Category: Farm Profile
FARMER: Josh & Sara Smith
LOCATION: Wells County, IN
SIZE: 77 Acres
JOINED OUR PORTFOLIO: 2024
Josh and Sara Smith are first-generation farmers raising their three kids—Isaac, Sadie, and Cora—on Wholesome Meadows Farm in northeastern Indiana. What began in 2014 as a small farmstead has since grown into a diversified organic operation spread across 157 acres. The Smiths own 80 acres dedicated to produce, berries, pumpkins, and pasture-raised...
Farm Profile: Diamond E. Ranch
Written by Nora Chovanec on . Posted in Farm Profile.
RANCHER: Cindy Tolle
LOCATION: Cochise County, AZ
SIZE: 22,000 Acres
JOINED OUR PORTFOLIO: 2024
Cindy Tolle is a biologist, an environmental chemist, and a mother with decades of ranching experience across the West. At the Diamond E. Ranch in Cochise County, Arizona, Cindy, along with her family and her team, Steven and Angie Terrell, approach their work first and foremost as land stewards. Their multi-generational endeavor has US ranch hubs in the...
Farm Profile: Eli’s Ridge
Written by Nora Chovanec on . Posted in Farm Profile.
FARMER: The Hatleys
LOCATION: Oakboro, NC
SIZE: 110 Acres
JOINED OUR PORTFOLIO: 2022
FARM STORY
Shawn and Jennifer Hatley are fourth-generation farmers in Stanly County who raise sheep, pigs, cows, ducks, and chickens with their sons, Blake and Eli. The Hatleys apply sustainable and regenerative farming principles and work within a perennial pasture and forest-based farming system (also known as silvopasture) in Oakboro, a suburb of Charlotte. We...
Farm Profile: Johnson Family Farm
Written by Nora Chovanec on . Posted in Farm Profile.
FARMERS: Rick & Corey Johnson
LOCATION: Will County, IL
SIZE: 1,430 Acres
JOINED OUR PORTFOLIO: 2018
FARM STORYRick and his son Corey are fourth and fifth-generation farmers in the heart of Illinois corn and soybean country, just south of the expansive Chicago suburbs. Together, they manage 1,430 acres of row crops, with 940 of those acres financed in partnership with Iroquois Valley. Of that, 420 acres are organic, while 520 are transitioning to...
Farm Profile: Meadowlark Organics
Written by Nora Chovanec on . Posted in Farm Profile.
FARMERS: The Wepkings
LOCATION: Ridgeway, WI
SIZE: 700 Acres
JOINED OUR PORTFOLIO: 2018
FARM STORYJohn 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...
Farm Profile: Central Grazing Company
Written by Nora Chovanec on . Posted in Farm Profile.
FARMER: Jacqueline Smith
LOCATION: Lawrence, KS
SIZE: 80 Breeding Sheep
JOINED OUR PORTFOLIO: 2022
FARM STORYJacqueline Smith founded Central Grazing Company in 2015 on the premise that all livestock deserve a good, peaceful, humane life. After working for many years co-running a sustainable sheep dairy, Jacqueline pinpointed gaps in restorative land management supply chains. While the ewes raised for milking and breeding were treated humanely, there was...