With the average age of U.S. farmers clocking in at over 58 years old, successful multigenerational farms led by fresh, young talent turn heads. While there’s not one silver bullet approach to encouraging new leaders and passing a farm business to the next generation, Crows Vegetable Farm has recently shared four strategies that work on their small, diversified specialty crop operation in Shawnee, Okla.
This spring, America’s Conservation Ag Movement visited to learn more about how Crows Vegetable Farm sustains both ecological and economic resilience and is now passing the torch to the next generation.
Small but Mighty Family Farms
“Farms like Crows Family Farms are very small but are very important to American agriculture,” said Jimmy Emmons, senior vice president of conservation programs at Farm Journal and Oklahoma rancher. “I hear this all the time, that ‘my children can’t come back to the farm because there’s not enough profitability,’ and yet you see that here [at Crows Vegetable Farm]. The children have been able to come back and be very successful here on just a few acres.”
Claudia and Ricky Crow purchased 40 acres of land from Ricky’s grandparents in 1897, which they grew into Crows Vegetable Farm. Today, Claudia and Ricky work with their son Brandon and are mapping out a transition for him to run the farm operation when they retire.
“It has been a journey filled with a lot of happy moments and a lot of hard work,” Claudia Crow told America’s Conservation Ag Movement.
4 Keys to Running a Thriving Small Farm
What is this 40 acre family farm doing that has helped their business succeed and grow? For the Crow Family, the secret to running a successful, small scale farm boils down to four key ingredients: diversification, labor, partnerships and succession planning.
Build in Diversity
While Crows Vegetable Farm is about 40 acres, it boasts a wide variety of crops as well as a wide variety of distribution channels. Investing in crop and revenue stream diversity are intentional, according to the Crow family. What’s more, diversity has been the cornerstone and driver of economic resilience over the past several decades.
“The key for us to be able to stay in business is diversification,” Crow said . “You cannot put all your eggs in one basket.”
Operationally, in addition to direct sales and farmers markets, a commercial kitchen and two Shawnee-area storefronts have been essential to marketing Crows Vegetable Farm vegetables and driving revenue.
“Approximately 85% of what we raise we sell retail or direct to our customers,” Crow said.
Running a commercial kitchen that produces value-added goods not only stocks shelves in their two busy storefronts, but the kitchen also has an added benefit of creatively using everything the farm grows. Any surplus or blemished produce from the farm can be used in baked goods and premade meals that are popular with busy, Shawnee-area customers looking for wholesome, grab-and-go food products.
The benefits of building in diversity are not limited to the revenue streams — cultivating a wide variety of crops supports both economic and environmental sustainability.
Growing a variety of specialty crops has helped Crows Vegetable Farm’s bottom line economically, offering unique seasonal offerings while also providing fresh produce mainstays. Additionally, this approach to growing food fosters genetic diversity as well as resilience against pest, diseases and extreme weather.
Leverage Strategic Partnerships for Growth
Razor thin margins, long-term planning and labor intensive production are challenges that require the business savvy of skilled entrepreneurs to grow food profitably. In order to grow, expand and improve — both economically and ecologically — Crows Vegetable Farm has leveraged strategic partnerships to gain access to critical financial and technical support from government programs and services.
In recent years, the farm has installed high tunnels with technical and financial support from Natural Resource Conservation Services (NRCS) grants.
“NRCS has provided us a tremendous boost here at the farm,” Brandon Crow said. “It has really helped us grow over the years. We’ve been able to put in high tunnels and really expand our growing season.”
Mary Fisher, NRCS Urban Conservationist who has worked with Oklahoma urban farms like Crows Vegetable Farms echoed Brandon, noting that financial investments from NRCS conservation programs can free up capital to invest in other areas of the farm business.
“Our cost-share agreements really help [growers] offset a lot of their production costs,” Fisher said. “Instead of them spending $10,000 on a high tunnel structure, they’re able to take that money and put it elsewhere in their operation.”
Similarly, NRCS’s conservation stewardship contracts available to small farms like Crows Vegetable Farm, allow growers to receive financial support in the form of an annual payment “that allows them to improve in other parts of their operation, which really helps their bottom line and profitability,” Fisher added.
Investing in Your Team is Critical
At the heart of a profitable family farm are human hands. Getting labor right is critical for any grower who is looking to build a sustainable business in the long run.
Crows Family Farm employs H-2A farmworkers, investing in seasonal employees who return to their farm year after year. The H-2A visa program allows U.S. employers to hire foreign nationals to work in temporary or seasonal agricultural jobs.
“This year we have 6 guys, they’re all related,” Claudia Crow said. “They make huge sacrifices to work on this farm — they don’t get to bring their children or their wives. We would not exist without them.”
Grow the Next Generation
Through strategic planning and a lot of hard work, commitment and passion, Claudia and Ricky Crow have worked hard to build a flourishing farm business in Shawnee, Okla., and have begun the multiyear process of passing on Crows Vegetable Farm to their son.
“To me, it’s really important that we, the older farmers, encourage and help these kids because we need them,” Crow said. “We don’t need to just grow crops; we need to grow a new generation of farmers.”
Thoughtful succession planning is not lost on Brandon, and he sees his leadership as the extension of his parents’ legacy.
“Taking over here at the farm means a great deal to me,” Brandon said. “To take that torch that was passed to me and honor their legacy. I’m most excited going forward to see where this next generation can take things, how far they can grow it.”
“I’m hoping that my children will see the value in what we do here and will want to grow this,” he added, smiling.
