Organic Efforts Win National Award
By Carol Hazard, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.
Aug. 5–Sandy Fisher, tall, lanky and unfazed by head-to-toe dirt and biodiesel fuel, plopped into a leather chair to talk about organic farming.
A giant composting machine had conked out again.
He and his wife, Rossie, run Brookview Farm in Manakin-Sabot on a rolling hillside overlooking the James River.
They won a national award for their conservation practices from the American Farmland Trust, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the nation’s agricultural resources.
The annual Steward of the Land Award recognizes farmers who demonstrate leadership in protecting farmland and caring for the environment.
“Sandy and Rossie have shown by example how successful you can be in agriculture and still be in harmony with the land,” said Ralph Grossi, president of the American Farmland Trust.
The Fishers are the first Virginians to win the award, which comes with $10,000 that they plan to use for conservation projects.
The Fishers “have the ability to look down the road, and they understand how serious the issue of farmland loss is to the future of agriculture,” Grossi said.
The couple raise grass-fattened cattle and free-ranging hens. They make compost from leaves and cow manure. Henrico County delivers the leaves — some 500 dump-truck loads a year.
The Fishers use the compost to fertilize their 450-acre farm. The rest is sold to customers by the pickup truck.
They sell organic beef, eggs and honey at a farm store only open Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eggs are $4 a dozen, ground beef is $5 a pound.
Customers descend on the store every week. They include former vegetarians, people allergic to most store-sold beef and others who understand the health benefits of eating grass-fattened beef, the Fishers say.
The beef sells out nearly every week. “It’s loaded with protein. . . . It has no chemicals, very little fat and what fat there is, is a healthy fat to help fight cancer and heart disease,” said Rossie, who grew up on a nearby tobacco farm.
Feedlots, an American way of raising cattle, produce all kinds of problems, she said.
Cattle are meant to eat grass and hay, not corn, she said. They get sick eating corn, so they are put on antibiotics.
The Fishers’ vet bill is less than $400 a year, they say. And that’s for 350 cattle, 400 chickens and one Australian sheepdog.
They don’t castrate the males, keeping the vet bill low. They use no hormones, steroids or chemical dewormers.
The herd is a healthy mix, including Herefords, Black Angus, Charolais, Brahmas and Simmentals. “All mutts, all strong,” Sandy said.
About 150 calves are born a year at Brookview. Weaned after nine months, they then take about 300 days to fatten and get ready for market, twice as long as cattle raised in feedlots, Sandy said.
. . .
The Fishers never tire of teaching people about natural farming practices, said Robert Harper, a former Virginia Cooperative extension agent in Goochland County who nominated the couple for the national award.
“They take all the time people want to educate them about how these production systems work,” Harper said.
“They have gotten a lot of recognition locally and regionally, but this is national and very prestigious.”
The Fishers are founding member of the Center for Rural Cuture, a nonprofit organization that promotes sustainable and profitable farming practices.
Sandy is a director at the Monacan Soil & Water Conservation District, a local government entity focused on the preservation of natural resources. He was a board member at Colonial Farm Credit, a financial services firm for farmers.
. . .
He grew up near Baltimore, the son of a doctor, the nephew of a horse and cattle farmer.
He went to South America with the Peace Corps from 1962 to 1964. He returned with his bride, Rossie, in 1968.
They stayed for nine years, running a cattle farm in Bogota, Colombia. Their two children were born there.
The family returned to Goochland County and bought the farm after it became too dangerous to stay in a politically unstable country.
Brookview had been used to raise cattle and hogs. The earth was red, stripped of vegetation, where pasture grasses now grow.
When the Fishers replaced fencing, they left brambles and weeds in place so they wouldn’t destroy habitats for rabbits, birds and quail.
Even the chicken operation is au naturel. Chickens are housed in pens with no floors. The pens are moved daily so the chickens can get fresh grubs, insects and clover.
. . .
Manicured farms may be more aesthetically pleasing to some people, but not to the Fishers, said Doug Wright, the farm manager.
They prefer the natural look and way.
“Sandy and Rossie are visionaries on grass-fed cattle,” said Wright, the only full-time employee. Two others work part time.
“This is a flagship, a real fine operation. Sandy is a leader in organic farming and everything he does.”
Sandy said he likes being able to see what he has done at the end of the day. “I like the cattle, the machinery and the grass.”
“I love the natural beauty and open spaces,” Rossie said. “The presence of God is in nature.”
The Fishers put their land into a conservation easement held by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
The easement provided a five-year tax break, though that was not the reason. It means the land will never be developed.
“We realize this is a beautiful place and wanted to set an example,” Rossie said.
As stewards of the land, the Fishers put up fences along streams and ponds to keep livestock from polluting the water. They planted thousands of hardwoods to buffer the river.
They use solar-powered pumps for water. They practice rotational grazing, keeping the land from erosion.
Sandy is 67, Rossie, 62. “I can’t imagine ever selling this farm,” she said.
Contact Carol Hazard at (804) 775-8023 or chazard@timesdispatch.com.
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