The New American Farmer, 2nd edition

Spotlights Innovative Farmers’ Conservation Efforts

Among the more than 60 farmers and ranchers featured in The New American Farmer, 2nd edition, a 200-page book just published by the Sustainable Agriculture Network, are several who have achieved their conservation goals with help from NRCS. Hailing from small vegetable farms, cattle ranches, and grain farms covering thousands of acres, the producers in The New American Farmer, 2nd edition have embraced new approaches to agriculture. They are renewing profits, enhancing environmental stewardship, and improving the lives of their families as well as their communities.

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The New American Farmer, 2nd edition

NRCS field staff can mine the book’s detailed farm and ranch profiles for examples of effective technical assistance, from careful soil management to efficient pasture-based livestock operations. Each feature in the book, also available online, includes photos of the producers as well as contact information so readers can learn more.

For Robin and Mark Way, the featured farmers from Maryland, connecting with both SARE and their NRCS district office brought much-needed financial and technical assistance as they transitioned to a rotational grazing system for multiple livestock species. The couple was raising cattle and hay on their northern Maryland farm in the late 1990s when their county extension agent approached them for help researching how to raise poultry in movable, outdoor pens.

The idea took hold. The Ways started with 25 chicks, but now raise 2,000 chickens, 275 turkeys and 100 ducks annually – in addition to beef cattle, goats and rabbits – in pasture-based systems. In 2002, the Ways received a SARE farmer grant to test whether rabbits raised on pasture rather than in hutches produce better-tasting meat higher in healthful omega-3 fatty acids. As their operation grew, the Ways sought help from NRCS for a waste management system, an efficient watering system and grazing strategies. District Conservationist Lindsay Tulloch visited the farm and developed a soil and water conservation plan outlining how the Ways could achieve their production goals using best management practices.

With her guidance, the Ways successfully applied for EQIP funds that provided the financial assistance for such improvements as a cattle feed and waste storage structure. The structure now provides cover for their cattle during the winter and an area for composting all of the manure from their different livestock plus the waste from on-site poultry processing. The structure includes a watering component that draws from an NRCS-financed well drilled adjacent to the shelter. The well also supplies water to a system of dry hydrants throughout the pastures.

“We took a comprehensive look at the farm,” Tulloch said. “A lot of livestock producers have concentrations of animals where they feed, and the Ways needed a stable area for that and where they collect manure.”

While NRCS technical and financial assistance furthered the Ways’ goals, Tulloch credits the farmers themselves with designing a well-tooled grazing system. That system, combined with their efficient on-farm processing and creative marketing that allows them to sell meat direct from the farm, spurred Tulloch’s office to nominate the Ways as Maryland’s entry for national NRCS’s 2005 Small Farmer of the Year contest. “The credit goes to Robin and Mark – they are driven and determined folks,” Tulloch said.

The New American Farmer, 2nd edition builds on SAN’s popular first book, with updates to many of the original profiles and 14 new profiles. Find out how to order The New American Farmer, 2nd edition  from SAN or call 301-374-9696.