Utah’s best farmland is disappearing. Just ask Utah Farm Bureau Federation President Ron Gibson. “We are losing the most productive farmland in the state to development,” Gibson said recently, referring to the fertile land that first attracted pioneers to settle in Salt Lake City and along the Wasatch Front. “We have one of the best economies in the country … so people … [Read more...]
New Roots SLC, Organic Vegetable Farm Supports Refugee Families to Continue Tradition of Gardening and Farming
In the midst of West Valley urban sprawl is a somewhat unexpected sight: a diverse, organic vegetable farm called New Roots. The farm is a local program of the IRC (International Rescue Committee), an organization serving people whose lives have been upended by war and natural disasters. While the IRC has had offices in Salt Lake since the 90s, New Roots SLC was developed in … [Read more...]
Historic Wheeler Farm: A Park and One of the Last Functioning Farmsteads that Withstood Housing Development of Salt Lake
Historic Wheeler Farm is known primarily as one of the happiest places in Salt Lake Valley. But happiness isn’t all it provides. It also is, in part, a functioning farm, and trains and empowers its employees with valuable experience. Two Mangalitsa piglets currently on the farm will later be sold at auction. The sheep provide wool, and the goats, milk. While there is a … [Read more...]
Tagge’s Famous Fruit & Veggie Farms on the Biggest Challenges that Utah Farmers Face Today
A megadrought. An increase in the cost of land. The high price of diesel fuel. Fertilizer doubling in price. An increase in labor costs. This is what Utah farmers face this year. Despite these issues, Thayne Tagge of Tagge’s Famous Fruit and Veggie Farms is hopeful. “We got the water from Pineview (Reservoir) about two days ago (mid-May). It’s looking pretty good, and we’re … [Read more...]
Dancing Moose Farm: Ogden Valley’s Premier Agritourism Destination
Quietly and steadily since the mid-1990s, a barren field has been cultivated for sustainability and converted into a farm along the South Fork of the Ogden River. Four yurts, a straw bale home, beehives, grazing cows and ducks, and an Earthship-style chicken coop now sit on the seventeen-and-a-half-acre agricultural cooperative, Dancing Moose Farm. It’s a dream unfolding … [Read more...]
Utah’s Disappearing Farms
Utah's farmers markets are booming, the local food movement is stronger than ever, and local farmers-market farmers are making record profits ― so why are we building over the top of the best remaining farmland in Utah? The simple answer is that the land, in the eyes of our political leaders and developers, has far more economic value as homes and apartments than as farms. … [Read more...]
Easy Bee Farm: Growing Food on Easy Street in Moab Utah
The entrance to Easy Bee Farm, just off Easy Street in Moab, is tucked between thick curtains of growth that make it hard to spot if you haven’t been there before. “That’s part of the adventure,” laughs Rhonda Gotway-Clyde, who owns the farm. Once found, the long gravel drive leads to what does feel a little like a magic kingdom, lush with flowers and vegetables, and … [Read more...]
Etta Place Cidery from Torrey Utah
It was “use it or lose it” when it came to water rights on Ann Torrence and Marc Roberts’ property near the Fremont River in Torrey, Utah. As they considered what to do with this precious desert resource, they visited Capitol Reef National Park during harvest season and were blown away by the flavors of the apples grown in the park’s historic orchards. So apples it was, and … [Read more...]
Down on the [Urban] Farm: A Visit With Frog Bench Farms
You could drive right past it a dozen times and not even know it’s there. But tucked away on a quiet, residential street in a neighborhood near Foothill Boulevard is an urban farm that supplies produce, cut flowers, microgreens, and more to many of our area’s finest restaurants. It’s called Frog Bench Farms. Nearly 10-years-old now, Frog Bench Farms was created in 2012 by … [Read more...]
Cash or Crops? Is Clark Burgess Selling His Orchards this Year?
Clark Burgess is in an animated conversation with Curtis Rowley concerning the repair of an oil pump in the Foothills of Alpine, Utah. These are two farmers who love what they do, but practice their fruit growing in very different scales of operation: Burgess on 10 acres; Rowley on 2,000 acres. The flourishing apple trees in neat rows surrounded by the snow capped Timpanogos … [Read more...]