Justin Knopf is a fifth-generation farmer near Salina, KS. Working alongside his dad and brother, the Knopf family grows wheat, alfalfa, soybeans, grain sorghum, corn, and multi-species cover crops on 4,500 acres, utilizing a holistic approach that considers returns to natural and human resources in addition to economic ones. For 15 years, their cropping system has been focused on continuous no-till with crop rotations, which protects the soil, allows its biology to thrive, increases its carbon content, and is more resilient to extreme weather. Knopf regularly learns from and shares information with other farmers and has held leadership positions in state and national agricultural organizations.
Previously
Many of the people doing today’s most consequential environmental work — restoring America’s grasslands, wildlife, soil, rivers, wetlands, and oceans — would not call themselv...