Episode 190: What the 1980s Farm Crisis Should Have Taught Us with Wendy Johnson

Wendy Mariko Johnson farms in Floyd County, Iowa, near Charles City. She grew up on an Iowa farm, left at 18 in the 1990s for an 18-year career in the Los Angeles fashion industry, and returned in 2010 with her husband Johnny Rafkin. Having watched farms close across Iowa in the 1980s, she came back determined to follow the three things that carried her parents through that era: diversification, low cost of production, and little to no debt.

Today Wendy runs two businesses from the same land. Jóia Food & Fiber Farm carries 160 ewes, 25 cows and their calves, plus hogs, chickens, and ducks across roughly 130 certified organic acres, alongside 15 acres of Kernza and more than 6,000 trees planted over the past decade. Jóia Sleep turns the farm's wool into comforters, mattress toppers, and pillows. She also co-manages Center View Farms, her family's thousand-acre commodity operation, and serves as vice president of the Perennial Promise Growers Cooperative, co-founder of 99 Counties, and chair of Iowa's USDA Farm Service Agency state committee. Her current question is how to take what she has proven on 130 acres and extend it across a thousand.

In this episode, John and Wendy discuss:

What carried her parents through the 1980s farm crisis, and why it still applies How direct marketing made her a price maker instead of a price taker Why the thousand-acre corn and soybean farm is becoming obsolete How Kernza thrived through a 10-inch drought year and a 12-inch rain month Why she hires custom operators instead of owning machinery What it would take to treat agrarian labor like the skilled trades Whether the next generation wants land ownership or just land access Why she would rather be paid on practice and nutrition than on yield Four years of silvopasture planted over field tile Additional Resources

To listen to the podcast episode featuring Austin Unruh on integrating trees into working pastures, please visit: https://advancingecoag.com/podcast/episode-97-integrating-trees-into-working-pastures-with-austin-unruh/

To learn more about Jóia Food & Fiber Farm, please visit: https://www.joiafoodfarm.com/

To learn more about Jóia Sleep, please visit: https://www.joiasleep.com/

To learn more about 99 Counties, please visit: https://99counties.com/

To learn more about the Perennial Promise Growers' Cooperative, please visit: https://perennialpromise.com/

Learn more about AEA's regenerative programs and products: https://www.advancingecoag.com

About John Kempf