Transitioning Cropland to Perennial Pasture Profitably: Highlighting the Wiltse Family, the 2025 Kansas Leopold Conservation Award Recipients

12/9/2025

This year the Ecdysis Foundation focused on finding farmers who were converting cropland into perennial pastures. We wanted to see how they were doing it, what was working, what was challenging, and how we could help by documenting the changes and the environmental services they are providing to their communities.

On July 9, 2025, our Ecdysis team traveled to Timken, Kansas to visit the Wiltse Family Farm.

Kevin Wiltse has successfully transitioned more than 500 acres of conventional cropland to native perennial grasses and forbs. The only cash crops he grows now are milo, triticale and rye, all of which he can graze with his cattle and supports the wildlife. 

Kevin transitioned each of his fields one at a time by planting full season cover crops followed by perennial seed mixes using rotationally grazed livestock to encourage the native seeds to germinate in the seed bank (native seeds will lay dormant in the soil for decades and will only germinate when the soil is healthy). This management system restored the soil, made the fields more drought resistant, and promoted more wildlife and insects. Kevin knows that seeing more life in his field is an important indicator of the success of the transition.

We found Kevin to be so willing to share his successes and his lessons. The first field we tested he explained that he had too much bare ground, but what we noticed were all the wildflowers blooming in the field. He noted that he had only planted a few of the species of flowers, the rest had come from the seed bank. The second field we visited was full of life and so many different plants, insects, and birds. Kevin explained that he had started transitioning this field a year earlier and that it was slow to establish. This year, though, it exploded with growth.

Kevin and his family were honored this year as the 2025 Kansas Leopold Conservation Award Winner. I want to personally say how proud I am of Kevin and how thankful we are that he shared his farm with us. Congratulations Kevin……we are so proud to be part of your journey.

Lynnette Miller

Ecdysis Foundation