Soper Farms - Back to the Future of Farming

NOW HIRING - Vegetable Manager Job Description

2010-12-20T15:34:00.000-08:00

Job Opportunity – Organic Vegetable Manager, New Shoots Farm

About Soper Farms – We are a family-owned farming group spanning 4 generations and 71 family stockholders. We are absentee landlords working with farming partners. We are in the middle of transitioning our 1,000 acres near Emmetsburg Iowa from commercial corn & beans to sustainable organic systems with the desire to grow healthy food for our local and regional community. Our second organic transition program under way is our newly established New Shoots Farm.

New Shoots Farm – New Shoots a 260-acre vegetable and livestock farm. Over a four-year schedule, we are building a closed nutrient cycle organic farm with 100 acres of vegetables and extended season green houses as well as cow/calf operation with an annual harvest of 160 grass fed cattle and 9,000 broiler chickens. Our customers range from patrons in our in-town farm store with a bakery and deli, to farmer’s markets, CSA members and institutions. We also have plans to develop branded value-added food products from the farm.

We need you – We are looking for a great vegetable manager to help design and deploy our 100-acre gardens from the soil up. The position will be filled by March, 2011. Build-out and partial production will begin in 2011 with full production by 2012. If you have ever dreamed of building a larger-scale organic vegetable farm with strong support and resources behind you, this is your opportunity.

Job Description:
• Two or more years in-field experience growing fresh market produce
• Well organized and with great people skills
• A passion for all things fresh and organic
• As a member of the management team, you will plan and execute all field planting
and harvest activities and schedules.
• Familiar with biological pest control
• Familiar with green house management and production
• Enjoy being a hands-on mentor to your staff that will grow to 12-18 full-time and
seasonal field/harvest workers.
• Detail oriented towards organic records management, financial accountability and
interest in following organic standards
• Produce daily and weekly planting and production schedules
• Willing to cross train to help support the other aspects of the New Shoots Farm
• Basic tractor and equipment operation
• Quality control and post-harvest product management

Other management team members you will work with include a Livestock and Facilities Manager, Sales and Marketing Manager along with accounting and other support. Your salary will be determined by your experience and includes full health care benefits. For areas where you may lack experience we will support you with training.

You are a special breed of farmer. If you are interested, please contact me at your earliest opportunity. I prefer email but welcome all forms of communication. Please include a cover letter and resume.

My best,

Harn Soper
Deep roots, new shoots
Cell: 650-804-0198
Email: harnsoper@gmail.com
Blog/ http://soperfarms.blogspot.com/

Food Fight ... Not

2010-07-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

There is a real food fight going on between two camps; those who support industrial, GMO-based agriculture that produces food that can only be manufactured with a bar code label on it and those who prefer local fresh and organic food that can be eaten right off the farm. Often the battle cry is over who can better feed the world. Only humans would pick this fight. All other animal species know exactly what to eat compared to humans who make food choices that put their health at risk. The CDC estimates over $147 billion is spent each year in America to treat obesity related diseases like heart disease, some cancers and type 2 diabetes, due to our high fat diet associated with a high consumption of meat.

Before we get sucked into all the rhetoric I think we would be wise to dispel this myth about which camp can best feed the world. Whose idea was it that the world needed us to feed them anyway? The most strident voices are advocates for industrial GMO agriculture such as Monsanto who routinely reference this myth that says we need to increase global food production 50% by 2030 and to double it by 2050, something they claim only their industrial GMO agriculture can do. This assumes our population grows from 6 billion today to 9 billion by 2050. This “fact” has been quoted by scientists, politicians, big agriculture and the GMO industry so often you might think it is true … not so says the Soil Association, a UK charity and organic food advocate founded in 1946.

In an effort to find the basis for these claims, the Soil Association tracked one source back to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and its 2006 report. Based on a list of assumptions that are debatable to begin with, the report stated the overall shortfall in production was only 70%. To achieve that the FAO report does indicate the need to double grain production, most of which is fed to livestock, not people. Maybe that’s where the doubling food production myth started. The report also assumes that the demand will come from developing nations who want a Western style diet filled with much higher meat consumptions. But what country in their right mind would want to abandon their own food culture for our $147 billion per year health care bill?

As a farmer applying both industrial GMO and organic farming systems, the jury is still out for our Soper family farms. We farm industrial corn & beans and organic row crops. Up next is a farm plan that raises grass-fed livestock and organic vegetables, all integrated into one farming system. It’s like one big farming science project. The grade we get is to be determined. But I assure you it has nothing to do with this feed-the-world myth. Let’s not get into this silly food fight at all. It is a waste. Wait, that brings up another subject of food waste. I’ll save for later. Stay tuned.

My best and don't forget to chew carefully,

Harn Soper
Soper Farms, Emmetsburg, Iowa

Job Opportunities – Vegetable & Livestock Farmers

2010-06-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

Soper Farms is a family-owned operation spanning 4 generations and 70 family stockholders. As absentee landlords we are developing programs to transition our 1,000 acres in Iowa from commercial corn & beans to sustainable organic systems with the goal to grow healthy food for our local communities. Soper Farms Fresh is our second transition program.

Greenfield Farm - Planning is nearly complete for this 260-acre vegetable and livestock farm near Emmetsburg in Northwest Iowa (near Spencer and Lake Okoboji). Over a four-year schedule, Soper Farms is targeting a cow/calf operation with an annual harvest of 100 grass fed cattle and up to 9,000 broiler chickens. Also included is an extended season vegetable operation with several hoop houses and 40+ acres of outdoor gardens. Additional livestock and vegetable products will be added as markets develop.

A go/no-go decision on this Greenfield enterprise will be made in early August, 2010. To support this plan I need to know the talent pool that is available. Salaries and benefits are yet to be determined but they will be fair and reflect the applicant’s background and experience.

As the enterprise evolves, both retail and wholesale markets will be pursued including an extended season 500 CSA membership, institutional food service sales, farmer’s markets and wholesale channels for value added products to include but not limited to baked goods, cheese and meat products. The mix of the above will reveal itself over time as the enterprise gains expertise.

With the exception of wells, there is no other infrastructure on this farm. Imagine this Greenfield site as an opportunity to join a team building a 21st Century farm from the soil up. It includes building fencing, hoop houses, gardens, livestock handling facilities, maintenance facilities, sales & marketing offices, living quarters, on-site energy generation and a farm store with retail space and bakery.

Staffing will grow as the enterprise grows and include full-time and seasonal personnel. The farmers needed must be multi-talented and interested in cross training in all areas of the farm. Talent areas sought include:

Rotational livestock management and labor
Pasture management and labor
Facilities management and labor
Vegetable management and labor
Vegetable and livestock production management and labor
Sales & marketing management and labor across all media platforms
Office management and labor
Retail management and labor
Value added food products development management and labor
… to name a few

If you are interested, please contact me at your earliest opportunity. I prefer email at this time but welcome all forms of communication. Please include a cover letter and resume. I can be reached at:

Harn Soper
President – Soper Farms, Inc.
1270 Cedar Street, Palo Alto, CA 94301
h/ 650-321-9375
m/ 650-804-0198
e/ harnsoper@gmail.com

Polyface Farm, Swoope, VA, April 2009

2010-01-24T15:28:00.000-08:00

Wecome to Polyface farms. On April 11th I rolled into Swoope, VA to meet up with Joel Salatin.

Swoope is a beautiful wide spot in the road in the Shenandoah Valley. The ladies at the post office were helpful in getting me turned around in the right direction. Finally, here I am driving into Polyface Farm.

As you’ll learn, Polyface is a family operation running for many decades. Joel and his family focus on raising organic (and beyond organic) cows, chickens, pigs, rabbits and vegetables. These cows greeted my arrival with great enthusiasm. You can see it in their eyes, really excited!

I joined Joel that day as he gave a tour to about 20 local college students from James Madison University. All his livestock are pasture-raised meaning that they spend most of their time foraging on grassland. Polyface is 550 acres with 150 in woodland.

Rabbits

Our first stop on the tour was at some movable rabbit hutches. Meet Joel (in the hat) and his rabbits (in the hutch).

Polyface rabbits were started by Joel”s son as a 4H project. Starting with commercial rabbits who’s genetics were not forage-based, it took 5 years of line breeding (no outside genetics) with up to 50% mortality rates until he achieved these forage-based commercial rabbits who could thrive, as wild rabbits do, on grass. Joel is a believer in developing stock that is acclimatized to the farmer’s specific region rather than just depending on heritage breeds, most of which were developed in Europe hundreds of years ago.

Joel supports building North American breeds to add to the cornucopia of choice for his grandchildren because every breed carries genetic memory of its bioregion. Notice how inexpensive the infrastructure is. The hutch is moved daily providing new forage for the rabbits and adding their effluents to fertilize the ground over a large area. In the winter these animals are housed in a hoop house with the chickens. When the hoop house is emptied in the spring and the chickens and rabbits hit the pasture, Joel plants corn inside utilizing the nutrients from the chickens and rabbits and getting a jump on the corn season.

Chickens

Pasture poultry is a centerpiece of Polyface Farm. This picture is of Joel’s “broilers” (meat) chickens. They are “industrial” chicks compared to the “layers” that are heritage chickens for egg production. They are started indoors at a few days old. At three weeks they come out to the pasture, weather permitting.

These (again, not fancy) shelters are 10’x 12’ by 2’ high and house up to 75 birds per shelter. At 8 weeks old the chick’s growth will fill the shelter area. Because the chick have juvenile immune systems they stay on one area of pasture for just one day and then are moved so no pathogens can build up. That spot won’t see another chicken for one year giving it a good long recovery cycle. The shelters are designed so as to be easily moved by only one person each morning.

One person can move 5,000 birds in one hour. There is no manure to haul, no odor, no flies, just healthy chickens.

Joel believes the creation of this food should be aesthetic, aromatic, and a sensual romantic pleasure. After all isn’t that what you would like in a meal when you sit down at the table. Instead, our industrial food system has an obnoxious affect on the human olfactory and sensory system to such an extent that we have to hide livestock confinement production as far out of site and out of mind as possible … and then expect people to have an integrity relationship with a plate of food.

Here Joel shows that he isn’t a Luddite, farming only like grandpa used to, but takes advantage of technology like this lightweight and portable fencing with built in electrical wires to keep out predators.

Like we hear about crop rotation for vegetables, Joel does the same with animals where his chickens follow the cows so they can eat all the goodies the cows leave behind as well as forage in the grass for grubs. Joel will also supplement their feed with some grain. Joel makes the point that his broiler chickens come from commercial stock, as they are the breeds of choice for consumers. It is after all, a business … but these birds are healthy, happy and after one bad day … taste great.

Joel raises other hens (layers) for their eggs. Here is one of his movable egg-mobiles.

Again, nothing fancy. For the same reason he keeps moving the broiler chickens, he moves the layers as well so they add to the bio diversity of his pastures and they benefit from the grubs, worms and fly maggots in the ground.

Joel uses nocturnal guard dogs that are working dogs. The dog bonds with the chickens and keep predators away. This pup is a cross between an Anatolian Sheppard and an Ockbosh.

These hens add about $30,000 to Joel’s operation per year. Joel warns not to move the coop in the daytime because the chickens might get lost coming home. He moves the coop at dusk when they all have come home to roost. Keep in mind how small a chicken’s brain is.

Pigs

The pigs on Polyface farm also are pasture raised. There are a lot of forested areas on Joel’s 550 acres, which turns out to be great grazing for pigs. They eat weeds and root around for acorns, which clears out the area for new pasture under growth. These pigs live behind a double row of electric fence and, like the other livestock, are moved around at intervals.

Like the pigs on Herrmannsdorfer Farm in Germany, they come up to you for a good scratch and the off chance you might have something in your pocket for them. This is a 2-acre lightly forested pasture divided into quarter acre paddocks. In addition to their foraging the pigs are fed local GMO-free grain. After they eat a ton they move on to the next paddock. What keeps the area from smelling at all is the continual paddock rotation. Compare that from being down wind from a hog confinement facility. The formula for keeping pathogens out of your heard is to go 21 days host-free (no pigs on the ground) to break the pathogen cycle … thus there is no need for antibiotics. This formula is the same for cows, chickens, rabbits (maybe even people). This area gives the pigs a chance to wonder and play and to eat what ever they want to express their full pigness. No wonder they are so content. Man is probably the only creature on earth you have to tell what to eat.

At 200 pounds the pigs are moved further into the forest where their consumption drops in half as they forage for the grubs, acorns, and forest clutter. This causes what is described as a “disturbance” in the ground that is essential for the health of the forest. Again, the natural cycle of interdependency between animal and plant life is essential to a healthy ecosystem and tasty pigs. They are 200 pounds at about 6 months of age and ready for harvesting around 8 months after their last romp through the forest.

Salatin Philosophy

Successional movement always comes on the heels of a disturbance. 200 years ago the buffalo would have come through a million at a time, caused massive disturbance to the ground and forest from which the Great Plains and healthy forests grew. Think about the universality of this as relates to life and relationships. When you have a difficult conversation with your mate, a new plateau can be reached in your relationship which otherwise wouldn’t have happened without working through that problem (disturbance). Joel is a farmer’s philosopher as well.

Pasture

This view is of Joel’s neighbor’s pasture (top left) that hasn’t been grazed on since last November when the cows were taken in for the winter. That is all the growth for the past 5 months. In the foreground is Joel’s pasture where the pasture is much healthier. Why you ask? Because Joel’s rotation cycle puts his cattle on his pastures 3 times a year instead of the traditional once per year. In this picture this is the third growth cycle on Joel’s field. In his county, the typical cow days-per-acre is 80. Using Joel’s program, he averages 400 cow-days-per acre and the ground is better off for it and produces more.

… and the ground hasn’t been plowed, seeded, disked, or added any chemical fertilizer in 50 years. In his forested areas, every acre offsets $500 in pig feed costs and his forests are made all the healthier for it.

Cow Manure & Carbon

During the winter when he shelters the cows, Joel optimizes everything. The cows eat local hay and every day each cow drops 50 pounds of material out their backside. As this waste builds up, he simply raises the hay-feeding trough with pulleys as the bedding beneath their feet builds up.

The manure is highly soluble and as it gets dry it will vaporize with all the associated odor. If it gets wet it will leach into the ground and into ground water. The problem is that in the winter months all the bacteria are hibernating and can’t eat the manure, die to then pass the nutrients on to plants. So Joel adds wood chips, junk hay, straw (all stored carbon) to create a massive bed of mulch. The result is very warm (90°F) mulch that has no smell and is ready to be spread on the fields in the spring. To finish off the mulching process he moves the cows out and puts his pigs in for several weeks where they root around looking for corn he has mixed in to tempt them… mixing it all up with their snouts.

Size & Philosophy

Joel rents another 1,000 acres where he places former Polyface interns who follow his practices to grow organic products and sell through the Polyface CSA channel, offering more products to market. In order to stay within the ecological constraints of their farming practices yet still grow, Polyface has developed a multi-point convictional business protocol to prevent them from going from a good small business to becoming a bad big business. Polyface contrarian business protocols include:

1. They can never have a sales target. Why, because they then begin to look at their people differently, their practices differently in order to meet the goal and in so doing, loose sight of their core values.

2. No public stock or IPOs. Why, so as not to be tempted with a large chunk of cash to blur your core values.

3. They only sell 4 hours from the farm. Why, so they don’t get distracted from being local and serving their community.

4. They are not in the transportation of waste products business. All their waste has to stay on the farm. Why, to keep their wastes within the ecological limits of their farm and not to become someone else’s problem.

5. No trademarks or patents. Why, because this forces them to be innovative and stay ahead of the copyists. Wow, imagine having enough confidence in yourself to know you can stay ahead of the competition without building legal walls around yourself.

Like Polyface farm, it is important for Soper Farms to maintain its principles as well … in soil we trust and being good stewards of the earth. If our size (974 acres) seems incongruous with the smaller size of many organic farms, Joel would beg to differ … just don’t loose sight of the reasons you are organic and/or sustainable in the first place and have a plan. Joel Salatin’s Polyface farm is an example of leveraging the natural interdependence between plants and animals with a farm that incorporates them all together. It is like going back in farming time to create a sustainable future.

Wallace Farms Beef - Keystone, Iowa - December 2009

2009-12-18T11:47:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Wallace Farms

On December 11, 2009 I had the privilege to tour Wallace Farms and meet with Steve Wallace and his son Nick. They are into a multi-year program to produce grass fed livestock with their primary focus on cattle. Meet Steve (R) and Nick (L):

Their sustainable livestock operation has been under way for about 5 years on 160 acres and as Steve says … “it is a work in progress”. In addition to cattle, Steve and Nick have also raised chickens and turkeys. They also do conventional farming.

Cold Weather on Cattle

Two days before I arrived in Iowa they had received a record blizzard with temperatures dropping below 0o F. As Steve explained, the cattle did fine only given wind shelter from the south side of their high wall hoop building with additional bedding on the ground.

Calving Season

Their calving season is May/June though their first groups of pregnant heifers were spread out from May through July. Steve has since narrowed that window to May/June and expects to narrow the window more.

The finishing cattle (above) and yearling steers, were being finished on bailage this winter and separated from the yearling heifers to be bred and the cow/calves. Wallace has their own bull. The cattle seen above are around 1,200 pounds and about ready for market after about 18 months.

Meat Processors

Nick commented that in some parts of Iowa, it was becoming a problem getting a kill schedule from lockers as they are in decline because a good local work force is becoming more difficult to find. Wallace however hasn’t been affected because of their ongoing relationship with plants in southern Minnesota including a USDA slaughterhouse about an hour from their farms that does lamb, pigs and cattle. Nick mentioned that Sioux City might be an exception. There is an outfit in/near Sioux City that does a lot of processing for Whole Foods. The small lockers are not federally inspected so Wallace can’t do business with them.

Regulations state that a non-regulated locker can only do “custom” work where the customer takes back the entire carcass for their own consumption. Iowa State inspected processors can sell their meat to the pubic within the state of Iowa. Wallace uses Federal USDA meat processors that allow them to sell their meat across state lines. They work with Lorenz Meat Processing in Canon Falls, Minnesota described as cutting-edge and is doing well as a USDA processer. Nick processes about 10 cattle a month there.

Sales & Marketing

Nick does the selling and Steve does the raising. Nick’s business includes working with other small grass fed producers whose cattle are sold under the Wallace Farms label. Nick indicated he could sell more if he could find the grass fed cattle. Lorenz processes and hangs the carcasses for 7 to 12 days and does the cutting to Nick’s specifications to meet the preferences of his customers. The meat is put on pallets and shipped to Des Moines Cold Storage where it is frozen and stored. Nick uses Des Moines as his hub but is thinking about building his own locker on-site using a Morton building where half of it would include a 20’ x 30’ walk-in freezer.

In addition to selling meat, Nick also sells fresh wild fish he gets from Alaska. This gives him a broader offering for his customers. Wallace Farms can be found at (www.wallacefarms.com/). Nick has been successful by establishing his own “buying clubs” with three in Des Moines, one in each of Ames, Iowa City and Cedar Rapids and four in Chicago. He meets his customers in each buying club once a month and in Chicago every six weeks. His buying club members get an email the week before with a list of what Nick has to sell and then he meets them the next week at a designated spot from 4 to 6 pm where the buyers come to pick up their order.

Nick’s first buying club started with five buyers and grew from there. Growth has occurred through word of mouth and after registering with www.eatwild.com where customers could find Nick and Wallace Farms. On Nick’s last trip to Chicago he met with 107 buyers … it was a good day selling. Nick uses a pull-behind freezer trailer he bought last year and now it is already looking too small. Great marketing Nick!

Not All Grass Fed Beef Are the Same

Some larger companies Nick competes with compromise for expediency and will take grass fed cattle that are finished on DDGs (dried distiller grains) which is a high protein mash that is a by-product coming out of ethanol plants. There are many food brands whose marketing is less than honest when labeling their products. The more strict standards for “organic” and “grass fed” are being corrupted with marketing labels such as “natural”, “humanely raised”. The consumer has to be careful not to be confused. A trend that Nick is part of is selling “local” where customers can know their farmers and know their farming practices.

Constant Evaluation

Steve and Nick are continually working on the best formula to cost effectively raise cattle in the winter. They don’t use grain or DDGs, just high quality pasture. They have grown sorghum and Italian Rhys grass. It is critical to their efforts to extend the grazing season from October into December. They do that with oats, rape and turnips, that are planted twice, the second planting in July is then ready for grazing in November and December.

Annual vs. Perennial Pasture

I asked about their thinking between planting annuals or perennials. Steve explained that when he plants perennials he gets about half a crop the first year because he can’t graze until the pasture gets established. The following year he gets a big crop and then thereafter it gets a little lower. They are deciding on whether it is better to do annuals or perennials, perhaps a combination but not necessarily in the same pasture.

Steve’s expertise on forage comes both from his having his own herd and his off-farm job as Territory Manager for Barenbrug USA. Barenbrug is a plant breeding, seed production and seed trade company (www.barusa.com). Steve is a great contact for grass farmers in his territory.

Steve’s observation is that sandy (light) soil like Walnut 22 is easier to establish pasture in than the heavier soils. Sandy soil has a rating of 5 or 6 while heavier soil has a rating of 20 (I’m not sure what the scale is). Steve is a grass farmer. What he then grows from his grass are livestock. All agreed that it is ALL about the soil … poor soil, poor quality livestock, great soil, high quality livestock.

Bailage

The day I visited they were feeding their cattle bailage. Steve believes that this is the best forage you can feed a ruminant animal to finish. His bailage is mostly hay (tall fescue) that is cut green to get high moisture. We discussed the logistics of bailing. One thought is you cut late in the day when the sugar content in the grass is highest. The sugar levels in grasses depend on the type of grass, the time of year and when you cut it. That said, logistics and weather rule most timing decisions.

To make his bailage for winter he cuts in October using round bails that are covered with plastic to keep moisture in to retain moisture and promote fermentation. One differentiator between bailage and silage is that bailage isn’t chopped.

They graze as long as possible until winter weather makes it difficult and then use bailage to offset lower winter forages. Steve’s belief is that cows were designed to eat foliage rather than corn and that is the best way to get good results and great tasting product. We discussed that our plan for livestock on Walnut 22 included an irrigator, Steve pointed out that irrigation changes everything. With water, we have a broader choice of forages to choose from.

About Poultry

Both Nick and Steve had great things to say about including poultry in the livestock rotation. In their experience chickens are good but turkeys are even better because they take care of themselves. Turkeys eat grass and chickens don’t. Steve estimates as much as 70% of a turkey’s diet could be grass. Steve and Nick think poultry is a key part of a pasture program. By their observation, three weeks after the poultry leave the paddock, the grass grows “like hell!” It is labor intensive but makes money and is great for the soil.

Wallace and Organic

They first started out on an organic path but became frustrated at not having enough nitrogen in the system and the pasture was poorer. So they decided to put ammonium sulfate on for nitrogen but that eliminated the “organic” program. As a result they market their beef successfully as grass fed, no artificial hormones or antibiotics. Having their beef being local and sustainably grown is what their customers want. Steve went on to explain that modern farming techniques over the last 50+ years has fundamentally changed the soil between the use of anhydrous ammonia, high tillage and oil-based inputs used as part of GMO crops.

The Grass Fed Beef Market

Steve explained that grass fed beef is $2.00+ a pound (hanging weight) compared to organic beef at $2.25 maybe $2.40 a pound hanging weight. Organic equates to about an extra $150 difference per animal. In their program Wallace Farms makes more money selling grass fed beef versus organic beef. Nick pointed out that Organic Valley (a large organic distributor) only want to take cattle like theirs that have been grass fed, then finish them on grain to get, in their view, a more consistent product. Funny how the term “grass fed” seems to get more “flexible”.

The Land and Long Term Commitment

For Steve and Nick, restoring our soil to sustainability is a long term effort but well worth the effort.

Their view is that land, sustainable land, will soon become the most important thing. They don’t buy gold, they buy land.

Soper Farms Phase II Plan

2009-11-17T09:26:00.003-08:00

Overture

Without the hand of man getting in the way, nature very effectively creates, balances and evolves. It does so with all life forms interacting together. As farmers we have a choice between manipulating nature and managing nature in our pursuit to feed ourselves.

Our current farming model has evolved over many years onto a path of manipulation using GMO seeds and oil-based fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides as substitutes to nature’s abundant ability to nourish. As we’ve learned, this path, however well intentioned, has had a debilitating impact on our environment, our soil and the water upon which our farms depend. The plan that we are buildiing today follows the restovative path to manage nature as a partner so we too may create, balance and evolve.

Our Goal

Our goal is to identify the components necessary to launch a livestock and vegetable operation starting from scratch. We seek to establish a schedule and sequence of events … from first spade in the ground to production and delivery. The final outcome of this effort will be a business plan with all the rational, data and associated costs with which to make a “go forward” decision. Key to this plan is the market conditions and opportunities that will guide our commitment of resources.

The ground we are focused on is named Walnut 22 (160 acres) and Emmetsburg 1 (100 acres). If the business plan resulting from our work is accepted, the clock for this project starts in September 2010.

The Sites

Walnut 22 is near the West Fork of the Des Moines River about 6 miles north and west of Emmetsburg, Iowa. This 160-acre quarter section is accessible from a maintained county gravel road and a private dirt road. The sandy nature of this ground requires irrigation for corn & beans. It seems well suited for pasture and, because of its sandy soil, good also for growing vegetables.

Farm	Current Operator	Acres	CSR	Est. Market Value	Est. Value
Walnut 22	Herke	160	44.8	$3,000/Gross Acre	$480,000

Emmetsburg 1 has the tenant’s own irrigation gear on this sandy ground. It is about 3 miles northwest of Emmetsburg, Iowa. Access is from a county maintained gravel road. The ground is split in two parts by a diagonal RR track.

Farm	Current Operator	Acres	CSR	Est. Market Value	Est. Value.
Emmetsburg 1	Herke	100	38.5	$2,160/Gross Acre	$216,000

Soil Development

In all cases we are creating a soil farm upon which all things in this plan depend. This is a high priority. The plan needs to describe strategies and their cost for N-P-K balance and growth in the soil and the development of micronutrients that will result in the highest quality of our food products. Questions to answer:

Q. What are the best legumes to encourage growth?

Q. What are the weed abatement strategies?

Q. How might the irrigator accelerate pasture development?

Q. When can livestock be put into this new pasture?

Farming Practices

While targeting organic certification, we are to look “beyond organics” into farming practices such as biodynamics to support both livestock and vegetable farming. Permaculture design of the farm is another process to consider. These choices may not be an either/or choice but a hybrid of the two as they apply to this ground. With a farming practice model in mind, it will guide us towards understanding the equipment, staff and facilities needed on site and our time scales to get into production.

Infrastructure

The only infrastructure on Walnut 22 is a center pivot irrigator. The intention is to use this for delivering water and other potential uses such as pulling animal shelters. Using the water to accelerate pasture development is the primary goal.

This diagram is a proposed layout of Walnut 22. The blue areas labeled A¹, B¹, are the grazing paddocks under the irrigator. The numbers from 1 to 16 in the A and B paddocks determines the rotation order. Eight water tanks are needed to support all paddocks. The farm infrastructure is laid out on the periphery of the irrigator. Movable electric fencing is suggested.

Questions to be addressed include:

Q. Is this proposed grazing cycle practical?

Q. What are the best rotation intervals?

Q. Assuming livestock go into the plan first and vegetables second, what kind of structures are necessary?

Q. How should these be laid out?

Q. How do all the buildings integrate together?

Q. What about human waste management?

Q. Access to clean water at all buildings?

Q. Internal roads?

Q. What about power (grid, solar, wind)?

Q. Movable electric fencing?

Q. Plumbing from center pivot wellhead to 8 tanks?

Emmetsburg 1 has a center pivot irrigator on the east half of the ground. The current tenant owns the irrigator. There appears to be a well head on the west half of the ground but there is no irrigator on it at this time.

Markets

Walnut 22 & Emmetsburg 1 are within 6 miles of Emmetsburg located in Northwest Iowa (A). Looking to markets within a four-hour footprint of Emmetsburg are urban centers including Sioux City, Omaha, Des Moines, Iowa City, and Minneapolis.

Closer local markets are much smaller and include Spencer (pop. 10,500) and a major tourist area, Lake Okoboji with a large summer vacation population.

Cattle Processing Facilities

Livestock processing facilities will be necessary. In some cases that could include custom plants, mobile on-site and FDA approved processing facilities. These need to be identified and the economics of each studied. In addition to selling meat, other specialty meat products like sausages should be considered.

Cattle Genetics and Herd Development

In all cases, the target is to produce Prime or Choice quality beef only. There are a number of approaches to the cattle plan to be considered. Alone or in combination, these include finishing grass-fed animals brought in from outside and/or developing our own herd. As herd development implies a longer-term strategy, the two may be used in combination at the beginning. For herd development and growing a cow/calf operation, genetics are a key to success. There may also be an opportunity to sell premier breeding livestock to other beef operations. All forms of breeding should be considered.

Livestock Rotation and Herd Size

Open for study is a livestock rotation that would include cattle for meat production and could also include sheep or goats followed by chickens. The size of these herds compared to the pasture ground available is important.

Sales, Marketing & Branding

This business plan will include the details of selling and marketing Soper Farms products within the distribution footprint of four hours shown previously. Options include CSAs, wholesale to grocery stores and restaurants, Soper Farms storefront, farmer’s markets, etc.

Renewable Energy

Wind and solar power can provide this farm with cash flow benefits and long-term income, reduce on-site energy costs, while mitigating global climate-change. This farm will have a renewable energy plan to farm the wind and sun as well as livestock and vegetables. In addition, opportunities to pursue the creation and use of bio fuels are to be considered.

An example to study is Wyn Evans from Pembrokeshire West Wales who runs a mixed farm of 170 acres, has been trying to reduce his dependency on fossil fuels since 1977. He has installed an anaerobic digester, a wind turbine, solar panels and a ground-sourced heat pump. He has sought wherever possible to replace diesel with his own electricity. Instead of using his tractor to spread slurry, he pumps it from the digester onto nearby fields. He’s replaced his tractor-driven irrigation system with an electric one, and set up a new system for drying hay indoors, which means he has to turn it in the field only once. Whatever else he does is likely to produce smaller savings. But these innovations have reduced his use of diesel by only around 25%.

Vegetables

We have an opportunity to create an integrated farm that leverages the natural interdependence between animals and vegetation. Having both vegetables and meat to sell leverages our brand and can attracts customers by offering more choice.

To be studied is both field vegetable crops and hoop house vegetable crops for an extended season of growing and selling. The business plan will determine the size of the opportunity and the scale necessary to meet the opportunity. From this, facilities, staffing and rollout plans can be proposed.

Added Value

One key element to the success of many organic/local/sustainable farms has been adding value to their crops and selling as directly to the consumer as possible. Hermannsdorffer Farms in Germany are a prime example of this. In addition to the hog meat and vegetables they also add value by making sausages, beer, bread and go so far as to serve prepared meals to diners visiting their farm. They also have their own retail store that features their products as well as other organic products.

Building a restaurant and/or a commercial kitchen in which to prepare added value products will be studied.

Legal & Insurance

As this plan studies selling food direct to the consumer it raises the need for legal structures and insurance that typically go beyond what is normal for our current practice of raising commodity crops and then selling them to brokers and manufacturers. Examples include:

Livestock – Because of food safety laws and the litigious environment we live in today, it will be necessary to shelter SFI assets from potential law suits. Having separate incorporated legal entities should be considered. An example of one structure is Soper Farms Inc. (who owns the farm and operational assets) and raises livestock under contract to Soper Farms Marketing, Inc. who owns the livestock and sells the meat products on to the public. To fund Soper Farms Marketing, Inc. Soper Farms Inc. could make a loan SFMI and be in control of the revenue and profits.

Farmer’s Markets Insurance – Most farmer’s markets require the seller to have liability insurance. Sometimes these policies are hard to get and can be expensive for a small farmer. The few claims that do occur usually are tied to accidents like a tent blowing over and causing damage and not food safety.

Challenges in Planning

The choices we may follow will be numerous offering multiple opportunities in each area. This is a big subject to cover. Just imagine the complexity of the industrial food enterprise beginning at the farm to wholesalers, to manufacturers to distributors to outlets from grocery stores to restaurants and institutions. What we are planning is a microcosm of this. Every effort will be made to keep this plan within a reasonable scope, leaving future opportunities to unfold over time.

Carbon Farming

2009-11-05T14:03:00.000-08:00

Carbon Farming Field Report

H. Soper

November 4, 2009

Could soil hold the most promise to combat climate change?

On Friday, October 30^th 2009 a group of about 40 gathered in the equipment shed at Toto Ranch located in the hills overlooking the beaches of Northern California near San Gregorio, California. These pictures only begin to capture the beauty of this place.

Toto Ranch’s 952 acres of rolling hills is a grass-fed livestock operation and just this year was put under the protection of the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST). That easement limits the property’s development potential so as to protect natural resources including critical wildlife habitat, important watershed land and panoramic views of the San Gregorio and Tunitas Creek valleys.

Hosted by the non-profit group, Conexions, we gathered for this workshop to learn from Darren Doherty about “Carbon Farming”. It included pasture soil development, Keyline farming principles and the use of a Yeoman’s Plow as part of a field demonstration.

Darren is a permaculturalist who has practiced, preached and consulted carbon farming for over 15 years having designed and developed over 1,100 properties worldwide. To his question, “Could soil hold the most promise to combat climate change?” the answer is a resounding YES … and farmers hold the keys because soil represents the largest carbon sink in the world over which we have control.

“How much carbon is in soil?” Darren explained “soil with 5% organic matter to one foot of depth and a bulk density of 1.2 g/cm3 has about a ¼ inch of pure carbon in it … 35 times the amount causing global warming”. Imagine if grain farmers practiced cover cropping and livestock producers used rotational grazing, how improved our climate would be. To reverse global warming a significant portion of carbon has to remain in the soil in a stable form.

Darren’s focus in this workshop was on grazing with some examples as to grazing practices to work towards.

1: Grazing “tall” yields a more developed root system as shown in these examples:

2: Afternoon Grazing increases forage sugar. Afternoon grass has 37% more sugar than morning grass. This peaks about 6:00pm. As pointed out by a dairy farmer, “We jumped five pounds of milk per cow per day when we began restricting morning grazing and strip grazing from mid-day onward.” Does this suggest the best time of day to move your mob.

3: Spring grazing - Lewellyn Manske, Dickinson Center, University of North Dakota was quoted saying that spring grazing begins in the fall. Light defoliation (25% to 33%) allows translocation of above ground sugar to root systems to be exuded immediately after the bite. This stimulates root-zone microorganisms, including AMF which then solubolize N, P and other nutrients for re-growth. The effect apparently lasts the entire season and overall biomass production increases 40 to 70%. The take home lesson: Don’t graze a chunk of pasture this fall, let it go into winter with full standing cover. In the spring, graze it lightly after 3 ½ leaf and see what happens. You won’t go back!

Keypoints and Keylines

Prior to our field demonstration of a Yeoman’s Plow we learned about Keyline farming practices to which the use of a Yeoman’s Plow (similar to zone tillage). The Keyline is a permaculture farming technique used for water management. According to permaculture literature, Keyline integrates terraces, ponds and cultivation techniques with the natural landscape to infiltrate water into the soil efficiently and hold it on the land as long as possible. In order to truly work with nature, implementing a Keyline system requires careful observation and assessment of a site. Carbon sequestration is also an important by-product of using a Yeoman’s Keyline Plow.

To have a Keyline you need two key points. A key point on a field is the point where a ridge stops going up and begins to slope down. At that intersection between up and down is a key point. On the other side of this depression in the landscape where the valley stops going up is another key point. Drawing a line between these two key points creates your Keyline. I apologize for this poor description and perhaps this graphic will better explain.

Here is another graphic explaining Keyline cultivation.

As you can see, Keyline cultivation is not the “standard” practice most often used of ridgeline cultivation. This graphic compares ridgeline cultivation versus Keyline cultivation.

When using a Yeoman’s Plow for pasture subsoil development permaculture practices recommend following the Keyline. It isn’t my goal to teach Keyline Farming but to plant the seed for the reader to explore. Here are some resources.

http://www.Keyline.com.au

http://www.soilandhealth.org.au

http://www.permaculture.org.au

http://www.holisticmanagement.org

http://www.oaecwater.org

http://www.permaculture.biz

The Idea Behind Subsoiling Pasture

The goal in subsoiling is to repeatedly create ideal conditions for plant growth and aerobic soil organisms to convert subsoil to topsoil. By using a tool such as the Yeoman’s Plow or similar implement, the soil is mechanically loosened to increase water absorption capacity, aeration and allow the rhizosphere (root zone) to successively penetrate deeper. As a result, subsoil is converted to topsoil as plant rhizosperes extend further into it, bringing attendant biology and metabolic by-products with it. Roots exudate and sloughed-off roots serve as carbon sources.

This picture shows the mechanics of a subsoiler.

In action the plow first cuts the grass with a disc followed by the shank that can be set at variable depths.

The distance between shanks can be adjusted. After the first pass over the field it is advised that the soil be given a chance to benefit for a while before a second pass is made going down the middle of the previous path. Because this tool is used less frequently for subsoiling purposes (this needn’t be done regularly) it makes a good implement to share with neighboring farms.

It was an excellent workshop on a gorgeous ranch, both leaving me inspired. Let me leave you with these parting thoughts:

“If we don’t take care of soil which is only the first 5 centimeters on this earth’s surface, our lives are condemned” - Dirt the Movie

A handful of soil holds tens of billions of microorganisms … that is unless farmers have dumped herbicides and insecticides on it while tilling these critical carbon sequesters to death.

A third of our topsoil has been lost in the past 100 years due to industrial farming practices.

Rapidly increasing Soil Organic Matter is the most important job in the world, and only farmers can do it … and should be paid to do it.

Humans have relocated 50 – 80 % of the organic carbon once in topsoil to the atmosphere in the last 150 years … no wonder we have a climate problem today.

“The nation that destroys its topsoil destroys itself.” - Theodore Roosevelt, 1907

Pete's Greens - Vermont

2009-11-01T14:11:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year I planned a road trip to visit numerous organic farms that sat along or near the same parallel as Emmetsburg (43.1°). This was important because of similar daylight. Sunlight is the primary determinant to plant growth. Growth slows when there is 10 hours or less of sunlight/day. So the trick is to get your plants started early enough so they are close to maturity by that date in winter. Vermont is at the 45th parallel similar to Emmetsburg. This would give me an indication as to what vegetables could be grown at our latitude as daylight has a significant affect on plant's growing season. Running on a tight schedule, I crossed the country from east to mid west. The following field report covers my first visit with Pete Johnson in Craftsbury, Vermont and his organic enterprise, "Pete's Greens".

Field Report

Pete’s Greens, Craftsbury, Vermont,

April 9, 2009 - H. Soper

Uncle Hunter sent me an article from the Christian Science Monitor about a this organic farmer, Pete Johnson, who had an organic vegetable farm in Craftsbury, Vermont. What surprised me was that Pete was growing lots of vegetables in the dead of winter, in a sparsely populated area and selling out everything he could grow.

Craftsbury and Emmetsburg are within approximately one degree latitude of each other (Emmetsburg: 43.1° and Craftsbury: 44.6°) thereby getting the same amount of sunlight year-round. I know how cold Iowa winters can be and I wanted to know how Pete could do this. Was it possible Soper Farms could do so as well?

On my way to Pete’s I stopped in Montpelier (state capital of Vermont with about 8,000 population) to get directions to Craftsbury. The folks at the Coffee Corner were very helpful with directions.

As I made my way up into the hills I noticed that the ground was not Iowa-class … a lot of exposed granite with thin layers of soil scattered about.

When I found Pete he was at work on a chilly day, doing what farmers do.

This is what one of his hoop houses looks like from the outside. He has 4 this size.

The one below he calls his “head house” because a permanent building is attached where they prepare seedlings.

It is farm HQ. Inside the head house I met with Pete’s partner, Meg

and their chief maintenance person, Steve.

This is a view from inside of the head house looking out into the high wall hoop house itself where they start seedlings and get an early start on spring veggies.

Their source for hoop houses is from a Canadian company, Harnois (nice name ditch think?). This hoop tunnel runs 45’ x 144’ and is double layered. The layers are kept separated by a small fan that blows air between then. The logic goes that for every layer on a hoop house you move your site one agricultural zone south. With exception of this head house tunnel, Pete’s other hoop houses are all movable and measure 35’ x 200’.

A hoop house is permanently mounted on a rail and can be pulled forward or backwards across the ground by a tractor. This is done at intervals in the planting season. The ground outside is prepared and fortified organically. When the time comes, it is planted and the hoop house pulled over it and into place. This exposes the previous ground to the elements which helps purify the soil with direct sun and freezing temperatures that prevent harmful bacteria that can establish itself in a permanent green house.

In the head house Pete and Steve make their own potting soil to start their seedlings. This is less expensive and their plants do better. Pete’s Greens is a certified organic farm. Meg pointed out that you don’t need to use organic manure for mulch on organic vegetables … there just isn’t enough around and organic animal farms will use their organic manure for their own fields. Pete is planning to start raising his own organic animals (chickens, pigs & cows) next year for both the manure and the products.

Back to their head house, you’ll see several tanks and a boiler. They sometimes augment the temperature for both their seedlings (and chicks) by burning used vegetable oil gathered from nearby restaurants. On Wednesdays when they do their CSA drop-offs they pick up the used cooking oil from restaurants, separate it in tanks and burn it in a modified boiler to heat both the head house and the ground under the attached hoop house. (see tanks below)

The boiler heats water that runs through the cement slab under the head house and through pipes in the ground under the attached hoop house for radiant heating. They don’t heat the air. Their primary goal however is to not depend on resources that nature doesn’t offer on site. The heating is for special conditions only. To help moderate the heat that can build up in a hoop house with only solar gain heating, there are vents that open and close in the ceiling.

About their markets, they have 200 CSA shareholders in winter, 300 in summer. Pete travels up to two hours away to Burlington and Montpelier. On their Wednesday route they also deliver to their wholesale accounts (restaurants, etc.) and twice a week they have a trucking company (Black River Produce) pick up and deliver to wholesale accounts as far away as Boston and New York. They would like to stay more local but the demand is high. They market directly to their CSA and wholesale accounts which is the responsibility of their CSA Manager.

Note – these distances are very similar to those between Emmetsburg and Sioux City and Minneapolis. Local can include a pretty wide circle and be profitable.

In addition to their own products, their CSA manager is responsible for buying in locavor products (goat’s cheese, eggs, flour, barley, maple sugar, etc.) which they put in their CSA boxes. This is particularly handy in winter when vegetable choices are more limited. Another point of interest about their CSA shares, some but not all of the locavor products they get are organic and their customers don’t care. The customer seems to care most that it is fresh and supports local farmers who practice healthy organic farming practices … but are not certified. Hence the term “beyond organic”. Because all this food is local, the customer can always visit the farm which is hard to do when the veggies come from California, Arizona or Mexico.

Pete divides his “share” seasons in 4 parts (spring, summer, fall, winter). A share is purchased up front for the season and averages $44/week. Here in Palo Alto, California a share costs $27/week for a box from JP Organic Farm in Salinas and includes a dozen organic eggs.

Pete is also building a commercial kitchen so he can take excess crops and cook and freeze for distribution in his winter share that is dominated by root vegetables. As part of this commercial kitchen, the State of Vermont bought and offered a portable freezing machine that can freeze 600 lbs of anything per hour. To store the frozen products they have a large used trailer they insulated inside with 3 layers of used Styrofoam and sprayed insulation on the outside.

Note: If you are selling beef there are FDA regulations that cover meat processing plants. If you slaughter for sale in stores the plant needs to be FDA certified and supervised. If you slaughter just for yourself you can use a “custom” slaughter house where an individual owns the entire cow. If you slaughter on-farm you can sell through your CSA without FDA certification as CSAs are exempt. These regulations are in flux and these details need to be revisited.

An important part of their operation is their “wash house” where they wash all their veggies, box them and, for winter roots, store in a big walk-in cooler. I didn’t see the wash house. To add more diversity to their CSA shares for winter they built a separate room where they could put in shelves and grow shoots, radishes, etc. When the season closed they then took out the shelves and used the room for growing chicks until they are big enough to be finished outside. Enter the “roots & chicks” room with Meg.

Here are the chicks. These are standard commercial chicks that cost about $1/each. They are cheap to raise … it costs chicken feed (pun).

A work in progress – It is clear here at Pete’s Greens, that their business is a work in progress where they experiment, measure and grow. In all the farm visits I have made, I see no “template”, just a lot of flexibility depending on what area of organic farming the farmer prefers and their geographic and climate conditions. In every case, their business was growing.

Pete does about $1.5 million a year and he also enjoys the business side of this work. He plans to add cattle, pigs, chickens, more hoop houses with his current growth around 30%/year. Pete wants to grow it to about $5.0 million a year. His CSA customers provide him the cash-flow (they pay in advance) and there is no middle man. His biggest concentration of CSAs is not in Craftsbury but in Burlington and Montpelier, both hours away. His excess products he sells wholesale to restaurants and demand comes from as far away as Boston 207 miles away. That is farther than from Emmetsburg to Minneapolis at 200 miles away.

Let your imagination run with this opportunity for Soper Farms.

August 2007, Our Awakening

2009-10-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

JUST BY CHANCE

In July of 2007, my wife was on a business trip to Europe. While there Karen met with Tommi Berron, the son of a long-time family friend. Tommi had just finished a two-year apprenticeship on an organic farm in Bavaria. Karen invited Tommi to come to our August farm meetings to learn what American agriculture was all about. Tommi agreed to come and to give us a presentation about his experience on the Hermannsdorffer Farm.

When Tommi arrived he took us all by quiet storm. Imagine this handsome young man speaking perfect English with a great sense of humor and giving his presentation in a pair of lederhosen. If you haven't seen lederhosen, they are the traditional garb of Bavaria. In Tommi's case, a tight pair of leather shorts with leather suspenders. He won our hearts and set a few of my nieces hearts fluttering as well.

That was all it took to for my board to assign me the task of researching organic farming and delivering a business plan for next year's meeting, a task I gladly accepted.

FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS - SPAM

I quickly learned that organic farming meant many different things to the Sopers. All the press, and there was a lot, referred to growing vegetables and CSAs, organic dairies, raising grass-fed beef, goats, sheep, chickens, even llamas. But we were grain farmers. If you couldn't store the crop in a bin, we didn't plant it. And so our learning curve began. My aunts and uncles were my clipping service sending me articles from every paper and magazine they had with articles on organic farming. The Internet became an invaluable source as well and everything I learned I passed on in emails to the clan. I sent so much that some web browsers began sending my email to their spam folders.

FIRST STOP, GERMANY

That September I myself was on a business trip to Amsterdam and made a side trip to Germany where Tommi met me and took me on a tour of his organic farm. What a great first indoctrination in organic farming. It set some very high standards for me. Here is the report I filed to family upon my return.

Herrmannsdorffer Farms, September 2008 – H. Soper

On September 14, 2008 I toured the Herrmannsdorfer Farms in Bavaria near Munich, Germany. Tommi Berron was my guide. If Herrmanndorfer Farms were a bookend, it would be at the opposite end of the bookshelf from Soper Farms as regards farming practices and outcome. SFI follows a “monoculture” model (monoculture is the practice of producing or growing one single crop over a wide area). I don’t know the term that best describes Herrmanndorfer Farms except to describe it as a self-sustaining farm that delivers its agricultural products from the ground directly to the consumer. Adding value at every step, it is vertically integrated in most everything it does.
Founder - Herrmannsdorfer Farms (HF) are the result of 20+ years of effort by Karl Ludwig Schweisfurth and his family. Karl was a butcher with very large slaughterhouse operations across Germany. At the encouragement of his family he sold his slaughterhouse holdings years back and changed his focus to move from industrial food production to sustainable, organic production. Today he remains the chairman and goodwill ambassador of HF while his son, Karl Jr. runs all the day-to-day activities and enterprises of the farms.

HF Credo - The over arching principles that guide all HF enterprises is the belief that farming can be done in a sustainable way whereby nothing is wasted, crops are grown free of pesticides and chemicals and animals raised for slaughter should live a healthy, longer and happy life. The result is healthy premium quality foods delivered with the lowest possible carbon footprint.

Overview - HF is a profitable venture that occupies approximately 300 acres of land a short distance from the major cosmopolitan area of Munich. Proximity to a population large enough and prosperous enough to pay for premium organic products is critical to their success. On these 300 acres HF employs over 100 people. From these 300 acres HF has vertically integrated nearly every aspect of what this land can produce. From their organic fields, direct to the mouths of their consumers, HF produces pork, fresh vegetables, baked goods, beer, and liquors. With few exceptions all their products come directly from the productivity of their own land.

Branding – As unique as this farm and its products are, it requires HF to receive a premium price for their products while capturing all the profit margin available at every level of production and selling to the end user. To succeed, HF has built a strong brand name. Branding through multiple levels of marketing and retail is a critical part of their success in both creating a loyal customer following and in competing with other organic farms in Germany.

A Destination – HF is both a working farm and a destination for tourists, diners and shoppers. There is seldom a month that passes without an event from harvest festivals to music concerts to art shows and craft markets on the farm. Visitors are generally free to roam the grounds to see the operation and ask questions. On the farm site there is a full, upscale restaurant that features HF meat, produce and drinks. HF also sponsors programs that bring children to the farm for overnight stays living in tents and yurts to learn about the environment, ecology and organic sustainable living.

Farm Production – To begin, Karl and his key managers farm with an acute understanding of what is required to sustain the quality of their land. HF ground is about average. On a scale of 1 to 10 the quality of the soil is about 5. Over the years HF has developed crop rotation formulas and farming practices that yield the highest quality results while maintaining or increasing the yield capacity of their ground. These formulas are not static however and constant experimentation occurs to improve productivity at the lowest cost possible.

Welcome to Herrmannsdorfer Farms
Crops – Without going into details of their crops and rotation procedures, it is important appreciate the variety of crops grown. Every crop is grown to integrate into the total organic production plan.

Fresh Vegetables and Flowers – A wide variety of garden vegetables are grown and sold directly to the public through HF shops and restaurant. These fresh vegetables occupy only a small area of the farms. The gardens operate year round either outside during the growing season or in a hot house for off-season. The flower garden is open to the public to come and pick. The vegetables are sold in the shop directly across the lane. The proximity of their garden produce to their store is important because it connects the customers with the freshness of the products and shipping cost are limited to a wheel borrow and about 50 yards distance.

The Store – This store is on-site and sells only organic products. HF also has other similar retail outlets owned by HF in Munich only a short distance away. Proximity to market is important.
This happy shopper is amazed with the selection of seasonal vegetables that were picked just hours ago. This is the first thing you see when entering the store. This case includes all the bakery goods that are produced on the farm in their own ovens using grains raised on HF land. The Cheese counter includes cheeses made on site. HF doesn’t raise their own dairy cattle or goats so the milk is bought from nearby organic dairy farmers. The meat and sausage counter is a very busy place with all the meats having never been frozen. If you have an appreciation for sausages, this is another specialty where the contents are put together when the meet is “warm”, freshly slaughtered. To offer a wider variety of organic products, HF stores sell a complement of products made by other organic manufacturers including condiments, jams, fresh sauces … just about everything you would need to create great organic meals. No meal is complete without some libation. Below are two of the numerous Schweinbrau (Pig) Beer HF produces in its own brewery. At the checkout counter there are also mugs, glasses and cookbooks to help fill your basket. And, as mentioned before, nothing is wasted and all day-old bread and whey by-products from the cheese production are fed to some very eager eaters in the in the pig pens.

Hogs - The hog operations include a variety of pens used to house and feed the livestock. Depending on the weight, a hog is put in a pen where appropriate feeds are supplied. These pigs are feasting on fresh clover cut that day from nearby fields. The clover is a special variety that produces nutrients that are both good for the pigs and the soil. There was a serious feeding frenzy over this fresh clover.

Unlike pigs in many commercial feeding operations I’ve visited in the US, these pigs run to meet you when you approach the pen just in case you want to give them a good scratch. Fresh straw grown on the farm is put down daily and all the pens are designed to provide plenty of space so the pigs can move about without the stress of crowded conditions. These stock are a special breed of spotted pig that HF has determined make the best product. I’ve never seen such happy pigs!

Notice the solar panels on the roof of each barn. Again, HF harvests everything and not even the sunlight is wasted. These panels are one part of the energy generation that goes on to supply the farm with power. At a certain weight the pigs are put out to pasture where they, in large part, root and graze for themselves. This is a key point to HF farming practices … animals are required on their farm to complete a full cycle environment as their feeding practices and effluents contribute to sustainable farming. In this picture you’ll notice chickens. This is a recent experiment whereby the chickens eat the microbes left behind by the pig’s effluents. The pigs also act as a “protector” of the chickens from local foxes. The two buildings in the background house both with the pigs living on the bottom and the chickens roosting above enjoying the warmth produced from the pigs below.
Bio Energy Production – In addition to harvesting solar energy from SV panels, HF also produces biogas from livestock effluents. Again, repeating the motto, “waste nothing”.

This simple device installed on the floor of the pens is pulled by a cable. It opens up to pull the old straw and effluents from the floor. This is the first stage in a complete bioenerged production system used to produce methane gas to power the farm.
The animal waste is first gathered in this pit that conveys it … … to a mixer that reduces the matter to smaller particles from which methane is produced as the material decomposes. The last step is this pond where the effluents are finally treated by nature to allow the water to be recycled. The methane is burned in a piston engine to run a generator that powers the facility. Even the heat put off in the process is recycled to heat other buildings.

Milling Feed – All the grains used to feed the livestock are grown and milled on site. The only additives are vitamin supplements that are added to the feed.

There are various mixes of grain and vitamins that are programmed by computer, mixed and delivered to the pens via this pneumatic system. I mentioned that HF is constantly reviewing its practices to achieve greater results within their organic, sustainable model. This pneumatic system is under review and modification so it may be used to deliver fresh beets that HF grows and feeds to the livestock.
Slaughter – I didn’t take pictures of the slaughterhouse as access was limited for hygiene purposes, but I observed how HF applies its philosophy that the humane treatment of their livestock results in a much higher quality product. When the pigs move from pen to field, they do so under their own power, happily walking and running as they are guided from one location to the other.

In this last stage, the pigs walk themselves under no stress to large, uncrowded holding pens the day before being rendered. Then, one by one, the pig is taken in for slaughter. It is HF’s belief that if the animal is fearful and stressed, their bodies put out adrenaline that affects the taste and quality of the meat. Therefore, the slaughter environment is carefully designed and laid out to be stress-free. Once slaughtered, the meat is all prepared at that moment while warm and sent directly to the stores and restaurant. For some pork products, HF smokes the meat in their smoke house.
Historical footnote: The smokehouse was built in the traditional 19th century Bavarian style using wood and mud/straw as mortar. What a beautiful structure and another example of how HF makes the farm a destination of interest, further building its brand.

Tourist Area – The center of the farm is where the public spends much of its time. Surrounding a large courtyard are many buildings.

Below is a playground area for children. And here is a statue of a bull and behind is a dormitory for employees and interns.
Art – To digress a moment, HF has a resident artist that lives on site and you see artwork everywhere. Let me stress again that this is all part of building a destination of interest and creating a brand. Here are farm themes dipicted in sculpture. Art is found even out in the middle of the fields. This Stone-henge styled piece commemorates over 5,000 species in the region that have become extinct. Buildings ring the center courtyard with meeting rooms and workshops. This main building was formerly a barn but converted to hold the restaurant, bakery, cheese production on the first and second floors, offices on the third and the butchery in the basement far left (out of sight and mind).
The milling room where they mill the grains to be baked ... and here is the bakery.
At the top of a central circular stairway is the restaurant that serves affordable but highly crafted food, most of which comes from the farm.
Business Model – This is an appropriate time to mention HF’s hybrid business model. In the case of the farms, hog operations, shop, and brewery HF owns and operates them all. Where specialized expertise is required such as the restaurant and cheesery, local entrepreneurs are contracted.

Education – Running throughout the HF business model is an effort to educate the public on the themes of organic foods, health, the environment and how it all is interconnected. HF runs summer camps for children teaching how to create and live in a healthy and sustainable world.

The camping facilities are beautiful and create an environment of fun and learning. Here is the teepee where campers live. Opposite the teepee is a yurt that also houses campers. And where ever possible, sustainable practices are used. These are the showers for the campers. The hot water source is a compost pit with coiled water pipes that draw the natural heat from the compost process. You may not be aware that compost piles can get hot enough to catch fire naturally. The water for the showers is very warm.
If you are curious about how to build a compost shower, try this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILzxOH6n7-c

Old Farming Practices – As the tour of HF progressed it became clear that the practices they used (with a little help from modern technology) were every day practice on farms at the turn of the 20th century. In fact, some of the tools used are found in antique implement stores. The machinery needed is small by comparison to the equipment used for SFI farming and often bought used, understanding it is better to reuse and recycle when ever possible. As a reminder, HF sits on only 300 acres (small by US farming practices), is profitable, organic, sustainable and provides jobs for over 100 employees.

Soper Farms Challenge - In many regards, Herrmanndorfer Farms are a trip back to the future, existing at the opposite end of most Iowa farming practices. This report is not intended as a recommendation for SFI but as an example as to what farming is like at the other end of the spectrum. In our current world of monoculture farming, SFI is well managed with care taken to be the best stewards possible of the environment because it makes good business and environmental sense. But there is always room for improvement.

Beyond this report, I will be looking at many of the practices we might choose to follow that lie between these two pole stars of farming (industrial versus local organic). Our future as a family group, with the resources to stay closely connected, is guaranteed. If we choose, the opportunity we have as a farm group is to create a legacy we are proud of, that will further define our stewardship on this one and only Earth. Herrmanndorfer Farms may be a model.

In following posts I'll takes us all on tours of Pete's Greens in Vermont, Polyface Farm in Virginia, Green Acres in Ohio and back to Iowa where you will learn about Soper Farms first organic endeavor and the family meeting in August this year that put us into gear. What a journey we are all having together as a family.

And at the end of every story my grandfather would say "they lived in peace, died in Greece, and were burried in an ege shell".

Harn

How It All Began

2009-10-12T21:07:00.000-07:00

OCTOBER 2009 - Soper Farms spans four generations totaling 71 family stockholders. At this writing, Lilly, the youngest at 4 months, has yet to be gifted shares but will any day now. Every year we gather together for our annual stockholder and board of director’s meeting … a thin disguise for a raucous family reunion.

CHANGE

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change" - Charles Darwin. And so too Soper Farms must change to survive ... and thrive.

WHERE WE ARE TODAY

Since the 1960s when the federal government began their farm subsidy program, Soper Farms has been following the government's subsidized plan planting corn and beans, cultivating a lot leaving the soil barren much of the time and dependent on oil for most all our herbicides, pesticides and fertilizer. This has left us with little or no control over our farm affairs. Not only can we not control the weather, under this regium we can't control the cost of our inputs, the prices we sell our crops for nor safe-guard our land. We find ourselves at the bottom of the great industrial food chain where we take much of the risks and reap few rewards as the rural communities we live in shrink and decay. Something has got to change. Our action to these changes are not only for the right environmental and health reasons but because, as a business, it is unsustainable.

Until now, all 974 acres of our farms followed the corn & beans rotation planting herbicide resistant GMO seeds and pouring oil-based Roundup herbicide on our ground. After harvest this year (October 2009) we are beginning our first transition of 400 acres away from these "standard practices" that have resulted in loss of control over our business, loss of top soil, and loss of quality and biodiversity of our soil and water. This process of change will be moderate but purposeful in its pace. As absentee landlords, we are challenged to find the next generation of sustainable farmers to work with in our area of Northwest Iowa. Where we will find these new tenant farmers is a work in process. When we can't, we will have to engage much more directly than we have before. There is no reverse.

FIRST SOME HISTORY

In 1993 the clan decided to record some family history and my Aunt Dinny (Virginia) took it upon herself tells Grandfather’s story. Dinny wrote “… to recreate history in retrospect is not an easy job and the truth is, really, only in the eye of the beholder. Already Grandfather (Beaupop to us), Grammy and Harn Jr. are gone and we will have to tell their story for them. Soon, too soon, the remaining second generation of Hunter, Bob and myself and our spouses will be gone and our past with it…” This is how Soper Farms began.

EMMET HARLAND SOPER SR. (b. 12-14-1873 Esterville, Iowa. d. 2-21-1960, Emmetsburg, Iowa) - His story, as if in his own voice, written just prior to his death.

Let me introduce myself. I am Emmet Harland Soper, Sr. also known as Harn to my friends and Beaupop to the family. I am 86 years old and will soon die of bladder cancer brought on by my years of cigarette smoking. Although some of you may enjoy the same long life none of you will have the privilege I have had to live for over eighty years and die in the same house. I have often been asked by my children why Soper Farms is so important to me. So, children and grandchildren gather around the fireplace with the cannel coal crackling and some beautiful blue flame from the apple wood I put on to burn. Tonight it is not a story about how my Aunt Esther faced down the starving Indians just a few days before the Spirit Lake massacre. Her farm was the site of the future town of Estherville where I was born just a few years later. No, this is my story and as most of you are too young to remember, so I am putting it on paper with a lot of supporting documents from my children and others interested in genealogy and history.

For many centuries, mankind was mainly hunters and gatherers. It was attachment to the land, to a specific piece of land, that led to homesteading, the growth of small towns, and, eventually, cities and industrialization. It is a story of several generations that resulted in Soper Farms and it is my desire to see that all of us know from whence we came so we can steer a straighter course in the years to come. My children, the first Soper Farms generation (Harland, Hunter, Bob and Dinny) have largely transferred stock ownership to their children (the second generation) and now a third and fourth generation is beginning to make its presence felt. However, each generational change has taken us further from the rich black loam of northwestern Iowa. As we pursue our separate careers, it is mainly in cities and academia rather than the uncertainties and honest toil of farming. We must know something from whence we came if we are to adequately appreciate the glue that holds our twig on the family tree together. In the turmoil of a restless age this family's togetherness is a pearl of great value.

IN THE BEGINNING

Our story starts with the beginnings of this country. The struggle to oust the British was successful and a grateful government had unlimited land on the frontier with which to reward Timothy Soper and the other soldiers. In the early nineteenth century the frontier had just begun to cross the Allegheny Mountains. Our forefathers were given a section (620 acres) of land in southeastern NY in Chenango County near the town of Pitcher Springs. Even today it is hilly terrain with lots of streams and dense forest undergrowth. But then it was cloaked in majestic native hardwoods and abounded with deer and turkey and ruffed grouse. The forests were cleared, stumps removed and farms began to dot the valleys and more fertile areas.

Stories filtered back about the Iowa Territory which was about to be made a state. The soil was black and rich even if you dug down six feet. This was a marked contrast to the thin soil full of stones with which they were struggling. The prairie grasses grew so tall that they hid a man on horseback and the prairie flowers were a riot of color. So in 1846 Jacob Soper and his wife Celinda Harvey Soper loaded their three children and all their worldly possessions into a wagon and made the long trek across New York, the corner of Pennsylvania and along Lake Erie to Jones County, Iowa near the present Fairview, Iowa. Life on the frontier was tough and Celinda died at age 36 of tuberculosis. They are both buried with some of their seven children in Norwich Cemetery where you can see their grave markers today.

My father, Erastus Burrows Soper, was only six years old but remembered that trip well. The family reprovisioned in the big city of Chicago that had a population of eight thousand at the time. Then they crossed the big river into eastern Iowa to the frontier territory that was to become a state at the same time in 1846 these settlers arrived. He grew up with the hard work of frontier farming and was educated at home by his desire to read anything he could get his hands on. At the age of fifteen his farsighted parents scraped together enough money and sent E. B. one county west to Linn County and Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa. He wanted a college education but had to leave home just when he was old enough to really help on the farm.

The Civil War interrupted his quest for education as he joined the First Iowa Infantry as a private. In part due to their heavy losses during the war, E.B. returned to Iowa, commander, having aged well beyond his years. Going back to Cornell he graduated with academic honors in 1867. He studied for the law in various law offices and then settled in Estherville, Iowa at a time when there were no fences and travel was very difficult as it meant traversing the high ground around the sloughs that dotted the area. After six years, the railroad came to one county south and he moved his office to Emmetsburg, Iowa on April 15, 1879.

THE EMMETSBURG YEARS

I was born on December 12, 1873 in Esterville. At age 6 we moved to Emmetsburg where I lived my whole life in this same house at 1605 East Seventh Street. I was a bon vivant, carefree bachelor and was the state tennis champion when gentlemen lobbed the ball over the net with the hope that it would be returned. Although a graduate of Columbia University School of Law, I spent my entire life in farm management and in a love affair with the magnificent abundance of this land. At age 42 after pursuing Virginia Tunnicliff for seven years while she sought a career in vocal music I “finally yielded” (as the local Emmetsburg paper headlined). We were married and honeymooned at the Wisconsin Dells where you can still ride the same boat (at that time steam powered) down the same river.

We had a good enough life even with the thirteen-year difference in our age. Virginia had her brother Horace on a farm just across the pasture from our home place. She had her music, church friends, PEO, and sewing circle. My friends were the Scottish and English and Scandinavian people I grew up with. One thing was certain and that was there was no mixture with the people who lived South of the railroad tracks or with the strong Irish Catholic community. I felt that anyone with excessive hair on the back of the fingers was southern European and, therefore, of a lesser stature. As I look back, it is amazing how small and parochial one gets from living his entire existence in one small town.

Our lives together were blessed with the birth of our five children who are now your parents. Emmet Harland Jr., John, Hunter Alexander, Robert Tunnicliff, and little Virginia. Unfortunately, John died at age two of an intussusception which is easily treated if correctly diagnosed. We loved music, story telling, cribbage, and family time together on a regular basis with Horace and by letter and occasional trips with Sara and Grace in the East.

My father was engrossed by the far-flung law practice that carried him away from home for days at a time. My mother came from a farm background and we would work on the yard and garden. Mother permitted us to keep and save all the cash returns from the sale of garden produce, fruit and berries we grew. We were not wealthy but were very comfortably fixed with holdings in farms and banks. As a consequence, my mother gifted the home to grandson Harland, farmland to her childless daughter, Ruby, and a large acreage to her other present and yet to be born grandchildren. This turned out to be a lawyer-smart move as the great depression came to Iowa in the early 1920' s. All the small banks failed and all of the assets my brother and I had inherited went in a vain attempt to see that depositors did not lose money.

THE DEPRESSION YEARS

Virginia and I went from abundance to want to bare bones poverty. After over ten years of scraping by on little income and what we could grow in the garden, I developed a bleeding duodenal ulcer and was operated on at the Mayo Clinic for what, fortunately, turned out to be stress symptoms. I remember sending her a check for $25 and telling her it was a third of what we had in the bank. According to my mother's will the farm land could not be touched until the youngest grandchild was twenty-one. It was late in the forties when this happened. My brother had seven children and they got more land than my four children. A small amount of land came at the death of my sister, Ruby Alexander, but we were dismayed to find that it was mortgaged to the hilt. It was in 1951 that our family inherited the Tunnicliff home place from the estate of Elizabeth Cory Soper (my mother) and in 1952 the Burr Oak and Swan Lake half sections from my sister Ruby.

By the time the land holdings were divided all of my children were gone from Emmetsburg and married or embarked on careers. A very wise decision was made that the home place really did not have any immediate worth with Grammy and me living in it, therefore, the house and land were lumped together with four equal ownerships by our children. We were still faced with the problem of what the children should do with this inheritance. The most logical thing to do was to sell it all and divide up the loot and let each family go its own way. The big negative to this was that the land was bought at a pittance of its present value and the capital gains tax would be very substantial.

ORIGINS OF SOPER FARMS

For some time I have toyed with the idea that perhaps, just perhaps, the land could be kept intact and in some manner serve as a mechanism to keep all you children together as you pursue your far-flung careers. Fortunately, Harn Jr. has been close enough to oversee this idea. He was aided and abetted by having nephew Jack Tunnicliff with the farming smarts to be an able and knowledgeable advisor. I know that several of you have families and wives that are struggling along on a very minimal income. It would be natural for some to wonder at times about why some of the land could not be sold and a bit of the money passed along. I am thrilled beyond words to see the strength of the desire of you children to retain your ties to the land. I feel this is a continuum of the generational relationship of Sopers to the land. I am heartened by your commitment. If you continue on this course you may have a pearl of great value for my grandchildren to enjoy.

Well, it is very late and I am tired. The fire has burned low but your interest and attention has stayed the course. As each story ends, it is time to say “they lived in peace and died in Greece and were buried in an egg shell”.

SOPER FARM'S LEADERSHIP

Before Grandfather’s passing in 1960, my father, Harland Jr., held the reins of Soper Farms, guiding its growth for 30 years before the reins were passed to my cousin Ginger, then to my cousin Jim and now to me, Harland (Harn) III. Before his passing, my father encapsulated this mission statement for Soper Farms pulling from his memory, his father’s goals for the family and the farms.

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

"The mission of Soper Farms, Inc is to perpetuate the vision of E. H. Soper, Sr., that the land provide a foundation for the continuation of strong family ties. In order to sustain this vision, we shall: 1) promote regular family meetings; 2) promote responsible stewardship of N.W. Iowa farmland; 3) emphasize growth and profitability within the boundaries of fiscal responsibility; 4) foster the interest and involvement of successive generations."