Sustainability
Sustainability isn't a buzzword for us. It's a way of life.
Our region's climate is austere and often challenging. The same conditions that consistently make for high quality grain - also make our fields vulnerable to damage from wind and drought. So we use every possible tool to protect them. Soil and water are our most precious resources; every decision we make is with them in mind.
Foremost, we use the dryland cropping method: an ancient, natural farming technique, honed over millennia by generations of farmers, and perfectly adapted to our ecosystem. We grow a single crop, on a single field, by carefully preserving the precipitation of two years to nourish it. No irrigation water is used in the production of our grain. Which means that there are no embedded energy costs or impacts from pumping water from aquifers or rivers.
We also practice 100% No till on our fields. Tillage destroys the natural structure and biology that help soil absorb and retain moisture. It reduces the vegetative cover, which exposes the soil to drying and erosive wind. We take a page from Nature's book, and preserve standing residue to the greatest extent possible, copying the behavior of healthy native grasslands in protecting the soil.
Our farm has achieved three independent, third party certifications for sustainability and environmental stewardship. We are certified Farmed Smart, Salmon-Safe and Food Alliance.
We have the ideal climate for growing healthy, nutrient dense grain. Wheat was born in a climate like ours, and it thrives in our volcanic soils without the intensive inputs necessary elsewhere. We farm in an ecosystem well suited to grain, so that other regions can grow the crops that naturally flourish in their regions. Our dry climate and hot summer days are ideal for high quality, low moisture grain that tastes great, stores and mills well.
Our farm philosophy is low impact food production that regenerates healthy land. We carry it out in our fields, and we carry it out on every other acre of our farm. We restore degraded lands and return native sagebrush steppe to the landscape. We provide wildlife and pollinator habitat and refuge. We host university research on better adapted grain varieties and farming techniques.
Our goal is to produce the best grain we possibly can for you to feed your customers, or your family. At every step we treat it like we will eat it ourselves - because we do. And when you buy grain from us, you can know that you are supporting a way of farming that's good for land, and good for community.
If you want to learn more about the myriad ways we work to better our environment and community, we write in detail on our farm Instagram @moonfamilyfarm
