CCFB News» September 2024

Many people weren’t wild about a new piece of Illinois legislation that passed in 1990, which made sending lawn and garden waste to landfills illegal.

But first-generation farmer Carl Smits saw an opportunity. If that legislation had not passed, he may not have been hosting a field day on Aug. 28 to examine the latest research, and appropriately, talk about policies impacting farmers today.

“It wasn’t by coincidence,” Smits said of starting the farm in 1990. He saw that lawn and garden materials would make good organic matter to cut fertilizer costs for his flower, herb and vegetable farm and he could get paid for taking the materials.

Eventually, he started receiving a lot of branches and larger trees, which he now burns to heat his greenhouses where produce is grown for a farmstand and farmers markets. By 2009, Smits Farms received Food Alliance Certification, awarded to farms, ranches and food handlers that produce and process food to meet specific sustainable and safety standards.

“Carl and his son, Andrew, are innovators,” Bona Heinsohn, Cook County Farm Bureau director of government affairs and public relations, said at the event held by Cook CFB, Illinois Farm Bureau, the University of Illinois and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) of Greater Chicago.

So, Carl and Deb Smits, who started as a family of two in the 1990s with a single greenhouse and have 15 greenhouses today and 11 family members, agreed to host the 2024 Nutrient Stewardship Field Day. At the event, about 55 visitors followed Smit’s example and looked for opportunities to fit their farming practices or career goals.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said MWRD Environmental Monitoring and Research Manager Albert Cox, looking at the extensive gardens, greenhouses and people assembled for the field day. Research on struvite, an alternative to popular phosphorus fertilizers made using reclaimed wastewater, was featured at the field day.

Jerry and Lori Moeller were among those who weathered high temperatures to participate in the indoor session and field tour. The Will County Farm Bureau members already knew the Smits. As landowners, they rent 100 acres to Andrew Smits, who runs the grain portion of the family business.

“His practices are phenomenal,” Jerry Moeller said of the results of no-tilling and using other sustainable practices. “We have no erosion anymore.” The couple also praised the improved nutrient stewardship Smits uses on the farm.

This year the Moellers’ farm has double-crop wheat and soybeans. “The soybeans were planted July 1 and look good,” Jerry Moeller said.

“It has worked out real well,” Lori Moeller said.

Others attending the field day, who are just starting their careers, said they were inspired by what they saw.

“I’m dipping my feet in the water. I just graduated in May,” said Nikki Koziol, a recent University of Illinois, Chicago graduate who volunteers at The Talking Farm in Skokie. Koziol said she came to learn more about how family farms reduce nutrient runoff, composting and other ways to use resources.

Nicholas Tobon, who recently graduated from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee with a major in economics and a minor in environmental studies, said he is interested in how sequestration funding and agriculture connect. He looks at environmental regulations and grants from a financial standpoint.

But while talking to farmers and other attendees, he said he saw a different viewpoint. “I see the people it affects. It’s more than just a spreadsheet.”

Whether it’s managing new rules or integrating new practices, Carl encouraged attendees to experiment and try new things on their farms. “I think that’s what we’re really trying to accomplish here by bringing these groups together,” he said.