Sunset View Farm

Oneonta, NY
CheeseEggsMeatPoultry

The scientist Charles Kellogg once said, "All life depends upon the soil." Decades later, as Chris Harmon studied soil in college, he began the journey of working with many lives that depend on good soil. He's a farmer, yet he has no crops. He doesn't plow. Rather, through care of the soil, he cultivates grass. And the cattle, chicken, and other animals of Sunset View Farm depend on it.

It wasn't always this way. Prior to his farming life, Chris dove into environmental advocacy through work at The Nature Conservancy in Westchester County. Following this role, he spent four years as the Executive Director of CADE, the Center for Agricultural Development and Entrepreneurship, in the Catskills. "But it wasn't farming," he says, "I love physical work outside and I was eager to do it."

Today on 200 acres in Otsego County, NY, Chris and his family raise approximately 70 beef cattle, 200 egg layers, and 80 hogs who keep company with their five dogs and three horses. He starts his herds with heritage breeds. For example, the cattle are Galloway Belted cows from Southern Scotland. He describes them as, "black cows with a white stripe down the middle. They really do look like Oreos." They thrive on grass throughout their lives – grass-fed to grass-finished. Similarly, the hogs at Sunset View are crosses of Tamworth, Duroc, and Hampshire breeds; Chris and his team breed all their own hogs.

"The most rewarding part of what I do is living in the life cycles of the farm. Take the cattle – they need grass to survive. They eat the grass and then fertilize it with their manure. The grass responds to their presence by growing more fully. Then we mow it down and feed it to the cattle. It's a sustainable loop," he explains. Then he adds, "There are tough days, too. Today I dropped off two pigs to be slaughtered. I spent nights worrying about them when they were babies. We're present for it all on the farm."