The Restoration Agriculture Farm is intentionally designed to demonstrate how thoughtful landscape engineering can improve agricultural productivity while restoring ecological function. The farm's signature feature is a series of concentric berms and swales that manage water naturally across the landscape. During heavy rainfall, the berms slow and redirect water, while the swales capture runoff, reduce erosion, and promote infiltration. This design helps protect crops from flooding and builds resilience to increasingly frequent and intense rain events.

The swales are planted with diverse native wildflowers and flowering perennials that provide season-long habitat and forage for pollinators and other beneficial insects. In addition to enhancing biodiversity, the vegetation further slows water movement, filters sediment, and contributes to healthier soils and improved water quality.

Between the perennial tree rows are 55-foot-wide alleys that provide space for annual agronomic crop production and applied research. These alleys support studies on grain production, cover cropping, soil health, and integrated cropping systems while maintaining compatibility with modern agricultural equipment. Together, the perennial plantings, pollinator habitat, and research alleys demonstrate how productive farming and ecological restoration can work together to create resilient agricultural landscapes.