Growing up on a conventional corn-soybean farm in east-central Illinois when the times were good, Stan Schutte says he was born with dirt under his fingernails. But with the farm crisis of the 80s and the fragmentation of family farms all over the state, Stan had to find work off the farm. All along he knew the only thing he wanted to do was farm, but didn’t know how to make it work financially. Searching for viable options, Stan encountered organic agriculture in the early 90s. He was highly skeptical at first, but soon came to see it as the only way he could farm in a way that would sustain both his family and the land. He transitioned completely to organic in the late 90s.

Today Stan’s farm in Stewardson, Illinois, is a 200- acre diversified organic operation. Stan grows organic dent corn, sweet corn, popcorn, soybeans and hard red wheat, but the focus is on meat: chickens, turkeys, hogs and cattle. To use forage efficiently, Stan rotates the animals through the organic paddocks, which allows them to best use the available nutrients, while returning other nutrients to the soil.

Stan Schutte, a life-long farmer and an organic farmer since 1997, won the 2006 Organic Farmer of the Year Award (conferred by MOSES), a prestigious award in the organic farming community. Stan attributes part of his success to the increased demand for organic foods as consumers are starting to care more about what they eat.

Stan has also implemented some innovative marketing and sales practices: he created a new buying club in east central Illinois for his natural beef, pork, chicken, turkeys, and eggs. Stan also sells at nearby farmers markets on the weekends and hosts an annual Customer Appreciation Day on the farm, a fall festival with tours and farm-fresh foods that allow customers to get to know the farm and the people behind it.

Stan also manages to find time to educate other farmers about what it means to be certified organic. He is involved in the Central Illinois Farm Beginnings program, which provides classes and internship opportunities to people who wish to become sustainable farmers and is also active in Extension and local farm politics. Currently, much of Stan’s efforts are dedicated to building an organic-capable multi-species meat and poultry processing plant, helping to provide the value-added animal processing that is currently a major bottleneck in this state.

In October 2006, Stan represented Slow Food USA at the Terra Madre conference in Turin, Italy.

Rte 1, Box 122A, Stewardson, IL 62463
217-343-4740
Email: Stan Schutte
Website: www.triplesfarms.com