A Newly Certified Organic Farm is Helping to Transform Agriculture in the Garden State.
The drive to Cold Brook Farm in Oldwick, New Jersey, will dispel any preconceptions that the most densely populated US state is nothing but highways and strip malls. Located in Hunterdon County, the farm is nestled among tiny villages, woodlands, and fields full of corn and soybeans.
Jason and Deb DeSalvo, Cold Brook’s proprietors and workforce, launched their 43-acre operation in 2020 with the goal of changing perceptions of what farming can be in their community. The couple are unconventional in many ways—as farmers, with the crops they’re growing, and especially in their commitment to regenerative organic practices. To get their farm off the ground and certified organic from the start, they relied on the support of the Rodale Institute consulting team.
The DeSalvos today are raising grains, fruits, and vegetables, and they have planted a permaculture forest. They’ve restored the creek that runs through their property, and they’re powering their home and farm entirely on solar and geothermal energy. They’re also connecting with nearby growers to develop the infrastructure to support local grain production.
BREAKING GROUND
Jason DeSalvo, 56 years old, runs a medical diagnostics business and was in a rock band in his youth. Deb DeSalvo, age 59, grew up around her mother’s extensive garden and has worked as an environmental educator. “We don’t have a family background in farming,” Jason says. “In 1991, we talked about operating a vineyard and went to look at one in the Willamette Valley—before it was all the rage—because we wanted to grow Pinot Noir grapes.”
More recently, while looking for a place with a few acres where they could grow food for themselves, they found their current property, which has a history dating back to before the first European settlers arrived in the area. “We fell in love with the land and with the possibilities,” Deb says. “We wanted to bring about change that would have a positive effect on the environment, and we decided that creating a regenerative organic farm was the best way for us to do it.”
Starting in August 2019, the pair worked with an architect to design the house and landscape surrounding it, and by the time the COVID pandemic hit, they were beginning to plant trees and to develop a swale for stormwater management. The property included a 10-acre field that had been leased to a local farmer who had been growing conventional, genetically modified corn, soybeans, and wheat there for many decades.
“We talked with him about our plans to be organic and asked him to adapt his practices, but he declined,” Deb says. “He farms about 3,000 acres in this area, mostly on leased land,” Jason adds. “It’s common here for farmers to work land that they lease from the owners of big properties.” The couple decided to try raising wheat in the field themselves.
“We wanted to be certified to support the organic certification movement.”
—Deb DeSalvo
On a hot early-summer day in 2024, they assess their crop of ‘Redeemer’ wheat, discussing when it might be fully mature considering the season’s scorching temperatures and heavy rains followed by an extended dry spell. They open, peer at, and sample the wheat berries and determine that the harvest is still a few weeks away. In their fourth year of working the field, they’re talking about the challenges with weeds—and thistle specifically. They won’t spray toxic chemical herbicides, so they have learned about the life cycle of the thistle plant to figure out how to disrupt its reproduction. “If you mow it down just before it flowers, you can knock it back without too many new plants sprouting up,” Jason says. They will be following the wheat crop with two successive rotations of buckwheat because “we’ve learned that it can suppress the thistle growth,” he adds.
They’ve begun to see other changes on this field. Just after dusk, “thousands of fireflies emerge, and it’s just magical to watch their dance,” Deb says. “That wasn’t happening before we converted this field to organic.”
MAKING IT OFFICIAL
The DeSalvos had always planned to certify their organic farm. “We sleep at night knowing we’re doing good things here,” Deb says. “We wanted to be certified to support the organic certification movement.”
They found the process more rigorous than they had expected. “It seems backwards to me that if I don’t want to poison people, I have to fill out a lot of paperwork, but if I am poisoning my neighbors with pesticides, there’s no paperwork to fill out,” Jason jokes.
Still, he took on the responsibility of wading through all the forms and schedules needed. He got help from Rodale Institute’s Organic Consulting Service, which provides new and transitioning farmers with expertise in organic practices and equipment, marketing, accessing financial resources, applying for and maintaining USDA certified organic status, and just about every other aspect of operating a farm.
Kegan Hilaire, Rodale Institute’s small farms and diversified vegetable consultant, was the point of contact for the team supporting the DeSalvos. He helped the couple to make sense of the requirements as they developed the Organic System Plan that had to be submitted. “The organic certification and inspection process isn’t intuitive, so I wanted to give them a deeper understanding of it and why the information was necessary to share with inspectors,” Hilaire says. “They were already ahead of the curve with recordkeeping, so that made it easier for them. We worked together so they would get used to and feel comfortable with the expectations.”
Jason felt reassured by the support of the consultants. “They had all the knowledge we didn’t, and once I sat down with Kegan and went through the application with him, the process was demystified, and I knew we could handle it. I believe I submitted it four days later.” The operation received approval in 2024.
VALUING DIVERSITY
On much of the 2.5 acres of land closest to the house, the DeSalvos have planted more than 50 perennial food crops, including raspberries and blueberries, asparagus, Egyptian onions, Jerusalem artichokes, persimmons, and elderberries.
Just off their back porch, they’ve set up eight raised beds that are tall enough to be weeded while standing, and in early summer, these beds are producing cherry tomatoes, peppers, sugar snap peas, basil, sweet corn, and more. The couple snack and offer tastes as they show visitors around.
On the right side of the house, they’ve established a 315- foot bioretention basin, which has a swale planted with native wildflowers and wetland species and a 2,500-gallon cistern that captures water for irrigation and overflow. “It’s a brilliant concept, an engineering feat, and a maintenance nightmare,” Deb says with a laugh. “Eventually, the native plants will outcompete the weeds, but the thistle is not understanding that yet,” she adds.
The farmers were able to secure a USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service grant to restore Cold Brook, the freshwater stream that crosses through their farm. The banks had collapsed in places, and the water was not running clear. Now the property hosts an “entire food web,” Deb says, “from insects to apex predators and including so many birds. We have a vole colony that is a source of meals for the kestrels. It’s a remarkable change.”
The DeSalvos are farming this land to establish a healthy ecosystem outside their door and also to show how that can be compatible with economic success. “Our goal for this farm is not to make a large profit,” Jason explains. “We are expecting it to at least cover the cost of operating, including imputed wages for our time and labor. We’ve come close so far but haven’t hit that yet.
“We are growing 72 different types of crops here, while most farmers in this area focus on just a few crops,” he continues. “That makes it hard to meet the market demands at our scale. But in another year or two, when the crops are all in full production, the equation will work for us.”
“In another year or two, when the crops are in full production, the equation will work for us.”
—Jason DeSalvo
BUILDING BEYOND
The couple began marketing wheat and other grains through River Valley Community Grains in Marksboro, New Jersey, in 2021. It’s a collaborative of farmers, millers, and bakers to “meet the growing demand for nutrient-dense grains, local flour, ‘real bread,’ and healthy cereals,” according to its mission statement.
In 2023, the cooperative made the DeSalvos’ wheat available to the public at Blue Hill at Stone Barns restaurant and agricultural center in Tarrytown, New York.
Near the wheat field, the couple have planted a smaller test plot of Khorasan, the heirloom grain commonly known by the brand name Kamut. It produces larger berries than modern wheat and is also more nutritious. The DeSalvos got the seeds from Bob Quinn, the pioneering organic farmer from Montana, and as they examine the maturing stalks and berries on an early-June day, they remember when the crop was planted.
“We had a meeting here with the regional Foodshed Alliance on the day of the earthquake,” Deb recalls about the rare temblor this year that shook the area on April 5. “We all came outside, and after it was over, we planted the seeds.”
The meeting was focused on establishing a local grain hub that would serve the whole community of farmers in the area.
“There is no certified organic grain processor around here, which makes it hard for organic farmers to get the best prices for their products,” Jason says. “It takes hundreds of thousands of dollars to get the equipment and infrastructure for processing and storage. We’re working with other farmers and other stakeholders to build support for a local organic grain processor and talking about how to raise the funds.”
Establishing a processing facility is likely to have a lasting impact on the land, both on the DeSalvos’ farm and throughout this area of New Jersey. “By alleviating pinch points in the processing end, the DeSalvos are helping to revitalize their local ‘grain shed’ and redesign the food system from the ground up,” Rodale Institute’s Hilaire emphasizes.
Getting to know their farming neighbors has been valuable and enlightening to the couple. “It’s been great to find a whole community that we can share our challenges and complain about the weather with,” Deb says. “It’s also been encouraging to realize that many farmers and landowners in this area are in favor of conservation practices, but they don’t know what they need to do or how to go about doing it. We’re here showing how regenerative organic farming can work for them.”