Generation

5th Generation

Farm History

The Squire B Farm was homesteaded in 1868 by Squire Benjamin Landreth, my Great, Great Grandfather. I began farming soon after graduating from college in 1978. My father was very involved in conservation and we started to experiment with no-till in 1980. We worked with many types of no-till drills in the early years many of which we re-built to help manage our hills and crop selection. By 1985 we sold all our conventional tillage based production equipment which is when we were totally committed to direct seeding. We did some direct seeding for other farmers in the beginning to help offset our cost of new equipment which also spread the idea of this environmental practice.

Why No-Till?

Historically the water erosion was significant as our farm is very hilly. We have done excavation near our farmstead at the bottom of one of these long slopes and found old fence posts buried 6 feet deep. With this change of production practice we have virtually eliminated that type of erosion and are able to protect that valuable resource. My two sons and their wives take time off from their work to come home for spring planting and harvest to help in the operations and we hope to extend the management of this farm to the 6th generation.