Dana Ensor Reflects on 10 Years...

I keep a sticker on my desk from the American Farmland Trust that says “No Farms, No Food,” which is a reminder to me that I am the 10th generation steward of a farm called Grand Oak.  We were established in 1778 when Shadrack Hale came to what was then part of North Carolina to start a farm on a 1000-acre Revolutionary War land grant.  As I walk the farm, till the soil, plant seeds and trees, I often reflect on what it would have been like to start a farm on land covered with big oak trees.  What would I have needed to know? Just how would I have “started” farming in a new place that would become Tennessee, just outside of Jonesborough?

That is why, when I was asked in 2015 if I would help start a Beginning Farmer Training Program for Appalachian RC&D, I jumped at the chance. I was seeking how to give back to my community after retiring from 34 years at the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.  I had returned home to Grand Oak, and knew I wanted it to be a farm serving more than just myself.

Since 2015, we have trained 400 or more new and beginning farmers from Upper East Tennessee.  We have toured around 100 local small farms and heard them share what it takes to start and run a farm in our region. These farmers gladly share why they wanted to farm, and why they persist, and how they find success. I have hosted dozens of workshops on my own farm, showing my own trial and error. After attending Field School, students know what resources and efforts it really takes to farm here.

The best part of teaching is when I hear, or am sent a message, from a past student saying “I learned so much from the Beginning Farmer Program,” or, “Wow, what you taught us is really working,” or when I see them at their booth at the farmer’s market proudly displaying what they grew. They have become part of the local food movement in our region.

That is why programs such as the ARCD Beginning Farmer Field School are so important to our region. We help new farmers make the hard decisions by looking at the economics of farming in a region where we are losing farm land at a rate of 240 acres per day (UT’s Farmland Loss Report 2024).  We must invest in the next farming generation.

I urge you to consider giving to this outstanding organization as you sit down to give thanks for the food on your table. That food started with a farmer who wanted to till the soil, or grow the animals, or spend the long days raising what you are now enjoying this holiday season.   Remember “No Farms, No Food”.