Mt. Folly Enterprises, a farming enterprise founded by Laura Freeman, has been awarded a USDA Climate-Smart Commodities Project Grant. The grant will enable Mt. Folly Enterprises to implement innovative climate-smart farming practices and to build a network of climate-smart farmers throughout the Ohio River Valley.
In conjunction with its focus on climate-smart farming, Mt. Folly plans to partner with regional farmers to develop a new, climate-smart beef brand. Additional details about this new beef brand will be forthcoming.
Laura Freeman, Founder and Chairwoman of Mt. Folly Enterprises, said that climate-smart, regional farming is the way of the future for the food industry. She believes that by localizing food production and supporting climate-smart farming practices, communities can make a significant impact on the environmental challenges our society faces. Freeman is thrilled to have the opportunity to take an important step in this critical evolution by implementing innovative, climate-smart farming practices throughout her region through the USDA Climate-Smart Commodities grant.
Mt. Folly Enterprises will use the USDA grant to implement more broadly the climate-smart practices already in use at Mt. Folly Farm. This work will include modeling and developing whole-farm carbon sequestration systems for mid-sized farms producing crops and beef in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Tennessee. Participating farms will receive incentives for their use of these systems, free technical assistance, and cost-sharing to help them implement climate-smart practices, such as conservation crop rotation, reducing tillage, the use of cover crops, silvopasture, prescribed grazing, and tree or shrub establishment from crop or grassland.
Laura Freeman is a longtime innovator in the farming industry. She began Laura's Lean Beef in the 1980s, when the importance of organic, chemical-free farming wasn't yet widely recognized. After successfully building Laura's Lean Beef into the most valuable brand in the natural beef space, Laura sold the company and shifted her focus to other ecological agriculture practices and experimented with a new set of crops and applications. Today, she leads Mt. Folly Farm, one of the most innovative farms in Kentucky.
Mt. Folly Enterprises includes Mt. Folly Farm, a hemp company, a beef brand, and a liquor brand. Ben Pasley, a farmer of the next generation, is the CEO of Mt. Folly Enterprises. Laura's daughter, Alice Melendez, is Project Lead for the USDA Climate-Smart Commodities grant.
Photo Credit: gettyImages-shaunl
Categories: Kentucky, Sustainable Agriculture