It started with one question
In 1994 our father asked whether we could feed our own family without poisoning our own land. He converted four acres to find out and spent six years being told it would not scale. Thirty years later we feed 2,400 families the same way, on 120 acres, and the yield per acre passed the neighbours in 2011.
Our practices
Crop rotation
Nothing follows itself. Legumes go in after the heavy feeders, so the nitrogen comes from the field rather than from a sack.
Composting
Every trim, husk and stalk goes back through the windrows. We have not bought soil amendment since 2009.
Drip irrigation
Every block is on drip with soil-moisture sensors. We use roughly forty per cent of what flood irrigation on the same acreage would take.
Companion planting
Marigold on the tomato margins, basil between the rows. It is pest control that also happens to sell at the gate.