About the Farm
We are a nonprofit farm with 11 1/2 acres. We raise vegetables on 10 acres to use as an outdoor teaching lab for students of all ages. Our programs reach preschoolers up through adults. We also have a new farmer Incubator Program on the remaining 1 1/2 acres. Everything we grow on the farm is donated to a network of food banks throughout Northern Virginia and occasionally up into DC and MD. In 2021 we expect to exceed 100,000 lbs of donated produce in a single season for the first time. We have been in existence since 2010.
About the Practices
The Fauquier Education farm keeps the soil covered through extensive cover crop use in all seasons and no till practices on approximately 50 percent of their crops each season. Different cover crops they use are rye, crimson clover, and hairy vetch. Instead of tilling the cover crops, they roller crimp and cover them with a reusable landscape fabric. Each year they practice energizing with diversity and minimizing soil disturbance by rotating the fields between conventional plastic rows and no till production so that each area gets 18 months of no tillage every other year. The no till areas are not left fallow, they will be planted with cover crops with a cash crop planted following the termination of the cover crop.
Why is protecting the soil important?
They believe it's smart farming and increases production.