Local farm continues to grow in business

By Jamie Keyes

What was once a small family farm in Benson, Utah, Johnson Family Farms now produces fruits and vegetables for local businesses across Cache Valley. Brothers Kelby and Braydon Johnson took over operation of the farm in 2006. They never thought they would expand to where they are now.

“My brother and I realized we need to go in a different direction then just growing alfalfa,” Kelby Johnson said. “So we have been dabbling in produce and it just keeps growing and keeps getting bigger and bigger.”

The brothers began selling their produce at farmers markets and to roadside stands and then, in 2010, they began selling to Utah State University Dining Services. Now, they help supply Lee’s Marketplace, Caffé Ibis, Smith’s Marketplace and Sunshine Terrace.

This summer, the brothers opened up their first roadside stand. The farm now produces 62 different products ranging from apples to eggplants.

“We started with 1/10 of an acre and now we have 10 acres,” Kelby Johnson said. “We grow anything you can grow in Cache Valley, and a few things you probably shouldn’t be able to grow but we figured out how to do it.”

The brothers have built most of the systems and machines they use on the farm. They constructed an automated greenhouse where temperatures can be controlled to grow vegetables such as lettuce and spinach. It is a full time job for the brothers to maintain and grow the produce. 

“We are not certified organic, but what we really try to do use is common sense, we don’t spray pesticides if we don’t need to,” Kelby Johnson said. “If we really have a problem that we need to control, we use a specific application or let nature take its course.”

After the crop has been harvested and taken to the farmers market, the extra produce is donated to the local food bank.

The Johnson’s realize that most consumers desire organically grown foods and always keep that in mind when dealing with chemical sprays.

“Last year, we did the math and 96 percent of our crops weren’t sprayed with anything because they just didn’t need to, it doesn’t make any sense to spray something that doesn’t need it,” Kelby Johnson said. “It’s not what the consumer wants and why put things out there that don’t need to be out there.”

The Johnson’s farm land has been in the family for four generations. For Kelby, who is 27, and Braydon, 22, farming and gardening has not been a career choice, but a way of life.    

“As long as I can remember I have wanted to farm,” Braydon Johnson said. “It started really young for both us, and we just haven’t slowed down at all.”

Kelby Johnson graduated from USU with a degree in agronomy and Braydon is now working toward the same degree with a minor in agriculture business.

The brothers are always looking for new methods to improve their produce. During the winter months they spend their time getting certified in different farming skills, ordering seed, and making deliveries three times a week to clients.

“Great-grandpa had a great big garden, grandpa had a great big garden, Dad has a big garden and now ours is just a really big garden,” Kelby Johnson said. “We are doing what we have done for our family for the last 100 years, but now for everybody else.”