Back before Sara and Josh Smith got married and started their diversified organic produce operation, personal experiences drew them both to organic food production.
For Sara, it was seeing her mom’s autoimmune disease seemingly heal by cutting out sugar and eating only organic food. For Josh, who grew up working on neighboring farms during summers as a kid, it was through research in college. After they married, that shared interest shaped their eventual operation, Wholesome Meadows Farm in northeastern Indiana.
“When we decided to start farming, we decided why not just do it organically, since that’s what we are passionate about,” Sara explains. “People have different reasons why they get into [organic production], but that was why we got into it; it was that personal experience.”
Wholesome Meadows started in 2014 as a diversified farm-to-market operation growing small fruit and vegetables like berries, tomatoes and pumpkins mostly for area farmers markets.
“In 2015 we added pasture-raised laying hens for egg production to our farm, and then every year after that we added something,” Josh says. Those additions included organically raised, pasture-based broilers, pork and grass-fed and -finished beef.
Then in 2022, the Smiths wanted to expand into organic row crops — corn, soybeans and small grains in rotation — but that proved difficult. Organic cropland in Indiana is expensive, and the Smiths didn’t have that financial ability as first-generation farmers. According to Josh, that’s where Iroquois Valley came in.
What It Is and How It Works
Iroquois Valley Farmland REIT is a farmland finance company that provides funds for the expansion of organic, regenerative agriculture through leases and mortgages with farmers. Chris Zuelsdorff, CEO of Iroquois Valley, describes the group as structured as a real estate investment trust and also a public benefit company.
“Our business model is to identify strong organic farmers who are looking to grow or expand their production, and then, in partnership with them, hopefully identify a parcel or a farm that we can purchase and then lease back to them under a long-term lease,” he explains. “Organic transition is a three-year process at minimum, so having long-term visibility and land tenure and land security is very important from the perspective of an organic grower and producer.”
Zuelsdorff adds that the capital necessary to buy land, plus the minimum three years it takes to transition conventional land to organic production, is a significant hurdle, especially for new growers or first-generation operations like the Smiths and Wholesome Meadows.
To try to bridge that gap to help organic, regenerative agriculture expand, Iroquois Valley operates on an initial six-year lease term for partnering farms, with renewal opportunities every two years after the initial term. The lease structure includes the ability of partner operators to buy the land.
“Our goal would be to have secure land tenure for our farmer partners as long as possible,” Zuelsdorff says.
He adds that the funds the group uses to secure farmland for transition comes mostly from investors who “believe in the merits and the benefits that organic farming has on the environment, on human health, and farmer viability.”
“The primary motivation is around supporting farmers, supporting a healthy food system and a healthy environmental outcomes through organic farming,” he says.
According to the Iroquois Valley website and Zuelsdorff, the group has directed $126.6 million in investments in organic agriculture. This represents over 36,000 acres across 70 different operations in 20 states.
Wholesome Meadows’ Growth Into Organic Grains
For the Smiths, partnering with Iroquois Valley meant they were able to expand their operation from 80 acres of diversified organic produce and pasture-raised eggs and meat in 2023 to a total of 157 acres in early 2024. The additional acreage was purchased at public auction by Iroquois Valley and leased to the Smiths for their rotational grain production on a six-year lease structure, with the option to purchase the land after the initial term or continue with long-term lease renewals.
The Smiths are working to transition the parcel to organic production. Josh says the 2023 crop year was the last where conventional products were used on the parcel, meaning the 2026 crop will be the Smiths’ first where the grain can be considered organic.
The Smiths say they likely would not have been able to make the expansion without Iroquois Valley.
“When it comes to expanding a farm and buying farmland, the options are buy it yourself or get a loan from a bank or partner with a group like Iroquois valley that wants to invest in farmland,” Josh says. “It’s a great company to work with and a great opportunity. For us, it’s been huge.”
