Luke Howard
Homestead Farms, a first-generation family farm in Millington, Maryland, is one of a kind: it is the only farm in Queen Anne’s Countyentering into a direct relationship with its customers through a system called Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and it is one of few to be certified organic by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
On 200 acres (77 of which is owned), the Howard Family produces certified organic vegetables, which they market through their CSA, at Easton farmers market, through wholesalers and restaurants. They also raise certified organic grain, which is processed into livestock feed.
A short time before Luke and Alison Howard established their farm in 2002, Luke wouldn’t have dreamed of farming organically. Luke describes himself as “a conservative guy” and is fond of saying: “You don’t have to be a tree hugger to be an organic farmer.”
Matters of political correctness notwithstanding, Luke’s decision to employ the term “tree hugger” is telling: though still a relatively small piece of the agricultural pie (only about 0.7 percent of all U.S. cropland and 0.5 percent of all U.S. pasture was certified organic in 2008), organic farming isn’t the fringe movement it once was; it’s big business. U.S. sales of certified organic food and beverages grew from $1 billion in 1990 to $26.7 billion in 2010, according to the Organic Trade Association. Indeed, Luke and Alison both got their start in organic agriculture by working for what is now the largest supplier of organic milk in North America.
The couple first met in Kennedyville in Kent County in the late 1990s, while calving heifers, milking cows and generally working as part of a team hired to establish a company-owned Horizon Organic Dairy. While working for Horizon isn’t the equivalent of working for one of the agricultural giants such as Archer Daniels Midland, Monsanto Company, or Cargill in terms of revenue and reach, the dairy is owned by Dean Foods, a publicly traded beverage company, which employs about 25,000 people and had $12.1 billion in earnings in 2010.
Working for Horizon wasn’t a huge ideological leap for Alison, who has a degree in sustainable agriculture from the University of Maine and was already oriented toward organics. Luke grew up on a dairy farm in north-central Pennsylvania, where his father employed practices that would be inconsistent with USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP) guidelines. “When I was growing up” said Luke, “my goal was to be involved in large, industrial style agriculture; efficient dairy production was my primary agricultural mission.”
While producing certified organic agricultural products does not necessarily mean a farmer produces on a small scale, or outside the industrialized food system (consider Julie Guthman’s Agrarian Dreams: The paradox of organic farming in California), for Luke, his introduction to organics at Horizon was revelatory: “When I started work in Kennedyville,” confessed Luke, “I had many years of dairying experience under my belt and I thought I knew how to take care of cows. But I discovered the cows were very healthy at Horizon, even though we didn’t put antibiotics in their feed, and production levels didn’t suffer for it either. It was a eureka moment for me.”
For Luke, participating in a successful alternative farming system helped him discover a new agricultural voice: “I realized I can have an impact on the way people eat by the choice I make as a producer and that’s a powerful thing.” Alison suggests the consumer has a role to play as well: “At each meal, we vote with our forks. When people choose to join a CSA or purchase organic food, they’re casting a vote for a certain kind of farming.”
While Luke and Alison believe producing certified organic food provides environmental and potentially health benefits (though, these matters are contested), there are also market incentives to farm organically; certified organic products fetch a price premium. Luke believes this will help motivate farmers to transition to organic production who might not switch for ideological reasons: “The market for organic food and animal feed is growing and has room to grow; the Delmarva has an opportunity to become a hub for organics in the mid-Atlantic, to keep farm land open, active and available… we should seize that opportunity, for the health of this community and because its what consumers are asking for.”
Despite organic price premiums, both Luke and Alison opt to pursue off-farm work. Alison is employed full-time by Queen Anne’s County Soil Conservation District and administers several programs there. Alison is able to put her agricultural degree to work and secure health care for her family. Luke pursues consulting work, including assisting farmers transition to organic; he’s also a consultant for Blue River Hybrids, which deals organic seeds. The need for off-farm labor is not unusual in agriculture today; while in 1945, twenty-seven percent of farmers worked off-farm, by 2002 ninety-three percent of farmers had some off-farm income. Despite her full-time off-farm job, Alison manages marketing and consumer relations for the CSA, sells at the farmers market and is the “brains” behind the vegetable production system.
What motivates the Howards to keep farming, despite the need to juggle farm-work and off-farm work? “I’m highly motivated by the CSA operation,” says Alison. “When our members thank us directly for the work we’re doing, or when friends tell us they saw Homestead Farms produce in the store, it’s easy to start planning for next season. I enjoy that positive feedback.” Luke feels similarly: “When I milked cows for large scale dairies,” says Luke, “I never knew my customer. Through the CSA, I know my customer and they know me. I like having the opportunity to connect directly with my customers.”
Luke is also motivated by a family history in agriculture and a desire to pass on his agrarian values. “Farming is what I know and I get a lot of satisfaction from the knowledge that I’m putting my skills to use feeding people,” says Luke. “I had the privilege of growing up on a family farm. Though I worked very hard, it gave me a unique set of skills to take out into this world. Allowing my children to grow up on a farm was passing on that gift. Unfortunately, I grew up on a family farm that wasn’t able to pass it on to the next generation; I want to create a viable agricultural business that I can pass on. Whether or not my children want to farm is their choice, but at least, I wanted them to know where their food comes from, who produces their food, and what it takes to make that happen.”
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Dear reader! Are you still wondering: what is CSA?
The matter is somewhat complicated: the origin of CSA in the United States is debatable and its definition various and imprecise; not all CSA farms operate under the exact same model. But, here’s how Homestead Farms’ CSA works:
“Shares” of the farm’s produce are offered at a set price and customers (or “shareholders”) pay in advance of the season to reserve their share; in essence, one subscribes to the farm. Each week throughout the growing season, shareholders pick up their box of produce at the farm or at a delivery site (many of Homestead’s customers are Annapolis-based). Homestead also offers a pork and beef share, a dairy share and a honey share, all products of other eastern shore farmers.
Why join a CSA?
> Learn more about the concept of CSA and find a CSA farmer near you at Local Harvest’s website. Or consider perusing the USDA’s Alternative Farming Systems Information Center CSA website.
Great Article guys. Love the pic of you too Luke.