In 2010, Lincoln Fishman and Hilary Costa purchased Sawyer Farm, a 40-acre property nestled at 1,600 feet above sea level in the hills of Western Massachusetts. On five acres surrounded by woods and pasture, they cultivated organic storage crops such as carrots, onions, beets and potatoes, supplying their farm store and wholesale markets year-round. Additionally, they grew hemp to support their own farm-to-bottle CBD company.
Initially Fishman and Costa relied on draft horses to till their fields, integrating compost and cover crops into their practices – what they referred to as “apology practices” – to help repair the damage caused by tillage. However Fishman remained concerned about soil erosion resulting from increasingly frequent heavy rain events, particularly those brought by tropical storms in late summer and early fall. Given the steep slope of their vegetable field, erosion risk is high, and winter rye cover crops don’t yet offer sufficient soil protection during that vulnerable period.
Fishman began experimenting with Dutch White clover as a strategy to improve soil health and combat erosion. That widely adapted perennial legume has a dense shallow root system that helps protect the soil and suppress weeds. Once established, it withstands heavy field traffic and repeated mowing. In July, Fishman would undersow Dutch White clover into his cash crops, allow it to overwinter, and then plow it down the following spring before planting a new crop. He repeated that cycle each year by reseeding the clover in July.
While the system effectively reduced soil erosion in the fall, Fishman found the annual cycle of planting, terminating and replanting to be inefficient and still reliant on significant soil disturbance.