'Tis the season to prep your nest boxes 🪺
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This Month
Season’s Greetings from Wild Farm Alliance! As we celebrate the holiday season, it is the perfect time to plan ahead to support beneficial birds on your farm. Install new songbird nest boxes and clean out existing ones by the end of January to ensure they’re ready for the nesting season next spring. Learn more in our new Midwest Nesting Structures publication below, or check out our updated West Coast edition with the same title. If you decide to install a nest box, be sure to join our growing Farmland Flyways Trail Map! This month, we are also excited to share highlights from our recent field day at LangeTwins Winery & Vineyard, a new video about miles of hedgerows on Burroughs Family Farm, and details about the EcoFarm Pre-conference we are co-hosting in January. As the year comes to a close, make a donation to help us to continue championing wild farming into the future.
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Nesting Structures for Beneficial Songbirds
WFA is pleased to release a new Midwest version and an updated West Coast version of our Nesting Structures for Beneficial Songbirds publication. The publication provides guidance on installing and maintaining nesting structures for beneficial songbirds on farms. It details the requirements for successful nesting, such as food, cover, and water, and offers specific instructions on the types of nest boxes to use, their placement and how to protect them from predators. The publication also includes information on monitoring and maintaining the nest boxes, as well as the benefits of attracting these birds for natural pest control.
Install boxes this winter and join our Farmland Flyways Trail!
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Miles of Hedgerow Interspersed in the Farm
Rosie Burroughs of Burroughs Family Farm produces organic almonds, olive oil, milk, cheese, and grass-based eggs and meats. They have been planting hedgerows for 45 years with a mix of trees, shrubs and flowers. The habitat attracts wildlife that supports pollination and pest control. Our latest video features Rosie and researcher Lora Morandin of Pollinator Partnership. Lora shares how hedgerows support ten times as many natural enemy insects than weedy edges, and some of these beneficials travel up to 200 meters (~660 feet) into the crop.
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Restoring the Land and Strengthening Our Food System
Making a meaningful impact on the world can seem like a big challenge, but Wild Farm Alliance shows us it’s absolutely possible. Through innovative programs, like the Farmland Flyways Trail, WFA is transforming agriculture to strengthen climate resilience, protect wild nature, and ensure the vitality of our food systems.
As an environmentalist, I resonate deeply with WFA’s approach to tackling biodiversity loss—not only in the soil but across our planet and within our own bodies. WFA’s 2050 Vision lays the groundwork for sustainable, regenerative agriculture, and it’s inspiring to see the ripple effect of positive change in every farm they work with.
I choose to support WFA because they empower farmers to restore the land, strengthening our food system while addressing urgent issues of climate change and biodiversity loss. As an impact investor, I know my donation fuels real transformation—every dollar contributes to a healthier world for birds, pollinators, and countless other creatures vital to our ecosystem.
Join me in making a year-end donation to WFA. Together, we can create lasting change and make a difference, one farm at a time.
Glenda Corning
Meadowsweet Dairy
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Field Day at LangeTwins Winery & Vineyards
By Rowan O’Connell-Gates, WFA GrizzlyCorps Fellow
In November 2024, we partnered with LangeTwins Winery & Vineyards to organize a field day focused on highlighting the impacts holistic biodiversity practices can have upon production viticulture. More than 40 participants braved a stormy fall morning and gathered at LangeTwins new hedgerow planting in Acampo, CA to learn from avian researchers, ecologists, conservationists and viticultural professionals about strategies to better support beneficial insects and birds for pest control in vineyards.
Many of the event's featured speakers, including Michael Dunn of PJ Dunn Working Red Worms, Stephanie Bolton of Lodi Rules and Nick Filaninno of Wild Farm Alliance, have partnered with LangeTwins to expand their use of regenerative farming practices. Kendra Altnow, Sustainability Manager at LangeTwins Winery & Vineyards, explained that their use of worm castings, hedgerows, and bird boxes are showing dramatic impacts on their vineyards' soil health and beneficial animal populations.
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EcoFarm & Wild Farm Alliance Jointly Present:
Practical Whole Farm Solutions for Pest Management Practitioners and Growers
Pre-Conference Event on Wednesday, January 22, 2025 from 8 am - 5 pm
Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, CA
$99 (lunch included)
A unique opportunity to learn a whole systems approach to pest management, this preconference addresses both soil health and habitat diversity on the farm. It covers techniques on how to reduce the use of pesticides and come into compliance with California's pesticide reduction strategy. Learn more about the sessions included in this pre-conference event and register today!
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 2024 Impact Report
We’re thrilled to celebrate the incredible strides we’ve made together in 2024! Thanks to your support, we:
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Planned or installed 13 miles of hedgerows and hundreds of other acres in additional conservation practices, transforming farmland into thriving ecosystems.
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Expanded our Farmland Flyways initiative to the Upper Midwest, creating vital habitat corridors for migratory birds.
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Reached tens of thousands through educational events, tools, and resources—bringing nature’s wisdom to farming communities everywhere.
Together, we’re helping farmers integrate biodiversity into their work, creating farmscapes that sustain both people and ecosystems.
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Bringing Nature Back to the Farm
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