Central Illinois farm family honored as Organic Farmers of Year

[February 22, 2017]  SPRING VALLEY, WI – The Bishops of PrairiErth Farm near Atlanta, Illinois have been selected as the 2017 MOSES Organic Farmers of the Year, an honor they received this week at the annual MOSES Organic Farming Conference in La Crosse, Wis.

This prestigious award recognizes organic farmers in the Midwest who practice outstanding land stewardship, innovation and outreach. Recipients are chosen by the board of the Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service (MOSES), which organizes the annual conference on organic and sustainable farming practices. This is the 15th year of the award.

Dave Bishop, his son Hans, and Hans’ wife, Katie run PrairiErth Farm, a 300-acre farm with diverse crops and livestock. The farm has been certified organic since 2004. The Bishops grow organic corn, soybeans, oats, wheat, livestock forages, vegetables, fruit, and flowers. The farm also produces organic beef, pork, eggs and honey.

The family sells at local farmers’ markets and to restaurants and stores. They also offer a vegetable CSA that provides members with a weekly box of produce from May through October. They have a winter CSA, too, which is packed with root vegetables, salad supplies, and more.

This diverse mix of crops and livestock is the foundation of the healthy soil on the farm, Dave Bishop explained. The Bishops rely on cover crops and manure, spread by their livestock or applied to fields as stabilized compost, rather than chemical fertilizers to yield bountiful, nutrient-dense crops.

“Cover crops keep the engine in the soil running, building fertility and organic matter, and sequestering nutrients that might otherwise end up as runoff,” Dave explained. “Chemicals secreted by certain cover crops suppress the germination of weeds and reduce various diseases and pathogens. Adding a ‘crop’ of livestock will keep the land productive late fall through winter,” he added, explaining how the Bishops will graze their cattle in the field of recently harvested wheat in late summer, and move them to the corn and rye fields for winter.

PrairiErth Farm has been participating in research with the University of Illinois for many years. Current research is studying the impact of various cover crop mixtures on weed suppression, soil microbial activity, and field productivity.

The Bishops are passionate about growing organically, a system Dave adopted after years of conventional farming. Dave said he sees organic farming as a way to limit “our ecological footprint by caring for the earth, not just for us, but for future generations.” They’ve reduced their “footprint” even further by using solar-powered pasture fencing and livestock watering systems.

The family has hosted on-farm events to show other farmers how their rotations and sustainable farming system work. Hans has been a mentor to new organic farmers through the MOSES Farmer-To-Farmer Mentoring Program. The Bishops also provide educational tours of the farm for local school children and other civic groups.

Dave is president of the Illinois Local Foods, Farms and Jobs Council. Hans serves on the advisory board for the Downtown Bloomington Farmers’ Market and Artist Alley, and on the board of the Illinois Growers’ Association. Katie teaches work­shops on marketing and social media at farming conferences, including the MOSES Conference. She is also the author of PrairiErth Farm Cookbook.

The Organic Farmer of the Year award is a project of MOSES, which is a nonprofit organization that promotes o­­­rganic and sustainable agriculture by providing farmers with education, resources, and practical advice. For more information, see mosesorganic.org.