From His Early Days at Good Time Trying Farm to Denison Farms, Tom Denison Reflects on Four Decades of Farming and His Decision to Retire
Witnessing the impacts of the Vietnam War from his home in Corvallis, Oregon, galvanized then 18-year-old Tom Denison’s thoughts about his role in the world.
“Naively, I thought becoming a farmer would prevent me from contributing to the global commerce that fueled the military industrial complex which caused us to fight wars on the other side of the world over issues that had nothing to do with us,” Tom shares.
With his conscientious objector status in hand and an invitation from Cornell to enroll in their Vegetable Crop program, Tom kicked off early adulthood in Ithaca, New York. Joined by his younger brother, the two tried their hand at homesteading on an old farm belonging to their family.
While studying plant physiology and soils in school, Tom learned about fresh markets from a local farmer that brought him on to sell sweet corn from his roadside stand. The acquisition of knowledge related to science, marketing and his hands-on homesteading experiment sparked an impatience in Tom to embark on his path. After just two years, he left Ithaca and returned to Corvallis, eager to begin building something of his own.
Young Tom Denison
Tom was joined by three friends who farmed with him on various small leased land plots and formed “Good Time Trying Farm.” The philosophy that inspired the name was that they might not make money, but they’d at least have a good time trying.
Tom recalls the name and that period of his career with a bit of nostalgia and a sense of humor.
“We weren’t really taken seriously with that name,” Tom laughs.
When the opportunity presented itself in late 1978 to purchase a few acres just north of Corvallis off of Highway 20, Tom took the deal. Then, in 1981, after all his friends had moved on, he used his moniker to christen Denison Farms, marking a new era for the young grower.
In 1990, Tom was ready to expand further and found a 20-acre plot a few miles north. In addition to an existing home and out-building that stood when the property was purchased, Tom and family, friends, and even some neighbors constructed greenhouses, coolers, a packing shed and a shop. Nineteen years later, he’d take on a neighboring 20 acres.
Elizabeth and Tom
Over three decades, Tom was joined by Elizabeth and eventually welcomed their two sons along with a crew of dedicated workers. The growth of Denison Farms was made possible by expanding into numerous farmers markets in the Willamette Valley and Portland, producing a legion of dedicated eaters. What had started with just three acres of mostly untilled soil grew into 40 acres of prime farmland.
The expansion and improvement of the farm's infrastructure and reach certainly didn’t happen overnight, nor did Tom’s process of selecting crops that not only grew well on that particular piece of land but were also enthusiastically received by farmers market shoppers.
Denison Farms started with melons. And then Tom tried to grow everything. Eventually, he found his niche with warm weather crops and perfected his peppers, tomatoes, summer squash and more. In time, he also started a robust berry program.
In 1988, Tom learned of Organically Grown Company. At the time, OGC functioned as a coop and distributed solely in the Eugene area. Tom approached the company to establish a relationship as a grower and became a board member soon after. Tom recalls how rapidly the company was expanding during the late ‘80s to respond to the needs of the emerging organic trade.
“Organic was becoming known, acceptable and possible as the pioneer growers were figuring out how to produce it, and the pioneer distributors, marketers and retailers were figuring out how to sell it. We all grew together.”
Expanding beyond farmers markets to include grocery stores allowed Denison Farms to reach beyond the Willamette Valley and into urban markets hungry for organic options from Northwest growers.
“The work that Denison Farms put into season extension really set them apart from other growers at the time,” OGC’s Tom Lively shares. “Tom recognized that in order to be competitive not only at farmers markets, but at the grocery store as well, he needed to be offering eaters something that wasn’t coming out of their home gardens at the same time.”
Denison Farm’s Extensive Network of Hoop Houses
By investing in hoop houses and being selective about varieties, Denison Farms was able to bring things like tomatoes to market weeks before other growers, and continue to do so as fall frosts started moving in.
“That was a pretty darn cool thing to witness,” Lively beams.
It was very cool and an incredible amount of work that kept Denison Farms in a perpetual state of researching, testing and perfecting their crops.
“For the first two decades at Denison Farms, there weren’t more than five consecutive years with crop sets that didn’t change drastically in response to market demands and production issues. We learned that the only constant is change,” Denison reflects.
On the decision to retire, Denison says of farming that it’s relentless and that days off are rare, but he loved his career. Farming was his dream, realized.
As is true of the occupation, once he and Elizabeth made the call that it was time for them to begin slowing down, meeting their end goal of retiring wasn’t immediate.
They started quietly sharing their interest in retiring amongst their community of growers, hoping that they’d be able to find the perfect young grower to transition the farm through word of mouth. More than their love for the business they had grown, they employed a group of workers that had been with the family for a long time. The pair felt an immense amount of responsibility to set up everyone involved for success.
When Tom was getting started in farming, the previous generation of growers felt a lot of the same pressure to find the next generation, just as many in the industry are feeling now, to find a viable succession plan. However, he concedes that this young generation of growers faces the same barriers to entry to rise to the challenge, and then some. The cost of production is higher now, workers more difficult to find, regulations are stricter and there’s more paperwork.
Finding someone with the right combination of skills, finances and endurance proved to be a tall order.
Tom and Elizabeth spent five years meeting with younger growers who were interested in buying the operation. However, the farm had grown too big for the growers they knew to take on. So, without any solid leads, they decided to list the property with a realtor, hoping that extending the offer beyond their circle might lead to a qualified buyer.
Within days of listing, Tom was contacted by Jeremy and Ashli Mueller. The Muellers, a young couple that had been farming on leased acreage, was ready to relocate their salad greens operation. However, the whole Denison Farms package was more than they needed, and they asked if they could buy half of the acreage.
Though Jeremy and Ashli were just the kind of people they had hoped to pass the land to, Tom and Elizabeth considered the offer to sell half their property and regretfully declined.
Marion, Ashli and Jeremy Mueller (Commonplace Farm) Joined by Inder and Tal Singh (Riverland Family Farms) with Tom Denison
The farm continued to sit on the market, awaiting the perfect buyer.
Tom recalls receiving another call from Jeremy expressing their continued interest in half of the farm.
“It was tomato season, a time of year we find ourselves so tired. We decided, if we can cut our work in half over the next year, that would be better than keeping this pace,” Tom remembers.
They agreed to Jeremy and Ashli’s offer, penned the deal and closed, knowing that finding a buyer for the remainder of the property would still take time.
The day after the deal closed, Tom received a call from a man by the name of Inder Singh. Inder and his family were interested in buying the whole property.