NORTHFIELD, Minnesota — Just outside of Northfield, Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin tends to the land on his 65-acre family farm called Salvatierra Farms.
He and his wife acquired the property in early 2021. At the time, the field rotated between corn and soybeans. Now Haslett-Marroquin is in the process of restoring the land.
"There is no imbalance here," he said.
Haslett-Marroquin — inspired by the ancestral knowledge he gained while growing up in Guatemala — is a farming pioneer. He is the co-founder and CEO of Tree-Range Farms.
Haslett-Marroquin and his team are doing things differently — working not against, but with nature. He calls it a regenerative poultry model.
"It's called poultry-centered because it is not about chickens. It's centered on poultry with the idea of restoring the whole ecosystem. Basically, the ancestral habitat of the chicken which is the jungle. Within that concept, the chicken is the pivoting point," Haslett-Marroquin explained.
The process includes restoring the ecosystem with native species.
"Such as hazelnut, and elderberries, and all the other species. We're actually stacking enterprises on the same space... The space where we are transforming energy is as deep as the roots of the hazelnuts and as high as the top of a tree," Haslett-Marroquin said. "Within that, we are harvesting the chickens, timber, biomass, hazelnuts, elderberries, organic matter, garlic outside of where the chickens are, all kinds of ancestral foods."
This is Tree-Range Farms' first year raising chickens. There are two paddocks that the chickens rotate between for grazing.
The process of establishing a regenerative poultry farm enterprise takes about eight years. This is when there should be a permanent canopy structure that chickens are raised under.
"If you come back year five from now, it'll be a completely different environment that we'd be standing in," said Diane Christofore, executive director of the Regenerative Agriculture Alliance (RAA).
RAA is the nonprofit arm of this ecosystem.
"The core of our work is about building community and capacity," Christofore said.
RAA works with farmers on how they can integrate this model into their own operations. They currently work with eight other farms in the area.
Salvatierra Farms serves as the demonstration site for everyone from the public to funders to learn more about regenerative agriculture.
RAA is focused on working with emerging farmers including women, veterans and immigrants.
"All looking to find new ways to access both land and opportunities to build a new food system that... is more inclusive and accessible. Currently, in this country, it's very difficult to access land if you don't have a longstanding history or relationships. So we're hoping that the poultry-centered regenerative agriculture model can be a way that people can start to engage and get connected with their community and food system," Christofore said.
Haslett-Marroquin added, "If we are actually going to eat food and survive as humans, we have to change our ways. We are at the forefront of changing the way we bring food from the landscape, from the ecosystems to our tables."
You can buy Tree-Range chicken at many of the local co-ops.
There is also an Indiegogo fundraiser to support their efforts.
Know a local business we should feature for our Behind the Business segment? Email Heidi Wigdahl at hwigdahl@kare11.com.
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