Meet Ben Godfrey
USA Regenerative Ag Director
A small-town Texas boy, Ben Godfrey spent his youth in Crowley, Texas where he enjoyed riding cutting horses and 4-H activities such as competitive trap and skeet shooting and horse judging.
Graduating from Texas A&M with a bachelor of science in Agricultural Development/Leadership, he soon began forging his own path. Exploring new challenges and following his passions, Ben is an entrepreneur at heart. He has developed several successful businesses that range from commercial construction, small farm equipment sales, to real estate investment, and a certified organic and aquaponic farm - Sand Creek Farm.
Sand Creek Farm, was born in 2005 near Cameron, Texas. The farm offered Ben and Alysha Godfrey the opportunity to work side by side while raising and homeschooling their six girls. They developed the farm into a raw milk dairy and certified organic vegetable farm that incorporated many unique features.
“For farms to truly be sustainable, we need to not only care for the land and the soil, we need to focus on economic sustainability.” To become sustainable in every sense of the word, the Godfrey’s diversified the farm. “Everything complimented our goals of producing nutritious healthy food for our family and others while we invested in the land and provided the girls with experiences and life lessons that will serve them well, no matter the path they choose.”
Pastured poultry and eggs, pastured pork, grass-fed beef, grass-fed raw milk from Jersey cows, yogurt, and cheese were sold along with the vegetables. True horse power provided the muscle for the farm.
While the use of horses is thought to be old-fashioned, the Godfrey’s enjoyed the partnership that came with working alongside the horses. Ben spent some time with Ohio Amish farmers to explore their farming traditions and gain some of the generational wisdom they possess. “The equipment needed to farm with horses is simple to maintain and durable, there were no big machinery payments or fuel bills. The horses added to the overall sustainability of the farm.”
The livestock were rotationally grazed utilizing electric fences and cover crops. Planted annuals ensured high-quality forage during summer and winter to fatten the animals. “We learned quickly that maintaining livestock on pasture is much different compared to finishing young animals on forage. To produce grass-fed beef and grass-fed dairy our native forages needed supplementing with options that would raise the nutritional value while also being heat and drought tolerant.”
In addition to the planted potatoes, melons, broccoli, kale, and other vegetables, greenhouses were custom-made for aquaponics. Unlike hydroponics that uses chemical inputs to raise plants, aquaponics uses the nutrients the fish put into the water to fertilize plants. “Raising tilapia in the greenhouses, feeding the fish who in turn fed the plants was an interesting venture especially for raising greens, but I discovered I prefer raising most vegetables in the soil,” says Ben.
It’s no surprise the Godfrey’s discovered an alternative path to marketing their homegrown Sand Creek Farm products. “While we used farmers markets and existing farm produce websites like Local Harvest and Eat Wild, to establish our customer base, we also explored other avenues.”
“The fact that our farming methods were unique enabled us to draw customers from the larger cities. We sold products to people that live on concrete and built a marketing plan around these folks offering educational and entertaining farm tours. Agritainment became our most profitable product at Sand Creek Farm. On our farm tours, the attendees gathered eggs, milked cows, went on horse-drawn hayrides, and picked vegetables…., we taught them about our farming philosophy and gave them a day to enjoy the farm as a family.”
By thinking outside the box and taking a chance on providing something different a revenue stream was created. “We turned these tours into an opportunity for us, charging for the tour and selling our products while providing families a unique entertaining and educational experience.”
While the farm was centrally located between major cities, it was quite a drive for individual families to make regular trips to the farm. “We established buying groups within neighborhoods. This enabled prepaid orders to be picked up by one customer then distributed back to their community. These buying groups gained raw milk and dairy products and fresh organic produce while they alternated transport responsibilities.”
With the experiences Ben obtained from his farming ventures, he began consulting other farmers from all over the world on product development, marketing, aquaponics production, and small farm mechanization to lower labor costs and increase profitability. “It was very rewarding to help farmers avoid some of the mistakes I had made and to watch them build on my experiences.”
The Godfrey’s sold their farm in 2019. While they all loved the farm and working the land, they also wanted to enjoy opportunities that farm life didn’t allow. “Taking advantage of homeschooling the girls, we wanted the freedom to enjoy extensive travel and share experiences as a family that was difficult when running the farm.”
The Godfrey’s moved to Tennessee to enjoy the four seasons and the mountains. Setting up their small homestead is in the plan, but their main focus is traveling the world with the girls to see as much as they can before they are married and gone. So for now, horses for the girls and a barn cat are the only animal inhabitants on their place.
“I joined USA Regenerative Agriculture Alliance and became a director because I am passionate about caring for the land and sharing my experiences to assist others. I want to help others in the ag community think outside the box and become truly sustainable – taking care of the land and their families. Traditional farming is not working for many families. Between land payments, equipment, chemicals, and the cost of raising a family, farmers are not making a living wage and the land is suffering. Depleting the land will only increase these challenges for future generations. We need a new approach that enables the land to provide for the families that are investing in it – Regenerative Ag has that Power.”
