In the fields of Wilsall, Montana, the Bays family works their land with dedication and a willingness to learn. A lifelong farming family, John and Vanessa Bays, along with their daughter Sadie Collins, have embraced regenerative agriculture in an area of Park County that Collins refers to as “the valley experiment station.” Working with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) on various conservation projects, they aim to improve the health of their soil.
A Family Business
John Bays, born in California, grew up on a farm surrounded by thousands of acres of grapes—a much different view from the open, rolling hills he tends now. Recalling his early farm experiences, “I was drafted into work by my dad as early as five years old.” After college, he began working on his father-in-law’s ranch in Montana, growing wheat and barley.
Vanessa Bays grew up on a farm on the edge of Billings, where her dad grew silage corn, beans, alfalfa, and had a feedlot. “She has that same passion for taking good care of the soil,” John Bays says.
Together, John and Vanessa own J&V Bays Farm. They grow wheat as their number one cash crop on the land they lease but also have an intense rotation of peas, mustard, lentils, garbanzos, flax, and even ancient grains. “We have a rule here that we can’t grow wheat after wheat. You have to grow it after a legume,” John Bays says.
Their daughter, Sadie Collins, shares a similar history with agriculture and conservation. Some of her earliest memories involve her dad’s work with the NRCS. “When I was 10, I would sit on the floor of the office in Livingston with my dad after school . And so, I’ve been steeped in it since I was little.”
Regenerative Ag All the Way Down
While John and Vanessa operate under a more traditional agribusiness model as J&V Bays Farm, they started Highland Harmony Farm LLC under the ownership of Collins to market their products directly to consumers. The LLC enhances the scope of the family’s marketing capacity by turning some of their harvested produce into ready-to-eat products. The Bays grow and harvest their grains, some of which Highland Harmony purchases, processes, and sells. This enables the family to supply local communities with their grain, flour, and other food products through an on-site store, farmers markets, and local businesses, whereas that produce would otherwise go to the nearby grain elevator for distribution on the commercial market. They also raise bees to sell honey.
Collins explains that Highland Harmony Farm was really born from the realization that she, herself, had something important to bring to the table following COVID. “It gave people more perspective―an appreciation for their food and how things are made because people are trying to make things themselves,” Collins says. “I think it opened a lot of minds for sure.”
She grows cut flowers, vegetables, and berries, as well as some flour corn. Collins and her parents also own property south of the main farm and fields, which, together with the leased land, makes for a nice operation. “As a dryland farm, we’re small for Montana,” she shares. Despite this take, to someone unfamiliar with the area, their far-reaching fields seem to stretch as far as the eye can see.
“You know how there are people, they start juggling three balls and then a fourth and a fifth,” John Bays jokes, indicating that as regenerative farmers, the gist is to basically just jump in.
Collins shares her family is fortunate to have leased from the same family for a very long time, and shares the landowner is happy with what they’ve been doing. “She’s got faith in us, and I hope that says something—that she trusts us.”
Partners in Conservation
Over the years, they’ve implemented many different conservation practices. Most recently, with NRCS technical and financial assistance, they are implementing conservation harvest management, crop rotation, and soil testing under Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding with the guidance of NRCS Bozeman Area Agronomist Cody Garcia.
“It’s been great working with all of them,” Garcia says. “John came in to the Livingston NRCS field office a few years ago, shortly after I had started working for the agency there as a soil conservationist, and applied for financial assistance through the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) with National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI) funding. We put in three years of cover crops on this property and a couple of other leases they have elsewhere in the valley. This is the final year of their conservation program contract for cover cropping. Now the Bays have this ongoing stripper header project through EQIP with IRA funding.”
“Here, there’s a buffet of sunflowers, Austrian winter peas, spring green pea, flax, a dash of mustard, daikon radish, purple top turnip, milo, millet, and oats growing. NRCS gave us guidelines on what to use,” John Bays explains regarding one such field currently in cover crop.
“Each of our conservation practices has one or more documents associated with it for planning and implementation purposes. So, we pretty much gave John the standards and specifications on how a cover crop should be designed,” Garcia says. “From those guidelines and a list of cover crop species commonly used in the area, he was able to choose what he wanted to plant.” He shares that NRCS provided Bays with information on how many pounds of pure live seed per acre would be required to hit the target seeding rate.
“Each seed type needs to be tested for purity and germination rate. With the percentages from those tests, we can calculate the desired seeding rates.” This helps ensure the crop stand has an appropriate population density to provide adequate ground cover, and biomass when intended for fall grazing, without leading to too much competition between plants for available resources.
“This field was a favorite back in the day. It was an award winner,” John Bays says. “We kind of felt like we’d stretched its limits, and it needed a rest. We feel like a cover crop—with the diversity of all those species—maybe that will get us [moving] back [to a higher level of productivity];, and then we’ll start again with a little shorter, healthier rotation.”
To participate in the Rooting for Soil Health (RFSH) Targeted Implementation Plan (TIP), the Bays purchased a stripper header for their combine and began implementing conservation harvest management on their small grains. The design of the stripper header allows for 90% or more of the total crop height to be left on the field as standing residue, providing a number of benefits including increased snow capture and reduced wind erosion. NRCS is providing them with financial assistance on a per-acre basis for cropland harvested in this way during each year of the conservation program contract. By the end of the 3-year contract, these financial assistance payments will have offset the cost of the new equipment.
Deeper than Dirt
Collins describes how growing up in agriculture has broadened her view on its value beyond the harvest. “It’s like being able to see in the back door, that’s for sure. I’m fortunate to have had my dad as my mentor specifically because he grew up in California where you walk outside, and you can get something to eat out of the ground year-round. When you come here, you just naturally look at this as food more than as a commodity.”
She says her family has the ability to make smart decisions now because they’re aware of how to better take care of the ground. “Pretty much everybody knows about organic and that it’s better, but there are other things that are important that haven’t come to the mainstream knowledge base yet. I think it’s important to do what you can to help with climate change, human health, plant health, and animal health.”
Collins plans to continue putting in the effort to figure out the nuances so they can increase their profit margin but maintain soil health as their top priority. “When you suddenly don’t put down any fertilizer, and your soil hasn’t quite built itself back up yet, you have to find other ways to make it work.”
One way she’s been able to move her farm forward has been extending her growing season using a high tunnel she obtained with the help of NRCS through EQIP. “Man, the dirt in there has become soil and it’s so happy. It makes such a massive difference,” Collins says. What Collins refers to as ‘dirt’ is the mineral component of ‘soil.’ Dead. Lifeless. ‘Soil’ is alive—an entire ecosystem below the ground. She is in the process of working with Garcia on applying for an a third high tunnel. She recently planted 80 trees around her market garden to provide a windbreak and planted a cover crop within her orchard.
Beyond Standard Conservation
Montana Focused Conservation (MFC) targets locally prioritized resource concerns within geographic areas highly impacted by said resource concerns. Garcia explains that instead of applying conservation programs with a scattered approach, MFC concentrates on interrelated issues—like moisture-use efficiency and wind erosion in this instance—typically within a watershed, or similar-sized area. The RFSH TIP is the exception to that rule, with program eligible area including 14 counties across southcentral Montana.
Garcia shares the Bays have made incredible strides in their soil health journey through cover cropping. “Cover crops are a game changer for a producer like Highland Harmony. It can increase your soil organic matter, reduce soil erosion, and provide habitat for beneficial organisms, increasing the overall biodiversity and resiliency of your land.” The practice can also improve the soil’s physical properties, leading to increased water infiltration and retention.
With the Rooting for Soil Health TIP, the primary resource concern NRCS is trying to address is naturally available moisture use efficiency. “It’s kind of a mouthful to say, but naturally available moisture use efficiency is one of the greatest challenges associated with dryland farming. In a dryland cropping system—meaning it’s rainfed only—there’s no irrigation applied.” Using a disc drill and stripper header to minimize soil disturbance and maximize crop residue not only helps mitigate soil erosion, but increases that moisture use efficiency by creating a microclimate near the soil surface which reduces evapotranspiration.
Regenerative Farming Practices
Implementing regenerative farming practices on their fields, the family has seen first-hand the positive impact they’ve had on their soil. Conservation crop rotation has also played a critical role in meeting their land management goals. By alternating different crops, they can prevent the depletion of soil nutrients as well as naturally control pests and diseases. John Bays offers, “We’ve learned rotating crops is like giving the soil a balanced diet. Each crop contributes something different.”
Soil health testing, supported by the NRCS, allows the Bays to monitor and improve soil conditions, ensuring long-term sustainability. Collins emphasizes the importance of these tests: “Soil health testing gives us a clear picture of what’s happening beneath the surface so we can adjust our practices accordingly to benefit the soil and the crops.”
Embracing Regenerative Agriculture
The family’s passion for regenerative agriculture shines through in everything they do. They understand the importance of healthy soil for producing nutrient-rich food and are dedicated to making smart decisions for the environment. Their efforts are not just about farming but about creating a better ecosystem.
Collins reflects on their journey so far, saying, “If you farm in this way, the ecosystem is happier. Your plants are healthier. They produce more nutrients. It makes better food. And I want to eat better food. And I want to educate people because most don’t know that’s even a thing. That there’s a different way.”
With the support of the NRCS, the Bays family is transforming their land and contributing to a more sustainable future. They are hopeful their story inspires others to embrace similar regenerative ag practices and appreciate the value of healthy, vibrant ecosystems.
John Bays encapsulates their philosophy: “It was real easy before. I was just growing numbers. I wasn’t growing food. Then I had this awakening. That different perspective of ‘I like growing food. This is fun.’ It's our goal to keep this going.”
Source : usda.gov