The Center for Arkansas Farms and Food (CAFF) organized an organic farm tour at Dripping Springs Garden on July 23rd with record attendance from new farmers, experienced farmers, and university researchers – all interested in learning from the success of one of the oldest organic farms in Northwest Arkansas. Mark Cain and Michael Crane have been growing organic vegetables, flowers, and herbs at Dripping Springs Garden outside of Huntsville, AR since 1984, establishing themselves as the premier farm of the Fayetteville Farmers Market and suppliers of organic vegetable and cut flowers to local grocery stores and restaurants in Northwest Arkansas.
Despite the blazing heat on a Sunday afternoon in July, forty-two attendees made their way to Dripping Springs Garden, a 5-acre clearing in a tiny valley along Dry Fork Creek in the Ozark Hills. Mark Cain provided a walking tour of the 4-acre organic garden with summer vegetables and flowers growing in the field and in half-a-dozen high tunnels. Despite their decades of farming experience, farmers Mark and Michael still had crop loss on their summer cucumbers this year and did not hide the difficulties of growing organic crops in the humid Mid-South.
“It would have been much easier if we could have just sprayed Round-Up,” Mark said while sitting in the shade of their wrap-around porch after finishing the farm tour. When they bought the old blueberry farm 30 years ago there were small trees growing in the blueberry rows that Mark and Mike had to cut down and pull out by hand. But the health risk of conventional pesticides is a stark reality to Mark, having visited with the farming families of some of the international interns they have hosted over the years. One farming family in Peru lost a 3-year old child who found his way into a pesticide container. And another farmer he met in Thailand had to quit spraying chemicals in order to save his life.
These experiences with farmers around the world transitioning to organic farming for the sake of their health and the well-being of their families keeps Mark and Mike certified organic, even though organic farming is not without its difficulties. “If you can’t grow a crop organically just drop it”, Mark advised. “Grow something else… like flowers, or basil,” speaking from their own experience transitioning into more cut flower production as they realized organic cut flowers was a much more profitable crop to grow organically in Arkansas.
Participants thoroughly enjoyed the time touring Dripping Springs and visiting with farmers Mark and Mike afterwards, with participants giving the experience a 4.5 out of 5 for being “more open to working with organic producers or willing to adopt organic practices myself” and a 4 out of 5 for their knowledge of organic practices having increased. Some of the comments left included “Love the opportunity to see local farms and learn from experienced farmers. Thank you!” And another comment: “I had a wonderful time and really appreciated the wisdom and knowledge from Mark and Mike! To actually see multiple high tunnels and multiple sloped farm beds in production was so amazing!”