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Richard DeWilde and Linda
Halley earn most of their income at the Dane County Farmers
Market, one of the nation’s biggest.
Photo by Tom Gettings |
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Richard DeWilde
and Linda Halley
Viroqua, Wisconsin
Updated in 2005
Summary of Operation
About 90 varieties of fruits, vegetables, herbs
and root crops on 80 acres
Direct marketing, community supported agriculture (CSA) operation
25 Angus steers
Pasture, hay and compost on 220 acres
Problem Addressed
Running a successful
organic farm. Richard DeWilde questioned whether to become
a farmer at all, but once he decided that’s what he wanted
to do, he never really questioned how he’d go about it. For
him, it was organic production or nothing.
Once he made that decision, DeWilde determined to grow crops organically
for direct sale to individuals, although he wasn’t sure whether
running a small farming enterprise would pay the bills. He spent
a number of lean years and long, hard days finding the answer.
Background
Harmony Valley lies just outside Viroqua, in Wisconsin’s
southwest corner, near LaCrosse and only about 5 miles east of the
Mississippi River. It’s an area with a long tradition of small
dairy farming, and indeed all of Harmony Valley Farm’s 290
acres were once part of dairy operations.
DeWilde established the farm in 1984, moving to Wisconsin after
farming in Minnesota for 11 years. After, as he says, “St.
Paul reached the place and paved it over,” DeWilde leased
the new farm in Harmony Valley.
DeWilde had an initial 10-acre plot on which to plant his first
crops, and has since been able to certify the rest of the 70 or
so acres he uses for produce. He and Linda Halley married and started
farming together in 1990, then began a community supported agriculture
(CSA) project that became a mainstay of their operation a few seasons
later.
Long before it became popular, DeWilde dedicated himself to growing
quality specialty greens, vegetables and berries organically. That
was 30 years ago, and he’s still on the cutting edge with
his careful production methods as well as his diverse marketing
strategies.
Focal Point of Operation
— Vegetable production and marketing
Thanks to farming techniques that include diverse
rotations, cover crops and generous amounts of compost and rock
powders, DeWilde’s silt loam fields are high in organic matter,
humus and biological life. Although they raise dozens of crops,
DeWilde and Halley claim they are best known for a season-long,
high quality salad mix, saute greens and spinach. In the fall and
winter, they offer specialty root crops, from potatoes to unusual
varieties of turnips.
They sell produce to a 450-member CSA, at a weekly stall at the
Dane County Farmers Market, and to retail grocers and wholesale
distributors. They also raise Black Angus steers on pastures in
a rotational grazing system, then finish them with organic grain
while still on pasture.
DeWilde and Halley make 15 percent of their income from the farmers
market in the state capital of Madison, about 100 miles away. They
are long established at the market, which operates from the last
week of April to the first week of November, and are sought out
for both the variety and quality of their organic produce.
It takes a full page in the farm’s newsletter to list their
seasonal offerings, which include such produce as asparagus, butter
beans, lettuces, strawberries, peas, three kinds of beets, many
types of herbs, melons, sweet and hot peppers, sweet potatoes, many
varieties of tomatoes and corn. The farm is geared to the rhythm
of the Saturday market, with most harvesting done in the latter
part of the week so DeWilde can load the trucks for the weekly trip
to Madison.
More important financially, and helping create the bond Harmony
Valley seeks with its neighbors, is the CSA project. About 650 families
in the Madison area participate, and its core group — made
up of some of the participants as well as community activists —
helps them set policy, select crops and manage the deliveries. This
regular contact keeps them in tune with what the locals want and
provides other marketing opportunities, such as selling beef.
One new marketing channel came when they decided to expand into
sales, mainly of root crops, to wholesale distributors. DeWilde
says this end of the business is more volatile, with prices subject
to dramatic fluctuations depending on competition, but says it’s
worth the effort to be able to extend the possibility of sales farther
into the slow winter season.
They market the 25 head of beef from the dozen or more steers they
raise each year directly to restaurants and by word-of-mouth at
their many markets. Their beef cattle are Black Angus, and are strictly
organic, fed only grasses and grains from the farm. They compost
the manure from their own beef cattle as well as the dairy cattle
on a neighboring farm.
Economics and Profitability
“Things work around here,” DeWilde says.
“That’s one of the best ways I can illustrate how well
we’re doing.” He’s referring to his farm equipment,
his vehicles, and his harvesting and delivery timetables.
“We’ve made enough money to invest in good equipment
and can afford to pay for fixing it when it breaks down, so we don’t
lose a lot of time or money because simple things don’t function
well.”
Another way DeWilde defines success is to compare his income to
those of other professionals — because he insists that’s
what he and Linda are. DeWilde says he has always hoped for an income
earned doing something he loves that would rival what he might earn
from doing something else, and he’s now reached it.
On sales of more than $800,000 each year in recent years, he has
achieved a profit margin of slightly more than 10 percent. “Maybe
I’d make more as a lawyer,” he said, “but I eat
better than most lawyers, and I get to work outside.”
As an additional note on the farm’s fiscal health, DeWilde
says he and Linda have been able to invest a considerable amount
toward their retirement, and that they can afford more than adequate
family health insurance. “It’s a long way from wondering
if you can afford a new pair of shoes,” he says. “I’ve
been at that point before in my life, but things are good now.”
Environmental Benefits
To control insect pests, DeWilde provides perennial
habitat in the form of refuge strips in the fields and structures
such as birdhouses, bat boxes, raptor perches and wasp houses. Harmony
Valley has become a magnet for wildlife and beneficial insects.
He calls raptors, song birds, bats, wasps and beneficial insects
his “allies” in the annual fight against pests.
DeWilde has developed an effective plan to fight weeds that doesn’t
mean a lot of high-priced machinery. He integrates raised beds;
shallow tillage; cover crops such as rye, hairy vetch and red clover;
stale-seedbed planting; and crop rotation with precision cultivation
— including using a flamer. His underlying principle: Never
let weeds go to seed.
DeWilde continues to seek new ways to control pests and disease.
Some recent research looked at how compost-amended soil might suppress
disease.
“But probably the thing I’m most proud of is a better
than 1 percent increase in the organic matter in the soil of the
fields I’ve used the most over the years,” he says.
“That’s no small feat.”
It’s a result of religious applications of composted manure
from nearby dairy farms and assiduous use of cover crops, and it
has resulted in soil that’s obviously more fertile, more workable,
holds water better and has less weed pressure, he says.
Community and Quality
of Life Benefits
At the height of the season, Harmony Valley employs
25 people. “That makes us the biggest employer in our township,”
DeWilde says.
As he sees it, he’s collecting money from consumers in bigger
cities like Madison and Chicago, and helping redistribute it in
his own community, making it healthier and more economically secure.
And while most of his employees are seasonal, at least five will
remain on the farm throughout the winter this year, helping to clean,
sort and ship root crops, cleaning and re-arranging the greenhouses,
and helping produce the homemade potting soil DeWilde prefers for
his seedlings.
Says DeWilde: “I like to think we’ve had a substantial
and positive effect on the life of this community. We hire local
folks, we don’t pump chemicals into the soil, the water or
the air, and we attract people who just want to look at the place.”
As for his quality of life, and that of his wife and two sons,
DeWilde says they benefit from the good relations they’ve
established with their employees — though management can sometimes
be a trial. Even more gratification comes through direct and regular
contact with their CSA and farmers market customers.
“I’ve gotten cards from some of our customers telling
us we’ve literally changed their lives because our produce
is so good and healthful,” DeWilde says. “It doesn’t
get much better than that.”
Transition Advice
Anyone intending to produce a high volume of vegetables
and fruits organically needs to focus initially and consistently
on improving his or her soil, DeWilde says. “You’ll
have an easier time controlling weeds, pests, and disease if you
have healthy soil, so that should be focus of your efforts from
the start,” he says.
On the business side of the equation he says, “you need to
be a marketer.” He admits it’s exhausting enough just
running the farming side of his operation, but says it’s vitally
important to always be thinking of better ways to stay in touch
with customers, learn what they want, and supply them with it.
The Future
Harmony Valley Farm is a “pretty mature”
operation by now, DeWilde says. He does not foresee expanding onto
more acreage or dramatically altering the combination of CSA, farmers
market and wholesale distributor sales that have made the farm a
success.
He and Linda expect to retire in their mid-60s, in about 15 years.
By that time, both of their sons will be old enough to take over
the farm if they choose, though both seem to exhibit little enthusiasm
for it currently.
“They like the money I pay them for their work now,”
DeWilde says, “but they keep telling me they can’t wait
to go to college and get a ‘real job.’ We’ll see
about that.”
After retirement, DeWilde says he hopes to follow the lead of one
of his grandfathers, a pioneering South Dakota farmer who read Rodale
publications and practiced organic techniques before anyone else
in his area.
“He set aside 20 acres for himself when he retired and had
the best gardens and orchards I’ve ever seen. He supplied
the whole extended family with food for most of the year, and I’d
like to do the same.”
 Profile
written by David Mudd
For more information:
Richard and Linda DeWilde
Harmony Valley Farm
Rte. 2, Box 116
Viroqua, WI 54665
(608) 483-2143
harmony@mwt.net
www.harmonyvalleyfarm.com
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