Farmer Profile - Todd and Heather Strader

     This month we are pleased to introduce you to TH Farms LLC, owned and operated by Todd and Heather Strader.  Todd and Heather were both raised in the Colfax, Washington area.  After college they had careers away from the farm, but decided to return home, and go into farming with their families.  Young farmers are a rare breed, and much needed for the future of our food security here in the USA.  We are proud of Todd for taking on the business of farming, and for his success in the four years that he has been at it.

Todd Strader and his son, Grant (future farmer!)

 Your name, family names and interests

     Todd, Heather, Grant and Ava

 Where do you live, your farm name?

     TH FARMS LLC / Colfax WA

 How long have you been farming?
     4 Years

 Why did you become a farmer?
     Prior to farming, I was an FBI Special Agent.  I worked all over the US but mostly in Washington D.C. and Albuquerque, New Mexico.  My wife and I grew tired of living in big cities and wanted to raise our kids where and how we were raised, farming wheat in the Palouse!

What crops do you grow?    
     Wheat, Barley, Garbanzo Beans

 What type of farm do you operate?

     Our farm is dryland, meaning that we don't irrigate.  We use the direct seed method, meaning we don't till the soil.

Todd, combining (harvesting) his wheat

 Tell us about your operation. 

     My wife and I farm throughout Whitman County, Washington in varied micro-climates and rainfall zones.  We raise wheat, barley, and garbanzo beans.   We are sixth generation farmers, our kids are seventh direct generation on the same farm, which was homesteaded in 1877.  It is located due south of Colfax, Washington.  We also raise sheep and cattle for fun and for our kids.

 Do you use any sustainable practices?  Please tell about them.

     We direct seed using a Horsch Anderson, 35’ No-Till drill.  This drill applies 2 separate types of fertilizer as well as the seed all in one pass!  This allows the least amount of tillage to be used, reduces compaction and maintains the soil health, and so preserving and enhancing our soils for the next generation of farmers! 

Something interesting, cutting-edge, fascinating, you would like readers to know?

     All of our fertilizer and herbicides are applied using GPS technology which automatically turns the fertilizer and herbicide on and off automatically in order to reduce the amount of chemicals used.  The computer system in the tractor maintains a GPS/Satellite map, showing where we have and have not sprayed, and adjusts the amount and rate of fertilizer/herbicide to be applied. Our tractor is also equipped with “Auto Steer” which controls the steering while working in the field.

Wheat harvest - cut on the left, uncut on the right

     The seedbox on our seeder has scales on it so that we can accurately meter how much seed we are putting out, and we can change our seed rate on the fly!

What are the biggest challenges you face as a farmer?

     The biggest challenges I face as a farmer is the volatility of the wheat/garbanzo bean markets and weather.  No matter how hard we work, our success and outcome as a farmer is determined by outside forces including international politics, US monetary policy, and other commodity prices such as fuel prices which we use to power our equipment, and use to make fertilizer, as well as gold and silver prices.  Sometimes the wheat market can swing 3-6% in one day due to these factors.

Dumping the wheat kernels from the hopper into the grain truck,
which will haul it to market.
Note there are two other big grain trucks waiting to be filled.
You can't see her, but that's a girl driving that big John Deere tractor!

What are farming's biggest rewards for you?

     The biggest reward for me as a farmer is harvest-time.  Harvest is when we cut all of our wheat and garbanzo beans which we have been working for a full year to cultivate, plant and care for and is the fruit of all of our labor.  A successful harvest is very rewarding!

 Do you participate in any civic or industry organizations?

     I am a volunteer firefighter with the Onecho Fire Department.

 Are there any stories about farming that you’d like to share?
     My son's first tractor ride was when he was about 2 months old.  Our tractors are climate-controlled, very quiet and dust-free in the cab, so don't be alarmed!  My daughter is almost 2 and our son is 3, and they both love to drive in the tractors and trucks with their dad!
     Also, I am a pilot, and I love to fly over our fields to check them for issues, weed problems and the overall health of the land and our crop.

Heather, Grant and Ava, framed in Farmer Todd's tractor tire!

Farmer Profile - Mark Richter

     This month, we are happy to introduce you to Mark Richter of Endicott, Washington, located in the Palouse Country of Eastern Washington state.  We have worked with Mark since 1993; in that time, we have seen him become very progressive and conservation minded in his farming practices. Mark and his combine are featured in the header photo of our blog!

Farmer Mark Richter and his wife, Kathleen

Your name, family names and interests: 

     Mark and Kathleen Richter.  We have two daughters, Kayla and Claire, and a son, Colson.  Kayla is married to Eli, and they have a baby boy, Gavin.

Your farm name, and location:
     We are a family operation, and the name is R& R Farms, Endicott, WA

How long have you been farming?  

     I have farmed for 34 years.  I came back to the farm in 1979 after college

Why did you become a farmer? 

     I loved being out on the land and being my own boss.

 

What crops do you grow?

 We grow Soft White Winter Wheat, Hard Red Winter Wheat, Hard Red Spring Wheat, Soft White Club Wheat,  Peas, Lentils and Garbanzos

Mark Richter's farm from the air

What type of farm do you have?

      Our region is all dryland, meaning we don't irrigate.  We are a Direct-Seeded producer.  This means we don't plow, disc or cultivate the soil, but plant directly into last year's stubble.  We don't raise any livestock.

Tell us about your operation. 
     We are an all grain and legume farm. We are in the Palouse country, which in the southeast portion of Washington State.

Do you use any sustainable practices?   Please tell about them.

     We have been direct seeding 100% of our operations continuously since 1997.  In the Palouse our terrain is very hilly, we can get to over 50% slopes which creates unique challenges for equipment and operator. 

     Within that challenge we receive most of our precipitation in the winter, which has very erosive affects when the land is not properly cared for. The traditional practice of summer fallow using tillage to combat the weeds would give us water erosion of more that 200 tons per acre*. That practice is not sustainable, which is why we went to direct seeding.  Direct seeding is also known as no-till. That is where the crop is planted into the previous years stubble with one or two passes across the field, to fertilize and plant the crop. We have eliminated erosion on our farm and we are trying to be the best stewards of the land that we have been blessed with.

Something interesting, cutting-edge, fascinating, you would like readers to know?

     We have been using GPS for guidance and automatic boom shutoff for the last 10 plus years. It has been a real money saver and also good for the environment. It shuts off valves that apply fertilizers so that they are not being over-applied.

During last summer's wheat harvest

What are the biggest challenges you face as a farmer?   

     The biggest thing we deal with are regulations and red tape from special interest groups. We are the only industry that produce goods that sell for wholesale and we pay the freight both ways.

What are farming’s biggest rewards for you? 

     I wake each morning to a new day that has a new set of rewards and challenges. I appreciate the beauty of each and every sunrise and sunset, and the ability to be in God’s creation.

Do you participate in any civic or industry organizations?   

     Yes, I’m a member of the Washington Farm Bureau, Washington Association of Wheat Growers and the Pacific Northwest Direct Seed Association (PNDSA). I served as the President of the PNDSA which is a three-state organization that encourages farmers and industry to wise stewardship of our resources. Website: www.directseed.org


*Water erosion of more than 200 Tons per acre means that the rain and/or frozen soil conditions have allowed the loss of 400,000 lbs. of soil to be moved from its original place.  This could be down to a lower draw where it flattens out, or further down stream into our creeks, rivers, lakes and/or reservoirs.

 

Farmer Profile - Guy Therrien

  This month, we are very pleased to introduce you to Farmer Guy Therrien of the Palouse Country, located in Eastern Washington state.  He and his wife, Jeanne, (a fourth generation farmer), work with her father, Allan Hood.

The Therrien Family,
back row:  Guy, Tanner, A.J. & Josh,
front row:  Jeanne & Jillian

     My name is Guy Therrien.  My wife, Jeanne and I have three boys.  Josh is an athletic trainer for Oregon State University.  He is married to Jillian.  Our second son, A.J. is a senior at Washington State University, studying Construction Management.  Our youngest son, Tanner, is a junior at Pullman High School, and a recent state champion in basketball.

     We live and work in the Pullman, Washington area.  I married into my wife's family's farming business 23 years ago.  I work with her and her father, Allan Hood.

The vineyard along the Snake River

   
     When we aren't working, we enjoy fishing, hunting, hiking, watching our kids play sports, and watching WSU (Washington State University) Cougars sports.

     We have a hobby vineyard in the Snake River Canyons.  Our vineyard has eight - 200' rows.  Four of the rows are Cabernet Sauvignon and four rows are Shiraz grapes.  The vines are about 9 years old.  We trade the grapes for wine from Wawawai Canyon Winery.  It's a pretty good deal!



   

Cabernet grapes

     On our dryland farm, we grow red and white wheat, barley, peas and garbanzo beans.  We try to farm in a three year rotation with these crops.  Winter wheat is followed by a spring grain (wheat or barley) the second year,  and then a pulse crop (dry green peas or garbanzo beans) the third year.  This helps in our weed and disease management.

     Since I started 23 years ago, so much has changed.  The obvious changes are in the machinery we use.  It's larger, faster, and so much more technologically advanced now.  Our tractors have navigation, speed control, auto steering, four wheel drive, etc.  This adds a little more to the production costs.

     Less obvious changes have happened in our farming practices.  We no longer plow or disk the soil.  We have put grass strips in highly erodible places, and we till the ground very few times.  These practices have virtually eliminated erosion.

Oops!

     I feel that our biggest challenges are the same as they have always been.  We have to sell our crops for more than we have invested in them.  We receive a higher price for our crops these days than 10 or 20 years ago, but our costs have increased also.

     The most satisfying rewards happen at the end of harvest.  All the difficult decisions, spending, sweating and sleepless nights have produced a finished product that helps feed the world, and hopefully, we have earned a little profit.

Lucky the Llama

     We are members of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers and the U.S. Dry Pea and Lentil Association.

Farmer Profile: Reid Bowen

     WE ARE PLEASED to introduce you to our friend, Reid Bowen, a YOUNG FARMER in southern Idaho.  TheCitySlicker and I know the Bowen family from our time at the University of Idaho in Moscow.

Tell us about your family:

My Name is Reid Bowen and my wife is Lacy. We have three kids Wyatt, 3, Taylor, 2 and Rylan, 3 weeks.  Lacy helps me with the bookkeeping. I do all of the farming. I am helped out by my uncle Kerry  who lets use his machinery and I was helped out a lot by my younger brother Ryan till he passed away this last December. I also have a partner whom I farm some beans with.

Getting ready to plow the field and give Rylan his first tractor ride!

Where do you live, what is your farm’s name?
I farm in the high desert of Southern Idaho. More particularly the Mini-Cassia area. The farm’s name is simple: Reid Bowen Farms.

How long have you been farming?

I am the 5^th generation in my family to have farmed in this area. My second great grandpa Banner came to Burley and started to farm there.  But each of my grandpas have farmed in Idaho or Utah. I have farmed for 15 years working for my uncles. The last three years I have farmed on my own.

Why did you become a farmer?

 I have loved farming from the time I was a young child. At the age of two my father bought me a toy tractor. It seemed from that time on I have wanted to farm. It is something that gets inside of you unlike anything else.

Out in the corn field

What type of crops do you grow? What type of farming (irrigated, organic, dryland, etc.)?

Everything I farm is under sprinkler irrigation.  Being from Idaho everyone thinks that I should raise potatoes, but I don’t and have no desire to. The main crop I raise is small red and pinto beans, which this year I will raise about 142 acres of.  The beans are sold to a processor for canning, bagging or seed.  Along with the beans I also raise 92 acres of corn, 29 acres of wheat and 15 acres of hay. The corn is grown for silage that is fed to dairy cattle. The wheat is soft white which is sold to be milled in Ogden, Utah for flour to be used in cakes and cookies. Lastly the hay is fed to my father-in-law’s horses.

Tell us about your operation.

It is a small, young operation. It started on with 20 acres of beans two years ago. The farm has grown this year to be 278 acres.

Do you use any sustainable practices? 

I have highly erodible soil so I use strip tillage. This is the practice of tilling just a little strip of ground to plant the seed into. You then leave the rest of the soil and the residue untouched. In doing so I reduce wind erosion of the soil. As we till the soil we put down fertilizer right in the root zone. This helps to cut down on the amount of fertilizer that is needed.

Tell us something interesting, cutting-edge, fascinating, that you would like readers to know! 
Idaho is the number one producer of potatoes and barley, the third largest dairy and sugar beet producing state and is the fifth in production of dry beans.

What are the biggest challenges you face as a farmer?

The public not understanding agriculture. It seems that more and more people attack conventional agriculture. Often the biggest problem is they don’t understand agriculture at all. It once was that everyone knew a farmer. Now days fewer and fewer people really know what goes into farming, but they are sure going to tell you that they know what is happening.

Bean field in early July

What are farming’s biggest rewards for you?

The biggest rewards have been being able to be with my family. In the last 19 years I’ve spent a great deal of time hoeing sugar beets and moving water with my brothers. I’ve also spent a lot of time with my father driving tractor until 2 in the morning. During this time we’ve had a lot of great conversations.


Are there any stories about farming that you’d like to share?
 Because I have always wanted to farm from a very young age I was always out on the farm. With being out on the farm all the time I thought at the age of two or three that I could run the machinery. So one time when my Grandfather stepped out of the corn chopper he left me in the machine with it running. A big mistake. As he was out, I decide to chop the corn. I took off with no one to stop me. I was the happiest three year old in the world. At the same time my grandpa was the most scared grandfather in the world. He ran after the chopper, slipping on the knocked down corn. But he was able to stop the machine just before going onto the next field.

Farmer Profile - Drew Eggers

     We are please to introduce you to our friend, Drew Eggers of Meridian, Idaho.  Drew is a third generation farmer.  He and his wife, Debra have been farming for many years.

Drew "out standing" in his field

Your name:  
        Drew and Debra Eggers

Where do you live?  
        Meridian, Idaho, located in Southwestern Idaho

How long have you been farming?  
        Since 1978

Why did you become a farmer?  
        I was raised on a row-crop farm.  My grandfather had dairy cows and raised prunes.  I got a degree in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Idaho, and worked for an irrigation district for two years as an engineer, but working the land kept calling to me.

Farmer Profile: John Sturtevant

    We are proud to introduce you to John Sturtevant of Pasco, Washington.  He runs a very clean farming operation, his yields are consistently some of the highest around, his equipment and fields are meticulously maintained; every aspect of his farm is top-notch.  It's notable, too, that John is a relatively young farmer, and has built a reputable and stable farm business in his community. 

Your name, family names and interests:

            My name is John Sturtevant. My wife’s name is Dawn and I have a step-son Alex, who is serving in the United States Marine Corp stationed at Twentynine Palms, CA. When not farming I like to spend time day-hiking in the Cascade mountains, fishing and shooting traditional archery with my brother-in-law.



John and Dawn Sturtevant at Mt. Shasta

Where do you live?

            We live in Pasco Washington in the Columbia Basin area of eastern Washington state.

How long have you been farming? 

            My parents came to the Pasco area to farm in 1966 before I was born . I was born and raised on the farm before joining my older brother in the family operation in 1996.

Sweet Hills Farm

The Herd in the Summer

  Sweet Hills Farm is our place in southern Idaho.  It is 65 acres, a nice plot of irrigated land, and a very small farm for our region.  The farm is divided into three fields, plus our homestead which has a pasture, barn and corrals, riding arena, fruit trees a big gravel drive and parking/storage area, house and yard.  We keep two horses, summer steers for beef and a flock of hens.  Plus, the dogs and barn-cats.

     For many years we were building a herd of registered Angus cows.  Each year, we would breed the mother cows to an excellent bull, using artificial insemination (A.I.).  Then, in the spring, the babies would be born, which was the best of all!  We would keep all the little females (heifers), and raise them to become mother cows.  We raised the little males (bull calves) to sell to 4-H and FFA kids.  The kids would train them, feed them, and take them to the county and state fairs in our region.   These were extremely high quality animals, and they made great show steers.  In the summer and fall, the mother cows and calves would be on pasture, and then in the winter and spring, we would feed them alfalfa-grass hay.  It was something we all enjoyed very much.

That's Heidi on the far left, and Lady Diana, #515, in front.
Diana weighed 1,400 lbs., a huge cow.
 They were both real sweeties.

     But, in 2008, my husband, Craig, developed a wicked lung disease, which is ongoing.  He's doing fine, but he couldn't feed those cows all winter long anymore, because the hay-dust might get into his lungs.  Feeding that number of cows was too much for me to do by myself, so, in 2010, we decided to sell the herd.  I cried when my two favorite cows, Heidi and Lady Diana went down the road.

     Because we love the cattle so much, and have plenty of pasture, we buy a few young steers (castrated bulls) at the livestock auction each spring to raise over summer.  They eat the grass, and then in late fall, we sell them as beef to our friends.  It works out great.

     The three cropped fields are leased to our farmer, (who we hope to profile soon).  He farms our ground plus his own family farm and our neighbor's bigger farm.  Each year, he plants 3 different crops on our place. He rotates a different crop onto each field each year, to keep the soil healthy.  The crops that are grown on our farm are field corn (cow food), seed corn (seed to plant for corn), sugar beets (sugar!), dry beans (pintos and kidneys), soft white winter wheat (sold to Asia, for their special noodles) and carrot seed.

Dormant field, photo taken today 2/21/13.  The field
is bedded up in the fall, to retain moisture in the soil.

     As the year goes on, we will tell you about the different crops.  The most interesting is carrot seed, it's very special, and our farmer hovers over it all season long.  You see, our region is known for its ability to grow seed.  We have just the climate, water and soil for a variety of seed crops such as alfalfa, corn, carrot, onion, garlic and many herbs and flower seeds.

     Our farm is irrigated by gravity flow, using syphon tubes.  The irrigation in this region was developed in the early 1900's.  Of course, at that time, pumps and electricity for sprinkler irrigation hadn't been developed yet, so the water delivery ditches, field sizes and shapes were laid out following the natural contours of the land, so that the water could be delivered on the high side of each field, and flow gently down the furrows to the low side.  This is an old fashioned but effective and efficient method which is still used in many places all over the U.S. today.  When we begin irrigating this season, I'll take some photos of the tubes in action (it's really exciting-water coming out of a tube!)
     Thanks for reading!

Farmer Profile: Ed Schneider

Ed Schneider with his tractor

We are excited to share our first farm and farmer profile with you all! Each month, we will be bringing you another profile of farmer and farm, along with recipes and photos of their operations. We'll also be checking back in with each farmer as the year progresses, and share with you planting, growing, and harvest seasons!

We are so very pleased to introduce to you Ed Schneider of Pasco, WA. The Schneider's have been a part of our farming family for decades, and are wonderful people and top-notch farmers. We hope you will enjoy learning about his farm and family! If you have any questions about Ed's farm, please ask in the comments section!


Your name, family names and interests

My name is Ed and my wife’s name is Liz. We have 2 daughters Alissa and Kelsey. I am the person who makes most of the major farming decisions, Liz helps out wherever she can and Kelsey does the bookkeeping for the farm when she isn't styling hair. My oldest daughter Alissa lives in Seattle where she works for a foundation mentoring youths. I also have a partner, Grant, who is a young farmer that has become a partner in the farm with me since graduating from college, and will be taking over the farm in the future.