Adam Roberts of Roberts Family Organics may be a first-generation farm owner, but his agricultural roots run deep. His mother comes from a legacy farming family, but farmland rarely passes from mother to son in traditional Midwestern communities. As a result, Adam didn’t grow up on a farm—but he found his way into agriculture through his maternal uncle, Ben, a pioneer in organic farming who earned certification in 2003, just one year after the launch of the National Organic Program.

Adam started working for Ben at age 15, gaining hands-on experience as a farmhand throughout high school. After completing his college degree, Adam briefly worked at ADM, a large conventional grain handler, but his passion for farming quickly pulled him back to his uncle’s operation. Returning to work with Ben full-time, Adam spent a decade learning the ins and outs of organic grain production while nurturing a vision of running his own operation. 

But the path to becoming an independent farmer proved challenging without inherited family land. As Adam put it, “The hardest part about becoming a farmer is that you can’t just knock on someone’s door and say I want to manage your multi-million dollar asset. I think I can do it better than anyone else, even though I am just a farmhand and not a farm owner right now.” Even with experience and ambition, finding a partner to help finance a first farm is difficult—that’s where Iroquois Valley often steps into the picture. Over 65% of our farmers are millennials or Gen Z, many of whom are first-generation farmers like Adam.

After ten years of working with Ben, Adam approached us about a partnership, after becoming familiar with Iroquois Valley through our collaboration with another farmer in the area. While Adam had never owned a farm before, we knew he had extensive experience, and a partnership was born. As luck would have it, the first farm we partnered on with Adam was just a mile from his house and was a piece of land that his uncle had tenant farmed for decades. His mother even grew up playing in the swimming hole on the property!

Today, Adam grows organic oats, corn, and soybeans that end up in familiar products across the country. His grain feeds Bell & Evan’s organic chicken and cows producing milk for Costco’s Kirkland Signature brand. If you’ve ever enjoyed a CLIF bar during an outdoor adventure, there’s a good chance it contains organic oats grown by Adam!  In addition to farming full-time, Adam founded North Fork Seeds, an organic seed company serving farmers across Northern Illinois. He started the company after recognizing a need for more research-driven insights and better-performing organic seed varieties in the region.

Adam is committed to organic farming for many reasons, but none more personal than his family. His young children often join him in the fields, and he takes pride knowing that the only thing touching his plants is iron, never pesticides or herbicides. 

Want to learn more about Adam’s farming operation? Watch our recent webinar, co-hosted with the Regenerative Food Systems Investment Forum, in which Adam shares his experience as a millennial farmer navigating the challenges and opportunities of organic agriculture.