CHESTER COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA (CN2 NEWS) You might have thought that all farming and agriculture was green or environmentally friendly, but it’s not. According to the USDA most farming actually causes great strain on natural resources and the environment.
One Chester County farm Wild Hope Farm is thinking a little more green.
Wild Hope Farm has been in Chester County for more than 20 years. Within the last 5, the farm has undergone a major transition setting it a part.
Katherine Belk, over operations at Wild Hope Farm, says, “Yeah we’re trying to practice sustainable agriculture. So, both in the ways that were farming through an organic kind of low till approach but then also in the way that we treat our employees and from business perspective also trying to be financially sustainable as well.”
Wild Hope’s unique methods allows it to produce a vast array of crops which get distributed around the state. Wild Hope recruits college students to apprenticeships to learn more about the next generation of farming something former apprentice, now employee says is a fading career field.
Sophia Friis, with Wild Hope Farm, says, “When you think about the larger picture it’s about… It comes down to local food again. And it comes down to getting your food within 100 miles of a farm and how many people can you feed within your community. How many people can be impacted by your work.”
Wild Hope’s impact isn’t readily seen but felt over time. The farm’s practices not only produce organic products but preserve natural resources in the surrounding community.
Shawn Jadrnicek, Wild Hope’s farm manager, says this method saves time and money while continuing to produce the same amount of crops as similarly sized farms who don’t use the methods.
“So we grow a bunch of crops that basically feed the soil and healthy environment while they’re feeding the soil because we’re pulling things that are bad out of the air and putting them into the ground where plants can use them.”
“Climate change being such a big conversation… The more that consumers can get involved in demand that their farmers grow in more regenerative ways it’s super important,” says Belk.
In the video above, CN2’s Rachel Richardson getting a look inside the sustainable farm and learning how green farming is different.
