Grow Green Farms

About

Grow Green Farms is a startup farming operation established in 2010. Dale Coomes, along with his son Ben, started their farming operation with an initial crop of winter wheat. The wheat crop was followed by a second crop planting of soybeans, and a corn crop on their other fields. The father/son team has always shared a passion for improving soil health and enhancing the agricultural environment of the land they farm and manage. The ability to regenerate healthy and productive soil properties that have been compromised by years of intensive tillage practices is a strong driver of operations. An objective in their goal to achieve regenerative farming was the adoption of no-till practices. No-till helps to accomplish the desired improvements for the soils and gain associated environmental benefits. As the operation scaled up, continuous no-till practices were established on all acres in 2015. Variable-rate fertilizer applications have become standard practice and have allowed for reduced fertilizer applications with increased crop-use efficiency. Cover crops were introduced on targeted fields in 2015 which have resulted in increased organic matter, reduced runoff, and decreased erosion. Since then, cover crops have been introduced on more acres with a goal of having cover crops planted on all Grow Green Farms fields. As their awareness of carbon capture has grown, the NORI marketplace has allowed them to reap the rewards of their regenerative farming practices through the sale of carbon credits. Their participation in the NORI marketplace provides an incentive to continually strive to improve their regenerative farming practices.

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