Southern Indiana Business Report
ST. ANTHONY – Fischer Farms Natural Foods, a family-owned cattle operation in Dubois County, received a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to expand its current climate-smart practices.
The $15 million USDA grant will fund the “Ultimate Beef” project, which will be a partnership with Natural Resources Conservation Service, Indiana University and Geospherics.
The grant will expand the farm’s current practices and further their research to study the impact of Fischer Farms’ regenerative agriculture practices that sequester carbon and further reduce greenhouse gases.
These practices will be documented and shared with other producers that partner with Fischer Farms in the region and ultimately to other farmers across the country.
Fischer Farms applied to the USDA’s Climate Smart Commodities program. Their proposal was selected as one of 70 projects, out of more than 450 applications, for demonstrating practical and innovative climate- smart methods with identified market channels for distribution.
According to a press release from Fischer Farms, the operation’s climate- smart practices span from field to table; consisting of a unique combination of rotational grazing, solar energy, intensive forage/crop rotation, kelp (fed to reduce emissions), and efficient supply-chain logistics.
Their approach uses deep-rooted grasses to rejuvenate soils and increase top-soil depths resulting in deep, fertile soils. This five-year project incorporates select researchers from across the country that will analyze progress made to date as well as document results during the tracking period.
“We are excited to have been selected by the USDA because of our innovative farming practices that sequester large amounts of carbon, improve soil health, build farming communities, and produce high-quality beef,” said Dave Fischer, owner of Fischer Farms Natural Foods. “We are conducting rigorous testing to analyze the amount of carbon tied to each farming practice and look forward to continuing this research and working with other farmers in our area.”
By sharing and developing these methods with other farmers, the regenerative impact will be amplified exponentially to play a vital role in improving soil quality across many American farms. Specifically in Indiana and Kentucky, the project will incorporate numerous other cattle farms, with an emphasis on small and disadvantaged farmers, to aid in the transition of these farms to regenerative practices. This research will be published to quantify the net carbon impact of the Fischer Farms program across the entire lifecycle in an easy-to-understand way.
“Being able to do this work, on this scale across all of these different fields, is unrivaled,” said Dr. Craig Rasmussen, Professor of Environmental Science, The University of Arizona, consulting on the project with Geospherics, LLC, ”Much of this type of research typically occurs on a few acre plots at university research farms or maybe with private landholders. But this kind of scale of operations, and diversity, really sets it apart.”
Upon completion of the project, Fischer Farms Natural Foods will be a stronger company with additional personnel and expected sales volumes to support the expanding business. This business will continue spreading its core principles of enriching soil health, producing natural premium products, sequestering carbon, and building communities to other farmers and regions.