On a quiet day in early March, Andy and Melissa Dunham’s farm, just north of I-80 in east-central Iowa, is a place of unlikely intersections. A steamy greenhouse full of newly planted seed beds is half buried in ice and snow. An old-fashioned red barn looks out over a newly maturing grove of hardy kiwi vines and chestnuts. And in a few months, the couple’s rows of carrots, beets, and kale will be surrounded by vast corn and soybean fields that stretch to the horizon.

Grinnell Heritage Farm (GHF) once looked like the fields that surround it, which dominate most of Iowa’s landscape. But today, it’s home to one of the largest community supported agriculture (CSA) farms in the state. The Dunhams grow 40 to 60 types of certified organic vegetables, herbs, and flowers for their members and 10 to 12 wholesale crops including kale, cabbage, onions, carrots, parsnips, and beets. They pack up to 250 CSA boxes a week in summer, fall, and winter.  And a small herd of 15 cows, which they keep mostly to support soil fertility, also provides meat and feeder calves in the fall.

Steve Moen, a longtime customer and produce buyer for New Pioneer Coop, which has several stores throughout the state, raves about the quality of GHF root vegetables and cooking greens. “They set a high bar for quality, and they do everything right,” he says. “They are great to work with.”

Grinnell Heritage Farm from above. (Photo courtesy of Grinnell Heritage Farm)

In providing for their devoted customers, the Dunhams employ an impressive array of soil-building, conservation, pollinator, and ecosystem practices—and, set in the middle of Big Ag country, they demonstrate how agriculture can benefit the land and the community. Organic certification gives them a way to talk with customers about their farming practices, but their philosophy extends well beyond the requirements.

“If you can name a conservation practice, we’re probably doing it,” says Andy, ticking off a list of just some of their efforts: no-till and minimal-till farming, pollinator habitat, hedgerows, rotational grazing, and more.

Even though the Dunhams have spent a lot of time building a resilient, environmentally focused operation, recent weather extremes and changes to the retail environment have put their farm (like many others) in a vulnerable place financially. While Grinnell Heritage Farm escaped the recent devastating floods that drowned fields and towns along both sides of the Missouri River in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska, a number of other climate- and industry-related challenges remain.

The Light-Bulb Moment

Grinnell Heritage Farm, in Andy’s family for five generations, started back in 1857. Like most farms in Iowa, it began as a diversified operation, with livestock, forage, fruit trees, vegetables, and grain, and over time it was converted to corn and soy. By the time Andy’s grandparents were ready for someone to take over, their 80 acres of commodity crops had become less and less profitable.

(Photo courtesy of Grinnell Heritage Farm)

Andy grew up in the small town of Hopkinton in northeast Iowa, riding along on farm calls with his dad, a large animal veterinarian. Despite his family history, farming wasn’t something he considered doing until joining the Peace Corps as an agricultural extension officer in Tanzania. Soil fertility was a huge limitation for farmers there—people spent half of their yearly income on fertilizer. With an acre to tend, he began learning soil building, composting, and organic methods.

“I put a shovel in the ground, and a light bulb came on,” he says. “I realized this is what I wanted to do.”

After a year on an organic farm back in the States, he came home to his grandparents’ farm in 2006. He started growing vegetables on three acres, expanding production over time to 20 acres, with the rest in pasture, hay, fruit trees, and wildlife habitat.

Andy and Melissa, who both turn 40 this year, married in 2007. With her creative energy and background in accounting and his farming knowledge and experience, the farm is now their full-time livelihood; they’ve invested in a greenhouse, packing shed, loading dock, barns, and drip irrigation. They value the flexibility of the work and the time it grants them with their three children, Collin, 20, Emma, 10, and Leonora, 7.

Planting tomatoes and lettuce in the hoop house. (Photo courtesy of Grinnell Heritage Farm)

In addition to Andy’s aunt Janet, the farm employs four people full-time, year-round, as well as two to three seasonal workers. Unfortunately, affording health insurance and providing for employees is difficult given that wages rise faster than produce prices, and Andy and Melissa are finding it increasingly hard to find help.

From ‘Moonscape’ to a Conservation-Focused Operation

Nevertheless, the Dunhams are continually learning and expanding their efforts to build soil and make the farm ecosystem more resilient. They grow cover crops on 85 percent of their acres, waiting as long as practical to maximize nutrients before plowing them in. They use a no-till drill for planting in some areas and minimal till elsewhere to avoid soil damage. In areas without good drainage, they use raised beds. Over 10 years, they say, their soil organic matter has more than tripled.

On a cold March day, the Dunham’s cattle and calves munch hay next to the barn. Andy estimates they’re standing atop a four-foot layer of manure and compost that will become fertilizer once the weather thaws and the cows move onto pasture.

“We started with basically a moonscape,” Andy notes. “Now we’re seeing that former prairies like this have unique potential to lock up carbon in the soil.”

They also devote a lot of energy to creating a habitat friendly to pollinators. “Beetle banks” are among the practices they’ve adopted as part of a collaboration with Bee Better Certification from Xerces Society of Invertebrate Conservation. The raised earthen berms, planted with native grasses and flowers, attract pollinators, and also provide habitat for nocturnal ground beetles that feed on potato beetles. Hedgerows provide shelter for bees and buffers against pesticide drift from neighboring cornfields.

Grinnell Heritage Farm carrots for sale at New Pioneer Coop, Iowa City. (Photo courtesy of Grinnell Heritage Farm)

CSA memberships and wholesale accounts are their primary source of income.  Their most important wholesale buyer is FarmTable, a food hub based several hours west in Harlan, Iowa. The local food aggregator, which deals in fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat, eggs, honey, and other local products, picks up and distributes GHF produce to retail stores and restaurants in Omaha, Lincoln, Des Moines, and other urban markets.

FarmTable Owner and General Manager Ellen Walsh-Rosmann, a fellow farmer, says the Dunhams are one of the hub’s largest vegetable suppliers. Buying from GHF gives her a good variety of products and a long season, she says, and it’s especially important for stores that want organic produce.

In addition to the food hub, Whole Foods Market buys from GHF for their west Des Moines store and their regional distribution center, and GHF delivers directly to other accounts, including a dozen CSA drop sites across eastern Iowa.

Weathering the Challenges

Last year was a rough. A cold spring and hot, dry summer were followed by two months of drenching rain, flooding, and an early freeze.

After coaxing a good crop through the heat, two-thirds of an acre of carrots rotted in the field just before harvest, and they lost $150,000 in overall sales. Wholesale deliveries that usually last well into February ended in November. And for the first time ever, GHF cancelled one week’s CSA shares.

The losses forced the Dunhams to borrow more than usual to pay for seeds and other costs ahead of the 2019 season. In addition, they’re shifting their planting schedule to finish earlier in the season to reduce risk, and they asked CSA members to purchase 2019 shares early to help with up front costs.

Shoppers at New Pioneer missed the carrots, but Moen says many are aware of the devastating weather and are already looking forward to this year’s crop. The store found other suppliers to fill the gap, but local produce is a key distinction for the 35-year community-owned store. FarmTable sales were also hurt, according to Walsh-Rosmann; without the beets and carrots from GHF, some customers dropped orders for other local products as well.

In addition to climate-related issues, changes in the grocery industry are another concern, even when the weather cooperates. Long-time customers like New Pioneer and other regional grocers have lost sales to national chains like Aldi, Costco, and Trader Joe’s. The larger chains don’t carry local produce, so the lower sales affect not only the stores but also their local suppliers. One major chain, which used to allow individual stores flexibility to buy and set prices with local growers, now caps prices in a central buying office, cutting out most local farms.

“I think most people aren’t aware, or don’t think about the fact that none of the produce at those chains is local,” says Andy. “They don’t realize how much difference it makes to us.”

An Uncertain Future

The Dunhams are thoughtful and deliberate about the choices they’ve made for their land. Their mission is “to farm our land in a way that will leave it better for the next generation, giving our children, grandchildren, and beyond the opportunity to harvest the bounty we see on the farm today.” To share those values with their community, they’ve started holding regular gatherings, dubbed “HaPIZZAness,” that bring neighbors and families to the farm for wood-fired pizza, music, and wagon rides, creating connections that are about more than vegetables.

A HaPIZZAness flier. (Photo courtesy of Grinnell Heritage Farm)

Still, the challenges of climate change and economics weigh heavily. As the arid/humid boundary at the 100th Meridian continues moving east, expanding the drier parts of the country, shifts in weather patterns and planting zones, as well as drought, flooding, and extreme weather events, are all predicted to increase. Crop damage and pest and disease pressures will be especially harsh in certain parts of the Midwest, and windows for planting and harvest in the region will grow shorter, according to reports from USDA, ag business leaders, and climate scientists.

Additionally, a 2018 Cornell University-led study predicts that a 1-degree Celsius increase in summer temperatures could quadruple the frequency of crop losses and points out that with so much reliance on just two crops, corn and soybeans, the Midwest is especially vulnerable.

“We were at a farmer meeting on climate change [co-sponsored by Iowa Interfaith Power and Light] last week, and even the big conventional farmers with 5,000 acres or more say they feel trapped,” Andy said. “A lot of them would try different practices if they could afford it. With the right incentives and policies, they could change in one season.” But the current system doesn’t encourage farms to take risks and invest in practices to be more resilient; instead, Andy thinks, “we are rewarding the wrong players.”

For Walsh-Rosmann, the evidence of a changing climate is already here as the Midwest deals with the recent historic floods. The farms that supply her are all safe, but she’s been delivering relief supplies to nearby communities, and the destruction is heartbreaking. “Do we weather the storm and hope the local food system is more resilient than the rest of conventional ag?” she wonders.

The Dunhams worry that another year of weather extremes could force them to scale back or take on more debt than they are comfortable with. The web of community and economic support—grocery stores, small distributors, food processors, and restaurants—is interdependent, and farms like theirs are at risk across the U.S.

“If we can’t make a go of it, on some of the best soil in the world, with a pretty competent farmer, the lights are going to go out for a lot of people,” Melissa says.

“My life is what I make of it, and I can’t complain unless I do something about it,” adds Andy. “But at some point, just being a good example won’t be enough.”

The crowd at a HaPIZZAness event. (Photo courtesy of Grinnell Heritage Farm)

The post Grinnell Heritage Farm is Farming Against Type—and Against the Odds—in Iowa appeared first on Civil Eats.

Brothers Dana and Aaron Clark, along with Dana’s son Silas, daughter Naomi, and her husband Craig, are the heart of the operation. Other family members pitch in when they’re needed. Mid-September is peak apple season, and this year’s crop looks like the biggest the Clarks have had in over a decade.

Clockwise from top left: Craig, Silas, Dana, Aaron and Naomi Clark, Ashfield, Mass. (Photo © Diane Rast, used with permission.)

Apple season means pick-your-own outings and trips to the farmers’ market for many, but those direct-to-consumer outlets account for around .3 percent of U.S. farm sales, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Most apples are sold through wholesale distributors, bought in the grocery store, or supplied by orchards like Clark Brothers. Any one of the morning’s challenges could cost the family a season’s livelihood, but experience, resourcefulness, and innovative strategies—mixed with a hearty dose of luck—have kept their 65-acre orchard going for five generations.

The Clarks’ morning scene offers a window into the challenges facing independent, family-owned orchards in a global commodity market. Apples are a $4 billion dollar a year crop in the U.S., second in size only to China’s. Two-thirds come from Washington, the rest from farms in New York, Michigan, and at least 26 other states. Farms like the Clark’s grow most of the apples we eat in the U.S., and they are up against big odds. On mornings like this, it’s not a given that any of them will make it to next season, much less be able to sustain their operations for another generation.

A Set of Challenges

This year, the Clarks weren’t certain they’d have people to help harvest their crop. A crew of Jamaican men have worked for them for decades through the H-2A guest worker program. Some have known Naomi and Silas (now in their early 30s) since childhood, and their experience and skill are not easily replaced. Three men arrived in April, and four others eventually followed, but approvals for another nine were delayed so long the men had to take jobs elsewhere. That left seven people to harvest a crop that normally takes 16.

Linval Williams, an H2A worker from Jamaica, harvesting apples at Clark Brothers Orchard. (Photo © Diane Rast, used with permission.)

Eventually, their growers association helped locate a few guest workers harvesting tobacco who were willing to stay in the U.S. and transfer. “We weren’t sure they had any experience with apples and we’re still short three workers,” said Aaron.

Labor shortages are a major issue throughout agriculture, especially in fruit and vegetables. The H-2A program, despite many flaws, has been a primary source of seasonal workers in Northeast orchards since the 1950s. Orchards elsewhere, are turning increasingly to H-2A as one of the only legal means to hire seasonal workers. Locals are rarely interested in short-term work, or willing to do such hard physical labor; a nearby orchard has recruited an 80-year-old neighbor to help bring in their crop.

An unseasonable summer hailstorm is another nagging worry. There’s no way to know the extent of damage hail does until the picking starts—it could be half the fruit or more in parts of the orchard. Hail-dimpled fruit, sound but cosmetically flawed, has to be sold for juicing at a fraction of the price for fresh, in a global juice concentrate market dominated by the world’s largest producer, China.

Members of the Clark family coordinate constantly as bins of fruit are moved from orchard to pack-line, into bags and boxes, and from there into several cool-rooms. Craig reports they are almost out of the cardboard case inserts that protect fruit from bruising. Aaron winces: He ordered them weeks ago. The supplier is a large company, and the Clark’s order is low-priority. But they can’t pack without the inserts. Dana drives up the road to ask a neighbor for some, but comes back empty-handed; the neighbor has asked if he can borrow some boxes. Meanwhile, Craig has devised a substitute, and the crew keeps the apples moving.

For the past 15 years, the Clarks’ season has started with an order from a regional grocery chain that pays well and on time, and appreciates regional varieties. That first order is the difference between making payroll, or not, for the harvest workers. But after being acquired several times, most recently by a large national company, the customer is slower to respond. This year, the chain decided to skip the first order, for Macintosh, and wait for Honeycrisp, a more popular variety that sells at a higher price. Their order for half a truckload came just in time to make the first payroll.

A new customer helps offset the skipped order. At a matchmaking event hosted by Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA), a Western Massachusetts organization that supports and promotes local food, the Clarks met the buyer for a grocery chain they’d been hoping to sell to, who offered a good price, and has begun placing regular orders.

While Apple Crop Increases, Orchards Decline

The odds often seem stacked against orchards like Clark Brothers. The number of U.S. farms growing apples has been declining for over a quarter century. Between 1983 and 2007, the U.S. Census of Agriculture reported a loss of more than one-third of the farms producing apples commercially. Some were sold to larger orchards, but many left farming altogether. The number of acres planted to apples during the same period also declined by over 30 percent.

Photo © Diane Rast, used with permission.

As the number of orchards and acreage dropped, the size of the U.S. apple crop steadily increased, thanks to new high-density plantings that fit thousands of trees per acre. That growth doesn’t translate into profits, though: prices to growers have stayed static while costs for transportation, marketing, and labor steadily increased. Food system analyst Ken Meter has found that when adjusted for cost of living, the annual dollar value of apple sales between 1924-2010 is essentially flat. That explains in part why so many orchards are disappearing, and why over 50 percent of U.S. farm operators rely on off-farm jobs for income and health insurance.

What it doesn’t explain is how families like the Clarks keep growing apples, a crop that requires a tenacious mix of dedication to family and the land; eaters who want to buy local; retail and wholesale produce buyers who still value handshake relationships; the support of grower associations and nonprofits that coordinate infrastructure and help out when a crop fails or packaging runs short; and a vital, though under-funded, land grant and public research system that helps improve growing practices, fend off invasive insects, and find new varieties.

The Clarks’ toughest competition comes from Washington state, which now produces nearly 65 percent of all apples grown in the U.S. The size, varieties, and prices of the Washington crop determine apple economics for the rest of the industry. Washington orchards range from a few acres to tens of thousands.

Unlike some other sectors of agriculture such as pork, beef and poultry, where ownership of packing and marketing is concentrated in a few large, non-farming companies many of the companies that grow, pack, and market apples are grower-owned family companies or coops. (According to Pew Charitable Trust, in 2010 the four largest companies owned 51 percent of the poultry industry, 85 percent in beef, and 65 percent in pork.)

In Washington State, for instance, most of the largest orchards and fresh apple packing and marketing companies are cooperatives, such as Chelan Fruit, or grower-owned operations such as Stemilt, Domex, and Rainier, which grow their own fruit and also buy from hundreds of other family-owned orchards of various sizes. In the rest of the country the orchards and packers tend to be smaller and even less likely to be owned by non-growers or investors.

Differentiating with Ecological Growing Practices

The Clarks’ orchards aren’t certified organic. But they are long-time practitioners of an approach called integrated pest management (IPM). They use advanced techniques such as mating disruption, trapping, and monitoring to minimize the need for chemical treatments, and have a healthy population of native pollinators. One of the toughest challenges in a balanced ecosystem like the Clarks’ is the introduction of invasive pests, exacerbated by global trade and changing weather patterns.

Apples in a Clark family orchard. (Photo courtesy of Red Tomato)

One such pest—the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB)—has been moving north from Pennsylvania for several years. It can do extensive damage if left unchecked, and research into biological controls hasn’t yet caught up with the spread of the insects, now found in over 22 states. But the chemicals that control BMSB can be hard on beneficial insects, which in turn keep other pests under control. Asked about their commitment to IPM, Dana says vehemently, “I hate to spray [pesticides]. But if we were hit with something [like BMSB], we don’t see any alternative.”

Using the least toxic materials available often means accepting more risk—a decision that is hard to explain to consumers. So in 2004, Clark Brothers Orchard helped found a program called Eco Apple, a production and marketing partnership that works across a network of growers, scientists from land grant universities, and two nonprofits: the IPM Institute of North America and Massachusetts food hub, Red Tomato. [Disclosure: the author is Red Tomato’s director of marketing, and works closely with the Eco Apple program.]

Most certified organic apples sold in the U.S. are grown in Central and Eastern Washington, where the dry climate makes organic practices especially effective. Eco Apple certifies fruit grown using ecological production methods that suit the Northeast with its humid climate and considerable range of pest and disease pressures.

Eco-certification is one way Clarks can let consumers know about the extra care that goes into their production decisions, and the distinction helps them maintain competitive prices and a foothold with wholesale buyers looking for something that makes their apples unique.

As global consolidation of marketing, distribution, and retailing drives even the most loyal customers to cut costs and standardize supply chains, the pressures on farmers like the Clarks’ are steady and relentless. It’s a daunting picture, but small shifts matter. The same combination of factors that determines the perilous edge between a good year and a major loss also means that every small victory can make a big difference: a grocery buyer who’s reliable and pays a fair price, whose customers want to know the source of their apples; collaboration with other growers and organizations who help out when labor or packaging are short; and a robust public science and farm program that supports growers with investments and research.

It all adds up. Tipping the balance often enough could mean a sixth generation at Clark Brothers Orchard.

Top photo: Dana Clark, courtesy of Red Tomato.

The post Easy as Pie? Family Apple Farms Persist Against the Odds appeared first on Civil Eats.