Spotlight Series
A Switch from Conventional to Regenerative Farming
“In 2016, my son got out of college and started talking ‘regenerative’ while I was still ‘old-school farming,’ doing conventional agriculture,” Keith Gorham says. “He got me watching YouTube videos and it was like a light bulb went on. This is what we should be doing - cover crops, diversity, and running the animals in different sequences behind each other.”
That experience started Gorham on his sustainable and regenerative agriculture journey, and he has not looked back.
“We are going back to nature this way,” Gorham remarks. “Soil health was the main focus, but now it’s turned into an economic thing, too.”
Gorham, a fourth-generation farmer, runs a diverse operation of row crops, including corn, beans, and winter wheat, as well as a cow/calf and hog operation in Illinois City, Illinois. Using a closed system approach on his farm, Gorham utilizes outputs from separate parts of his operation as inputs elsewhere.
“Keith’s goal is to reach zero off-farm inputs to create a profitable and sustainable farm system that uses soil health practices and can be brought to a large commercial scale,” remarks Lou Liva of the Rock Island Soil and Water Conservation District.
“It’s important to show the neighbors that this can be done profitably and at scale,” adds Gorham.
That includes utilizing a multi-species cover crop to maximize benefits.
“A lot of people don’t go all the way when doing cover crops,” Gorham says. “And that’s unfortunate because that is where you see the biggest difference, as well as the economic gains. Now we actually have fields where we’re applying zero synthetic fertilizer because the land has healed itself.”
Keith Gorham
Farmer
Illinois City, Illinois
“This farm has turned into a melting pot of trying different stuff, with the assistance of different organizations. Curiosity is one of the most important things – I tend to say, ‘let’s try it and see what happens.’”
Keith Gorham
Farmer
Illinois City, Illinois
