John KempfRegenerative Agriculture Entrepreneur

"Your Food Should Have Flavor"

6 Aug 2025 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:14

A farmer explains why they switched to organic in the mid-1990s, growing potatoes on 65-70 acres in a three-year rotation. Customers say the food tastes better. Organic farming is harder, but it works for a small operation.

Questions this video answers

Around 1996–1997 ("since about 96, 97 is when we started transitioning").

Approximately 65–70 acres.

Oats and clover (or hay).

A three-year rotation.

Chapters

When you have customers coming back to you after year saying, you know, your product tastes better than a lot of the other stuff that we can get in the store. I mean, that's probably one of the biggest comments we get. I think a lot of people forget that your food is actually supposed to be something that has flavor and nutrition and is, you know, for your health. It's just not something that you do three times a day. We've been certified organic for since about 96, 97 is when we started transitioning. We usually grow somewhere between 65 to 70 acres of organic potatoes and then we have oats and clover or hay and rotation. So we're kind of on a three year rotation. We transitioned to organic because for one reason, being a small farm, it's hard to compete in the conventional market. One thing, organic farming. If you're looking for an easy way to get rich or you can't handle the adversities, you're not going to stick with it. So we just kind of stuck with it.