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FARM STORY
John and Halee Wepking of Meadowlark Organics are young farmers committed to cultivating a regenerative ecosystem by growing real food. Mentored by the late Paul Bickford, John and Halee focus on specialty grains like spelt, rye, and milling wheat, and are building a mill to process grains in-house. 

Paul Bickford farmed with John and Halee Wepking as a team in Ridgeway, Wisconsin until 2022. Paul had been farming in Ridgeway since 1978, first raising dairy, then transitioning to organic grains and legumes. Thinking about the future of his farm, Paul placed an ad looking for a young couple to join him as partners. John and Halee, who returned to farming after working in local food restaurants, answered the ad. The three farmed together until Paul’s unexpected passing in 2022. John and Halee continue to farm in Paul’s honor at Meadowlark Organics.

John and Halee were instrumental in diversifying the operation by bringing their enthusiasm for specialty ingredients. Their current rotation includes corn, soybeans, oats, alfalfa hay, milling wheat, spelt, rye, buckwheat, open-pollinated milling corn, and dry edible beans. Their crops grow atop ridges in ancient, glacial soils and are interseeded with cover crops. Meadowlark Organics focuses on specialty, milling grains and sells them locally to bakeries, groceries, and directly at farmers’ markets. They are building a mill that will allow them to process their grains in-house, in addition to serving their community.

In 2018 Iroquois Valley financed the purchase of a 120-acre parcel that Paul had been renting for 30 years. When the landowner of that parcel passed, she left Paul the first right to buy the land. By providing mortgage financing to enable the purchase, Iroquois Valley keeps organic farmers on the land and supports the long-term farmland transfer plans between Paul, John, and Halee.