Frantzens say their farming method works for them/Frantzens didn't let obstacles stand in their way

Agri News

Thursday, March 5, 2009
http://webstar.agrinews.com/agrinews/297614061052352.bsp

Frantzens say their farming method works for them

By Heather Thorstensen
Agri News staff writer

NEW HAMPTON, Iowa —Tom Frantzen can pinpoint the day he started his journey toward organic production. It was 1979 and Pope John Paul II was in the Des Moines area to speak about preserving the land.

Frantzen was on his New Hampton farm that day, listening over the radio.

"The pope's message turned my head," he said.

Thirty years later, Frantzen and his wife, Irene, are receiving recognition for their contributions to the organic industry. They were named the 2009 Farmers of the Year last week at the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service's Organic Farming Conference in La Crosse, Wis.

They have 385 organic acres for crops, forages and pasture. They market 600 organic hogs and 45 organic cattle per year.

After hearing the pope, the Frantzens began cutting back chemical inputs with help from Practical Farmers of Iowa. Tom was the group's president in 1991 and 1992 and was on their board of directors. At home, the crop yields didn't drop.

In 1991, a Holistic Resources Management course through Land Stewardship Project taught them how to align their personal values with what they wanted from the farm, how they planned to get it and how they planned to sustain it. Tom called the course their single most important step toward their organic transition.

"It gave us a decision-making process that led us in the right direction," he said.

As a family, the Frantzens began to set long-term goals for the farm which they say has provided an ability to look beyond current volatile markets.

In 1995, the Frantzens learned about deep straw bedding for hogs when they visited farms using them in Sweden.

Shortly after they returned home, they had their own deep straw bedding system in hoop barns. The barns don't need to be heated because straw emits heat as it composts. After the straw is cleaned out, it's spread on fields. Gestating sows are kept in a fourth hoop barn and they farrow on pasture. A fifth hoop barn is used for hay storage.

The Frantzens' land became certified organic in 1998. Their hogs became certified a year later and their beef herd followed in 2003.

Tom took "a stab in the dark" when he asked CROPP Cooperative CEO George Siemon to establish a pork program in its subsidiary, the Organic Meat Company. Frantzen helped work out the details for the program by attending meetings in Wisconsin, then started shipping pork through the pool the next year.

"Tom has been an absolute driver and pioneer in organic pork production in the Midwest and the United States. He's always been innovative, always looking to farm better and be a better steward" of the land," said Siemon.

Thirty Midwest producers are in the pool now, according to the Frantzens' son, James, 21, Organic Prairie/CROPP Cooperative pork pool coordinator.

Tom joined the Organic Meat Company's board of directors from 2001 until 2006, and served as board chairman for two years. He remains on the CROPP Cooperative Meat Executive Committee as a pork pool representative.

The Frantzens felt validation that their decisions have improved the farm after they saw effects of a flood last June. The fields held water and a corn crop produced 170 bushels per acre, even though it was out of sequence in their rotation. Tom says this shows organic practices are excellent for the soil.

In addition to James, who has shown an interest in returning to the farm, the Frantzens have two daughters, both are teachers -- Jessica, 28, and Jolene, 25.

Agri News

Thursday, March 5, 2009
http://webstar.agrinews.com/agrinews/304986244714965.bsp

Frantzens didn't let obstacles stand in their way

By Heather Thorstensen
Agri News staff writer

NEW HAMPTON, Iowa — Tom and Irene Frantzen of New Hampton haven't let obstacles stand in their way as they take steps to preserve their land for future generations.

"The long-term goal is to make sure we leave this place better than we had it when we came here," said Tom.

His father worked the land conventionally, but Tom and Irene have led it into certified organic production. When there was no good market for organic hogs, Tom asked CROPP Cooperative to establish a pork program through its subsidiary, the Organic Meat Company, and helped get it started. When organic meat producers couldn't use the term "organic" on their product labels because of USDA restrictions, Tom wrote a letter that was read in the office of then-U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman. The Frantzens were in Washington, D.C., in 2002 for the announcement that restrictions had been lifted.

Last week, at the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service's Organic Farming Conference in La Crosse, Wis., they were named the 2009 Farmers of the Year.

"It's quite an honor," said Tom.

They also have established a certified organic feed business, Frantzen Farm Feeds, LLC, and have changed their landscape by creating a pond and planting thousands of trees, some that serve as an organic buffer between their fields and the conventional operations their neighbors.

They're working to preserve the history of the farm by writing a book that Tom hopes to complete by 2012, the 100th anniversary of his grandfather coming to Chickasaw County.

The Frantzens farm 385 acres organically, 250 of which are used for hay, pasture and forages. They believe that diversity creates stability for their farm, both environmentally and economically. Their motto is they shall see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living. They have a seven-step organic crop rotation, and market 600 organic hogs and 45 organic cattle annually.

Their land was first certified organic in 1998. Their hogs were certified a year later and their beef herd followed in 2003.

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