10 Regenerative Practitioners – Steve Jameson

Original Agriculture

Steve Jameson is a 4th generation row crop farmer in Northern Illinois growing corn, soybeans, wheat, and sunflowers. A unique advantage Steve has is that he also sells crop insurance and has seen how soil health and crop insurance are starting to come together more and more. 

While still a pretty conventional farmer, Steve first heard about planting rye ahead of soybeans from a friend. Steve recalls, “At first he thought it was an odd deal until my neighbor removed a fence line and his runoff water came pouring onto my field and really started to cut channels and erode my soil. I took a page out of my friend’s book and planted rye to address the erosion. All I can say is WOW!  After seeing what the rye did for erosion control and researching its ability to cycle nutrients with its deep robust root system I was hooked.”

Steve has seen his water-holding capacity greatly increase which has reduced many previously drowned-out spots. With the implementation of cover crops and better nutrient cycling, Steve has been able to reduce his fertility inputs by about 50%. There have certainly been challenges with terminating some cover crops, but the goal is to reduce overall herbicide use as he overcomes these challenges. 

New adventures

Introducing wheat into the rotation was new to Steve in 2023 and was very blessed with some great yields on limited rainfall for his area. A single 5.5-inch rain was all he received in the spring for the wheat, but in this field that had 3 years of cover crops in the rotation,  he had no water standing or drowned out wheat due to amazing water infiltration. Along with cover crops, Steve also used two applications of Hyprgrow compost extract from Elevate Ag and his wheat was healthy enough that a fungicide application was not needed. Steve notes, “I told ADM how I was growing my wheat and they are very interested in learning more. I am hopeful that this will open up new marketing opportunities for me in the future where I can leverage my soil health practices.  Oilseed sunflowers are another new crop for Steve and he has been learning a lot there as well. Being just outside of Chicago, he has noticed many people showing up at his fields to take flowers and pictures and Steve is investigating ways to tap into an agritourism market as a way to diversify income on his farm. 

Never afraid to try new things, Steve has also started interseeding into corn and sunflowers, using fungal dominant tea, planting green, and introducing bees.  This past year, one of his bean fields started to yellow up due to a bacterial infection. Using a program from Ken Hamilton, Steve applied a fungal tea product and to the amazement of Steve and his agronomist, after the two applications of fungal tea the beans were free of any infection. In fact, it took the field longer to mature and dry down due to the beans being so healthy from the extra biology! Steve and two friends plan to build their own bioreactor and create Johnson-Su compost to apply to their crops in the hope of lowering inputs and increasing margins on their crops. 

Advice To Others

When asked about advice to those who want to try regenerative practices, Steve says, “If you rent most of your ground like I do, clear communication with landlords is key to letting them know what you want to try and why.  Give them a Green Cover Soil Health Resource Guide and be willing to spend time answering their questions. Also, having a peer support group has been very beneficial for myself and two close friends as we put our heads and resources together to help each other achieve our goals. I am optimistic about the future of agriculture because we have made the regenerative choice and are creating a better future for our children who would like to continue what we have started.  As I have gone down this road, I have relied on many educational resources such as Green Cover YouTube videos to help me with new ideas and concepts. My ultimate goal is to become regenerative organic or what I like to call “Original Agriculture!”