#Minnesota farmer grows #ClimateAdaptive seedlings as co-op member

Brian Ingmire’s mission to help #reforest northern Minnesota became a lot more important after the June 21 storm that leveled millions of trees in the #Bemidji area.

By Dennis Doeden
September 07, 2025 at 9:00 AM

Excerpt: "Brian is a member of the Farm & Forest Growers Cooperative, a network of small farms and nurseries that grow climate-adaptive tree seeds into seedlings, and then sell the seedlings to reforestation agencies and individuals.

" 'Minnesota has a massive need for tree seedlings,' Ingmire said. 'Something like 10 million trees are needed every year at a minimum. And we have a lot of forest disturbance, whether it’s fires or wind events.'

"Ingmire figures he has about 30,000 tree seedlings on his farm, and about two-thirds of them will be available for purchase this fall. Online orders can be placed at climatesmarttrees.com. He's also been selling seedlings at his Bemidji Natural Choice Farmers Market booth, and says having them there gives him an opportunity to talk about the project.

"New North Farm is one of 24 members of the cooperative. Ingmire is growing several varieties, including #RedOak, #BurrOak, #YellowBirch and #SilverMaple. All are collected from about 200 miles south and then started up north.

" 'I can tell you where their parent tree came from,' Ingmire said. “They should be able to handle the changes in temperature extremes. We’ve got different insect pests and #fungal pests that are putting stressors on trees just because of the temperature extremes. These trees should have the genetic ability to deal with that kind of extreme.'

"The need for #reforestation was certainly exacerbated in the Bemidji area after the June storm. It is estimated that Beltrami County lost nine million trees, and many were also downed in parts of Hubbard and Cass counties.

" 'That number exceeds a lot of the nursery capacity that we have,' Ingmire said."

Read more:
https://www.inforum.com/sports/northland-outdoors/minnesota-farmer-grows-climate-adaptive-seedlings-as-co-op-member

#SolarPunkSunday #ClimateChangeAgriculture
#ClimateChange #ClimateChangeAdaptation #MoreTrees

Silver Maple - Midnight Textures

#Piano #Melancholic #pianomusic #musik #musica #music #nowPlaying #NowListeningTo #nowlistening #SilverMaple #MidnightTextures #EpidemicSound

https://youtu.be/vg8VnvxbsQs

I always LOL at #ThickTrunkTuesday. So here’s one that might be controversial. 😬

This #SilverMaple was rotting from the inside out (above the cut) and posed a major threat to the house and surrounding structures. It also fully shaded our backyard making #gardening impossible. So it had to go. We’ve since planted cherry and peach trees.