Our Farming Philosophy

Instead of a romantic story of generations farming the same piece of land, Guided Rock Farms is a story of a seemingly impossible, very challenging start from scratch, of which we are very proud. Benton and Christy are one and two generations removed from farming, respectively; Benton had exposure to agriculture through his grandparents, and he worked on a few farms between geology jobs, and so they were not completely clueless in their endeavor.​

 

For Benton, the shift to agriculture started shortly after graduating from college and was a culmination of a few things. Benton’s first job out of college was as an exploration geologist. Although it was probably the most exciting job he could imagine, flying a helicopter to different locations to map, and collected rock and sediment at the toes of receding glaciers in the remote Alaskan wilderness, it also opened his eyes to how resource intensive we as a civilization are, and to the great lengths we go to extract earth’s resources to support our economic model, and our consumptive way of life.​

 

Then, to add a twist to that revelation, Benton read The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Not only did this book help Benton make the connection between resource extraction and hi-input agriculture, it showed him that there was an alternative, healing version of food production. The Omnivore’s Dilemma was also a gateway to other literature, first Joel Salatin, then Wendell Berry, Allan Savory, Gabe Brown, and so on.​

 

In winter and spring 2012, Benton worked on his uncle’s farm in Gordon, NE between geology jobs. This experience was also eye-opening. Mostly, the work was fulfilling – growing food for others to eat; what could be more important – but also, it was mentally challenging, solving new problems every day, and it was generally fun. Sure, all of that positive was combined with it being hard, exhausting at times, and frustrating (equipment breakdowns, cows through fences, etc.). This experience allowed Benton to see how a conventional, no-till operation is managed, but it also gave him opportunities to question how it could be done differently.

 

The result of these experiences caused a conviction to grow in Benton, where he felt, based on what he understood about environmental processes from his degree, and experiences in agricultural production, that perhaps farming in an environmentally healing way is the best thing he could do to love his neighbor as himself. He kept the conviction to himself – he had, after all, a valuable degree, and he was a geologist, not a farmer, and a subtle cultural pressure to use his degree stifled any agricultural interests.​

 

It was not until late summer, 2012, when walking down the slopes of Mount Huron with his oldest brother Bret, when Bret, looking down at the Wet Mountain Valley below remarked, “wouldn’t it be great to ranch in a place like this.” That created an opportunity for Benton to finally verbalize his conviction to farm…and so the seed was planted.