In 1988 the VanDerPol family decided that they didn’t want to continue to farm in the way they had been. In retrospect, Jim VanDerPol feels that they made the right decision. “If we hadn’t changed our way of farming we likely would not be here now.” The VanDerPol’s raise 320 acres of diversified crops and pasture in support of several livestock operations with their son and partner, Josh, near Kerkhoven, MN.

Pastures A’ Plenty is home to a successful:

• Hog farrowing operation
  Sheep flock
  and a seasonal cattle grazing business

They direct-market their products and are part of a web-site, www.prairiefare.com, which promotes their products and encourages farmer-consumer relationships.

Modern Technological Twist

After 20 years of raising hogs in confinement, the VanDerPol’s switched to outdoor pork production. They now raise about 1500 hogs a year using alternative production systems. They use a combination of Bio-Tech buildings and portable hoop houses for outdoor farrowing in summer pastures.

The Bio-Tech dome housing for the pigs is, low cost and versatile. The VanDerPols rediscovered the Bio-Tech system of raising hogs through research and visiting with swine producers from Sweden. They have since taken what many consider old-style hog raising practices and given them a modern technological twist. A demonstration grant from the Minnesota Agriculture Department to graze gilts and pasture farrows gave the VanDerPols a new start. The Bio-Tech building, self-feeder, and concrete feeding area cost $13,000.00. Originally developed in Canada, the structure is durable in the winter and allows a great deal of air movement in the summer. For Jim, the Bio-Tech housing has many benefits. Less physical labor is required, and there is less dust and noise than in confinement situations.

Specialty Markets

At Pastures A’ Plenty, instead of letting the market dictate their prices, they are finding their own specialty markets. They have increased their market by:

• Focusing on neighboring towns, such as Willmar
• Selling their meat at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Minneapolis
• Making home deliveries by pre-arrangement
• Offering meat In St. Paul MN – A butcher that sells mainly to Southeast Asian customers, after examining and tasting the meat, paid the best local price
• Having their meat sold in ham sandwiches at a local café
• Tapping the internet at www.prairiefare.com
• Becoming a part of a program that produces hogs for a premium export program.

Pastures A’ Plenty also is in the process of being approved to sell to Niman’s meat, a company that will only buy hogs that were not fed anti-biotics, hormones, or animal byproducts, and were raised in an environmentally sound manner.

Better Tasting Meat

As LeeAnn explains, “The animals’ diet really makes a difference. The growth hormones really make the meat taste different. Many of our customers swear they can taste the confinement in the pork [when they buy feedlot reared supermarket meat].

Our meat is better tasting because the animals have more freedom. Rotational grazing also fits into the environmental sustainability of the farm because, not only are the animals eating food that does not have to be mechanically harvested, they are also doing it with minimum human labor.

The VanDerPols are doing better financially, environmentally, and in their quality of family life. Their oldest son, Josh, is now able to join their farm. “We’re really pleased that Josh is able to get involved. That’s part of sustainability too- that future generations farm,” reflects LeeAnn.

Jim is involved in a research program through the University of Minnesota Extension Service at Morris that researches low-emission, low-input alternative systems that can also be profitable. The legislative-funded initiative is studying new swine production programs. Jim has produced a series of television programs about low-input swine production and alternatives in both processing and marketing. He serves on the task-force directing the program, and works at the West Central Research and Outreach Center in Morris. LeeAnn is with the National Center for Appropriate Technology, a committee formed to seek out various research projects that will help farmers seeking answers to their sustainable farming questions which have gone unnoticed or were buried by the national farm press. Both Jim and LeeAnn are involved in the Sustainable Farmers Association.