Could Going Organic Save Iowas Family Farms?
Among the farmers who work the lush countryside that surrounds the town of Woodward, a half hour drive northwest of Des Moines, the owners of one small dairy farm have been an incessant topic of conversation. Jeff and Jill Burkhart, who own Picket Fence Creamery, are known for their ever-present brood of kittens, their herd of 80 coffee-colored Jersey dairy cows and their organic farming techniques that have allowed their family farm to thrive in tough economic conditions. “If you’ve got a good stead of grass, you don’t need chemicals,” says Jeff Burkhart, who grew up on a conventional livestock and crop farm three miles from his land. “We’re trying to be the example of what can be done.” Organic farming is regarded warily in Woodward — and, indeed, by much of the conventional farming community in Iowa — but it could be the best way to save the family farm from extinction. “Farming as a whole is under threat right now,” says Laurie Groves, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Farm Bureau. “You
