Quinlan Farms wins Essex conservation award

The Essex Soil and Crop Improvement Association (ESCIA) and Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA) recently bestowed the 2022 Conservation Farm of the Year Award to Quinlan Farms, a mixed crop, poultry and sheep business in central Essex. 

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Granted annually to a farm within Essex County that displays conservation-minded management practices, Quinlan Farms received the award for a range of soil and water quality commitments. 

Since transitioning to a no-till system in the early 1990s, Quinlan farms now includes cover crop mixtures in its rotation, has windbreak and tree planting projects and employs rotational grazing. Among other goals, the family is focused on building soil health and biodiversity, as well as reducing erosion, nutrient runoff and the need for synthetic fertilizers. 

Chad Quinlan operates Quinlan Farms with his brother Donald and their wives Kelly and April, as well as his parents Walter and Gail. Chad says the need for better water filtration was a central driver of their interest in building soil health. 

“On our Essex County clays, we really struggled with water. We didn’t like dealing with water after planting, with erosion,” he told Farmtario, describing drainage issues common to many farms in the region. 

“It’s added a lot of diversity to our farm. Now we have different goals for the farm, like limiting synthetic fertilizers, trying to upcycle some nutrients…I think overall, we’re just not seeing that hot, dry dirt you get in a tillage system. The top layer is almost a fluffy mulch.” 

The practices for which they won the 2022 conservation award have been a feature of Quinlan’s farm for more than six years. While noticeable improvements have been seen – cleaner water runoff, better moisture filtration and moisture retention – there were challenges in establishing their current system. 

“I’d say one of the biggest things was learning to treat covers like cash crop. Planting it at right depth and really trying to get good establishment,” says Quinlan. 

“For us, it’s to go into the fall with a good consistent stand that will set you up for a better spring. We’re learning to handle it better and come up with a better plan. With planting green, there’s a lot of different opinions on that. It takes a lot of time to have the data. As more people become comfortable with it, the learning curve will be a lot smaller.” 

Quinlan Farms has used funding from the Essex Region Conservation Authority’s Clean Water – Green Spaces program to implement many of the best management practices on the farm. 

Quinlan says his family continues to adapt their practices as they learn more, and based on year-to-year challenges. While direct-marketed sheep and poultry comprise their current livestock business, they are also considering incorporating cattle to graze more production acres. 

“We went with sheep because we didn’t have the infrastructure for cattle…We’d also like to add to our crop diversity. There’s lots of considerations. There used to be sunflowers, winter canola – these things may come back in the area.”