He continues: “I’m growing things to feed a whole community, and the community helps to give me money so that I can do this job, so it makes a safe environment for the farmer.” Geiger says conventional farming puts most small farmers in a financially precarious position, a reality you can see in the number of small farms that have disappeared over the past hundred years. Between 2017 and 2022 alone, the United States lost more than 100,000 farms, most of which made less than $50,000 a year. At the same time, the number of large-scale farms grew by more than 16%.
As he nears 80, Geiger is thinking about his legacy and what the farm will look like after he’s gone. The farm still struggles to find reliable vegetable farmers. It has moved from private ownership to a community-owned approach, and the owners are considering adding a board of directors. They’ve focused their efforts on buying and conserving land and now have 140 acres. And they’re looking to the next generation to keep the farm up and running. Eight years ago, Temple-Wilton established a school called Wild Rose Farm that teaches children agricultural practices. Geiger hopes that as more people question the presence of chemicals and genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, in their food sources, they’ll start to see the interconnectedness between themselves and the food they eat. “Each time there’s a new development, like when the GMOs came into being, we noticed an increase in folks who wanted to become farm members,” he says. “So as a response to all the things that come from the big agricultural and the economic world, we will continue to see people who respond that we can create a better world. We can maintain a better relationship with nature. Over time, I have no idea what [the farm] is going to look like, but it’s going to be there, and it’s going to be responsive.”
Visit TWCFARM.COM to learn more.
Geiger says conventional
farming puts most small farmers in a financially precarious position, a reality you can see in the number of small farms that have disappeared over the past hundred years. Between 2017 and 2022 alone, the United States lost more than 100,000 farms, most of which
made less than $50,000 a year.
142
143
ISSUE 02
FATHER NATURE
Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease