Standing in the shade of a lone California pepper tree, Michael Clark takes a rare moment to reflect on his family’s 130-acre organic vegetable and berry farm. A fourth-generation farmer at J.R. Organics in Escondido, California, Clark recalls how...
Head of the Flock By Anne Ross, JD Chloe Nevarez emerges from Happy Hens farm store with an 18-month-old strapped to her back and a toddler by her side. They are ready to show me their egg farm located...
Farming for the future and salvation in the soil By Marianne Landzettel Phil McGrath is farming for the future. He represents the fourth generation of McGrath family farmers, cultivating a small piece of land his great-grandfather acquired in the...
The Chef’s Pick New York City’s most memorable meals start in the fields of Norwich Meadows Farm By Michele Marchetti On a November morning in New York City, the pink-tipped kale was turning heads. Grown by Norwich Meadows Farm...
By Kestrel Burcham, JD The Hutchinson Organic Ranch embodies the best in organic ranching today by adapting their practices to the needs of their land. Dave Hutchinson, with his wife Sue, daughter Sarah Drenth, her husband Jared, and their...
Radiance Dairy Redefines Milk Francis Thicke is used to fielding questions about his products. “Why does your milk have a yellow tinge?” Because the cows are on pasture. “Why do I need to shake your whole milk?” Because it’s...
Growing a Fresh Start Rockside Ranch is farming with intention — and helping those in crisis along the way By Patrick Myers Rockside Ranch in northern California is one operation with two objectives. The newest addition to Cornucopia’s Organic...
By Helen Kees This past year at Wheatfield Hill Organics in Durand, Wisconsin, 45 cows and their calves spent five months working on climate change. From May to October, this herd performed a simple act: They grazed certified organic pastures that provided 100%...
Tied to the Land and the Cows Who Graze It Why Chaseholm Farm pivoted to 100% grass-fed by Kestrel Burcham, Cornucopia’s Policy Director In 2013, Sarah Chase took over the day-to-day operations of Chaseholm Farm, the third-generation farm she’d...
When Mike Reid started Paradise Springs Farm in 1999 in Teton Valley, Idaho, the land was suffering from years of neglect. Now the soil is healthy, the fields retain more water, and the vegetation is vibrant and diverse. As...
Eighteen years ago, Steve Frailey boarded a Hawaiian Airlines flight with a suitcase brimming with 12 pounds of Indian blue worms. Those worms play a vital role in Frailey’s 70-acre certified organic farm in Kauai, Hawaii that provides rich soil, fertile ground for...
If there’s a universally loved fruit, it just might be the blueberry. It’s as fun to eat as food gets—popping those purplish little orbs into your mouth by the handful is symbolic of summertime goodness. And where else in...
What is the meaning and purpose of work? Is it simply a means of making a profit and accumulating wealth? Can work build community and nurture the creation? Are we simply miners of the soil, taking all we can...
For Kansas grain producer Oren Holle, the intention to farm was early and lasting. “When I was in high school, only one thing was clear in my mind about my future,” says Holle. “I would be a farmer.” A...
Anaïs Beddard grew up at Lady Moon Farms playing in farm fields, working in the old oak grove packing shed, and cultivating genuine friendships with farm employees and their families. Each employee is part of the family at Lady...
A warm spring morning finds Pennsylvania organic farmer Jim Crawford where any farmer might be this time of year…. on a bicycle trek in Germany? Over 4,000 miles from his fields, Jim is touring the historic streets of Berlin,...
“Turns out,” says Teresa Kurtak, “there’s really nothing else that comes close to being as satisfying as being a farmer.” Although much of her childhood was spent on her family’s cattle ranch in eastern Washington, Kurtak did not expect...
A wild orchard hugs the driveway. The sleepy sugar shack awaits syrup season. And large round bales, set to sustain the herd of Guernsey cows until the growing season, stack high against the calf barn. Strafford Organic Creamery exudes...
“It was a very sad day in the late 70s when I watched the cows leave the farm after the bottom went out of milk prices. I never anticipated that they would return,” remembers Jane Bell. Jane moved to...
Accolades from the American Cheese Society, the United States Championship Cheese Contest, and the UK’s World Jersey Cheese Awards, among others, line an entire wall of the cheese house at Thistle Hill Farm in North Pomfret, Vermont. By way...
For Amy Van Scoik and John Bitter, the quest for quality, affordable farmland began in 2010, as they researched properties and soil profiles throughout the forests of North Central Florida. It was a full year before Amy and John...
In 2005, Pam Schreiber moved her three young children to Westerlo, New York and set out to build her own diversified agricultural business. A former cardiorespiratory therapist and nutritionist who was overwhelmed and frustrated by the long-term impacts of...
Don’t be surprised if you walk out of the on-farm shop at Seven Stars Farm with reverse sticker shock. Cindy Dunphy, who owns and manages the biodynamic, certified organic farm along with her two sons, Ryan and Zack, routinely...
Located 35 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Weatherbury is a highly successful, vertically integrated, 225-acre farm with a unique proclivity to adapt. It took only one season at Weatherbury Farm for the Tudor family to opt for alternative farming...
The Cornucopia Institute, through research and investigations on agriculture and food issues, provides needed information to family farmers, consumers and other stakeholders in the good food movement and to the media.
