Background:
Our farm is a small family farm in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. My family bought the original farm in the 1950s. Since then, we've tried to keep the farm functioning and profitable throughout the ups and downs of farming.

Our farm is 100 acres of arable land and 100 acres of forest property. Our soils are composed of high clay, high aluminum, and lots of water seepage from underground springs. We are a general farming operation with livestock and crops. Big trefoil is about 10 acres of our operation so far.

Staff:
As a family farm, everything is done by the family. My parents are semi-retired but still contribute a lot of time, money, and effort to the operation. My wife handles the books and provides moral support in additional to her day job as an accountant. I work as a community college biology instructor when I'm not on the tractor.

Big Trefoil History:
My father planted big trefoil on our property in the 1950s/early '60s when Oregon State was pushing this crop as a possible solution to our heavy clay soils in the Willamette Valley. Over time, the trefoils fell out of favor around here as being difficult to grow and harvest. However, we kept a few acres of it around "just in case." Mostly, it just grew wild on the property.

A few years ago, I decided to make a go of big trefoil and use the internet as a marketing tool. I harvest the seed from the couple of acres we had and planted about eight acres. I developed this website on my own and waited to see what would happen.

Luckily, response has been favorable, especially from the "little guys" like ourselves. About half of our sales are for people with a few acres who want a cover crop or have soil conditions similar to ours and what to give big treoil a chance. The other half of our sales are wholesale to seed companies in Oregon that then re-sale the seed to their customer contacts elsewhere.

Future Plans
Currently, I'd like to expand the Lotus production to match customer demand. We usually sell out of seed before we run out of customers. I'd like to eventually have 20 acres of Lotus in production, if the market is favorable.

We're also experimenting with other legumes that do well on our acid soils--like Persian clover. Stay tuned for more information on that crop.

Eventually, we may wish to specialize in crops that tolerate high aluminum and water since I believe there will be a growing demand for plants adapted to those conditions.

If you have comments or questions, or just want to give feedback, click here