One farm, many crops
W. Hughes Farms is a highly diversified farm in Janesville, Wisconsin. If you’re familiar with Blue Farm Organic Tortilla Chips, you’ve tasted some of their products, but their blue corn venture is just one of many and enterprises in this multigenerational undertaking.
“We grow non-GMO food-grade soybeans, corn, organic soft winter wheat, Japanese natto beans, blue corn, hybrid rye, sunflowers, and canning vegetables, like peas, snap beans, sweet corn and Lima beans—some of which are certified organic,” said Willie Hughes, describing what’s in the ground this year.
Additionally, the farm has a number of crops planted for sale as seed, which requires extra care to ensure high-quality seeds for other farmers to plant next year. Among these are ten acres of Kernza® for seed production, and open-pollinated rye and hairy vetch intercropped for cover crop seed. They farm a combination of rented and owned land, approximately 5,000 acres in total.
Farming so many acres is usually done more simply, for bulk sales, and often for feed grade, rather than multiple specialty crop outlets. “We’re doing a lot of field passes and paying attention to different crops. We have to keep a lot of plates spinning, but that's just the way our farm has done it,” said Willie, crediting his father Randy for the vision to transition some acreage to organic, and pursue entrepreneurial opportunities.
Ideals about conservation and food, health and safety made organics appealing, and the farm’s location in Rock County made marketing crops directly to buyers feasible. For generations they've sold canning vegetables, first to Libby and then Seneca. Similarly, the DeLong Company buys their food-grade soybeans. Having a variety of local buyers has led to a vibrant, resilient farm.
“We began raising certified organic grain in 1991. Getting more involved with that movement, we found ourselves with other customers and partners, and slowly cultivated a complete specialty crop rotation that sustains us year in and year out,” said Willie, noting that this was gradual. “What started as something that you would do on the side, or a few acres close to the shop in order to get a nice premium really grew, and we sort of reengineered the farm to try to capture that value on every acre.”
This kind of work takes a strong team. Randy and Judy Hughes lend an open dynamic to the next generation, Willie and his sister Julianne Burns. Aunt Sandy is the business manager, and three full-time staff, plus Willie when he’s not in the office, cover field work and the equipment maintenance it entails. As each year's many harvests begin, a few seasonal helpers rejoin the effort. Everyone is invested in the cause, despite—or perhaps because of—the complexities of so many separate crops and conservation practices.
Farming is risky, and growing seed-grade crops is extra challenging. It involves avoiding diseases and pests, segregating fields that could cross-pollinate, and keeping harvests clean and discrete for identity preservation. That this farm is trusted to grow out so many different types of seed for a variety of customers speaks volumes to the reputation W. Hughes has for their work. And that reputation rests, Willie asserts, on the workforce, and on everyone’s commitment to detail.
Willie traces the beginnings of this mesh of relationships and farm methodology to raising organic crops and being subject to inspections. The audits that are a part of the certification process showed them how to keep good records and diligent notes. That accustomed them to use those same quality controls and develop a standard operating procedure for identity preservation and quality.
The farm is kitted out to manage their broad operation, with enough field equipment to handle the planting and care each crop needs. Much of what they grow goes directly from the field to the customer, bypassing some bottlenecks of post-harvest handling. However, like any farm producing food-grade grains, they have on-farm storage tailored to their uses.
Every storage vessel is smooth walled with a cone bottom so it completely empties; every auger is belted to not damage kernels or beans, or hurt germination. They have several 4,000-bushel smooth-walled cone bottom hopper bins that can each have its own variety, or its own unique lot number and separate drying conditions. Any time they look at expanding storage or increasing post-harvest capacity, they keep their specialty needs front of mind. “We're always learning, and there is never enough capacity or equipment on a farm,” said Willie. “I haven't met any farmer who's ever said, 'I've got everything I need'.”
W. Hughes is a team player within the regional grain system, too, glad to be a part of AGC and the informal peer-to-peer learning that occurs in the network. The experimental nature of the farm makes it a natural home for housing the pilot malt system for Meristem Malt, in collaboration with fellow AGC members Hannah Francis and Brian Atkinson (as we reported in Sept. 2023). This nascent craft malt operation has malted local barley already for two Madison breweries so far: AGC member Giant Jones and Karben4. Willie and his team are looking forward to increasing production in the coming months.
Once upon a time, Willie didn’t believe he wanted to farm. He got a degree in entrepreneurial management at the University of Iowa, and thought he’d work in tech. But the job that ended up calling to him was the continuous start-up ethos of the farm, and Willie is happy to be ensconced in a life where he can be creative and innovate every day. Take a listen to his passion for farming in this video with fellow AGC member Samuel Taylor of Long Table.
“The wonderful thing about agriculture is every year it's really a fresh start,” said Willie.
