Matt Burkholder, of Burkholder Healthy Farms, uses regenerative agriculture to produce healthy soil and give back to the community.
Precious Grundy | The Lima News
LIMA — Regenerative agriculture is a term unfamiliar to most, but not to local farmer Matt Burkholder. Burkholder grows crops for local companies. He has a goal to not only create healthy crops but retain healthy soil.
Burkholder is a fourth-generation farmer. He said his family moved to Allen County in the early 1920s and began to farm. After generations of farming, Burkholder decided to try new ways of helping the environment. The family farm uses cover crops instead of tilling the soil between seasons to improve the health of the soil and reduce “soil erosion.”
Farmers plant cover crops such as clovers or radishes in the winter to create healthy soil. By just tilling the ground, soil can become hard in the winter and lose its nutrients. The nutrients will often flow into local streams once the snow melts or rainfalls creating toxins in the water.
“After rainfall events, the rivers and streams in our community are brown,” Burkholder said. “That means soil and nutrients left a field and are now in our rivers and streams.”
According to Burkholder, the annual rate of soil erosion or loss of soil in Ohio is more than 2 tons per acre. The method of cover crop reduces this drastically.
“Based on a study we are doing with American Farmland Trust, the annual rate of soil erosion on our farm is .56 of a ton,” Burkholder said. “I like to think we are being a blessing to our neighbors and community. We utilize no-till and plant cover crops to sequester carbon from the atmosphere and improve the organic matter in our soils. Cover crops also naturally help suppress weeds. As a result, we are using fewer herbicides.”
Burkholder said the cover crop also helps to loosen the soil, allowing rain to go into the soil instead of creating runoff.
“The more I learned about soil health and regenerative ag, I learned how we could be a better steward of the land and be a blessing to the community,” Burkholder said. “The motto of our farm is turning dirt into healthy soil one acre at a time. As a result of doing that, I am not sending brown water into the lakes and streams. My family has worked really hard to pass down the opportunity to me and I want to make sure I steward well.”
Burkholder farm is not the only local grower in our region. Metzger popcorn farm is located in Delphos. The farm began in the early 1940s. According to its website, John Metzger and Syl Osting saw the need for crisp and crunchy popcorn. The family passed down the farm through generations. Now, the company has thousands of acres of corn produced for consumption.
The Ohio Greenhouse Company is also a local farmer that produces vegetables in Wapakoneta. The farm is a high-tech greenhouse that began its start in May 2016. Today, the company grows produce for companies around Ohio.
CELEBRATING OUR SPIRIT
Plenty of foods, items and ideas are created right here in the Lima region. Celebrating Our Spirit looks at those organizations that make the area such a vibrant place to live, work and play.
Read more stories at LimaOhio.com/tag/spirit.
Reach Precious Grundy at 567-242-0351.
