” Lundgren said. “Regenerative cropland has more life in all its forms.” The mindset of a regenerative farmer is inspiring, he added. “These growers don’t wake up every day thinking about what they’re going to kill, whether that’s an insect pest, fungus or disease. Growing life is their focus.” He encourages all farmers to ask two key questions with every management decision they make. Does this increase life? Does it increase biodiversity? “When growing life becomes our focus, this will help solve many of the challenges we’re facing,” Lundgren said, “from water quality to carbon emissions.” Growing life also contributes to a healthier food supply, Lundgren added. He’s focusing more research into the nutrient density and abundance in food produced with regenerative ag practices. “To the farmers of Iowa, I’m on your side,” Lundgren emphasized. “There’s a better way. Science shows that regenerative ag works, and you don’t have to lose money going to regenerative ag. Let’s start rebuilding our rural communities.”