Against The Grain:

On the unforgiving plains of southeastern Wyoming sits the Jessen Wheat Company. Eleven miles north of Pine Bluffs, the farm survives in a dry, windy and oftentimes harsh and unpredictable climate, making farming difficult even by conventional standards. 

Like many Wyomingites, the Jessens are proud of their history, making inheriting the family farm a true honor. Clint Jessen took over his family’s large-scale farming operation 25 years ago, which he now runs with his wife, Ashley. 

The Jessens farm somewhat differently than the majority of farmers in Laramie County, since being certified organic, regenerative and reduced till makes them unique. 

As of 2022, only 6% of farms in Laramie County are certified organic and only 7% are considered reduced till, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

“The worst thing I think I could be would be the same as everybody else, whether that's in life or at the farm level,” Clint said.

Giving back to the soil

One practice that helps them stand out is regenerative farming. 

“We are doing it just for the benefit of the farm, rather than for the benefit of a premium,” Clint said. “Regenerative is more about giving back more than you take from the soil.”

Each crop requires a certain amount of nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Rather than continuing to farm the same crop in the same field year after year, substituting for a loss of nutrients with chemical fertilizers, the Jessens rotate crops to replenish nutrients naturally.

“(We) try to maintain this love for the soil, and realize that the soil is a healthy, breathing, live entity that requires care,” Clint said. 

Part of this process is a three-year crop rotation of peas, wheat fallow and millet. The purpose for the legume crop is purely for the benefit of the soil. Crops in the legume family are known as “nitrogen-fixers,” said Jessen Wheat Company chief operating officer and farm foreman Jeremiah Johnson.

The legumes take nitrogen out of the atmosphere and use it to make nodules on the roots, which put the nitrogen back into the soil system, Johnson said.

“Transitioning to regenerative is our chance to put back what has been mined from these soils for decades,” Johnson said. “It's an all-natural way to bring this farm back up to the profile that it was before it was broken into farm ground.”

Farming for the benefit of the soil also extends beyond just the farmland itself – it contributes to a larger regenerative movement. 

The Jessen Wheat Company partners with Horizon Dairy farms in Colorado to get natural fertilizer in exchange for organic and regeneratively produced hay. They send a truckload of their hay bales down to Colorado for the cows to consume, and in return, they get a truckload of manure, which is spread on the wheat fields to promote healthy soil and healthy crops.

The organic way

While the farm has always used organic practices, it wasn’t until 2001 that they were offered an extra premium – becoming USDA-certified organic.

Beyond the premium, the Jessens said they were interested in producing organic food, seeing the health benefits to both organic farmers and the people who consume their food. 

“We do have very toxic farming practices in the United States. Things that are acceptable here are not acceptable in other places,” Ashley said. “As we travel and we learn and we meet people doing this in other places, we realize that we are essentially poisoning our food supply.”

The food they choose to eat as a family reflects this, Ashley said.

"I think that our food is our future," she said. "And so I want my kids eating a certain way, and I think if people knew more, they would want to be eating a certain way, too."

Though certification isn’t required to conduct these practices, the Jessens do get certified annually. To be certified, the company must prove it has used no synthetic chemicals for at least 36 months prior to certification. 

To maintain certification, organic farmers are required to document every bale of hay raised, every load of grain that goes into their organic grain elevator, every time they change the oil on the tractor and more. Each year is documented into extensive binders filled with detailed pieces of information.

The organic grain elevator acts as a way for the Jessens to supplement their income in the winter. This element is a huge addition to their operation. 

Not only do they store and ship their own grain, they allow other farmers to use their elevator, as well. Being on the railroad allows them to ship grain nationally.

The grain elevator also must meet organic standards, and is designed to kill off pests through temperature controls, as opposed to using pesticides. 

The elevator has a false bottom with large fans underneath. These fans suck up cold air, which is brought all the way out the top by fans placed in the top of the elevator. 

This cold air freezes and kills the pests. The grain is kept at around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and it takes about 24 hours for the cool air to be sucked all the way up the elevator, Clint said.

The grain elevator allows total control over protein content and gives them the ability to tailor the grain to specific buyer needs, thus increasing the pool of buyers, he added.

Recognized benefits

The Jessen Wheat Company didn't come to the conclusion that regenerative farming is better for soil health in a vacuum. Many soil scientists have observed the benefits of these regenerative practices.

“If you remove plant diversity and only plant one crop, you're losing all the inputs to the soil of that plant diversity,” said Jennifer Bell, soil microbial ecologist and assistant professor at the University of Wyoming. 

Bell’s work focuses on the bacteria and fungi that live in the soil, what they're doing, why they're there and how they impact the ecosystem. 

Monoculture cropping – the practice of growing a single crop in an area repeatedly – reduces microbial diversity, Bell said. This leaves the soil vulnerable to diseases and pests.

Taking everything out of the soil is harmful. Monoculture farming uses more fertilizer and chemical additives each year to balance out what is taken from the soil in each harvest.

In contrast, regenerative farming promotes healthy microbes and nitrogen and carbon balances, Bell said. 

“Organic farms are going to practice more sustainable practices like putting compost in, and they're going to reduce their loads of synthetic fertilizers, like nitrogen. This is generally really good for the soil,” Bell said. “By adding things like compost, you're actually adding carbon back into the soil, so the more carbon we can store in the soil the healthier it's going to be for plants and plant productivity.”

Regenerative farming also reduces tillage, the process of breaking up and turning over the soil. Farms that don’t till, or do so minimally, see huge benefits in soil aggregation, Bell said. Tilling breaks up good aggregation and makes the soil prone to erosion, which has a negative impact on crops.

This way of farming also sequesters carbon within the soil. Another benefit of carbon sequestration is lower greenhouse gases, which helps fight climate change, Bell said.

“Carbon in the soil is also going to serve as a food source for our soil microbes,” Bell said. “So it's going to build happy soil communities, which, in turn, is going to provide nutrients for plants and keep your crops happy.”

Conclusion

Clint is an only child and only grandchild. When his parents passed, he became the only family member left to inherit the farm. Not only has he kept the farm running for the past 25 years, he has breathed new life into it, taking on new projects each year. 

"Our neighbors are looking at us like, 'you're crazy' but then it worked, Clint said. "We're not doing anything like magical or vastly different. We're just coming up with a new way to do the same type of things."