Mother Nature’s tribulation of torrential rain, in 2024, washed away seedlings that Johnson had expected to take root and mature, creating a less than bountiful harvest. Such is the plight of the small farmer.
Johnson is one of 25-50 small farmers who make up the sustainable farming community across the eight-parish region, according to Chris Adams, manager of Earthshare Gardens, a nonprofit community farm in Scott. Going this route isn’t easy — but easy isn’t the expectation for farmers like Johnson, owner of St. Joseph Homestead in Cankton.
Small-scale farmers like Johnson are bullish about the future, despite economic uncertainty brought on from rapid changes to federal policy and international trade, precisely because of their locally rooted business model…