Collaborative Soil Research with Skidmore College, TSIP, and Ocean Hour Farm

At Caney Fork Farms, we believe that collaboration is key to advancing regenerative agriculture and protecting the ecosystems we rely on. This spring, our Research & Outreach team hit the road to deepen our partnerships and plan for a summer season filled with hands-on soil health research and student engagement.

Asher Wright, our Farm Director, and Emily Stutzman, our Head of Research & Outreach, recently traveled to Saratoga Springs, New York to visit Skidmore College. Skidmore faculty member Kris Covey hosted. They were joined by Sara Wuerstle from Ocean Hour Farm, a regenerative farm in Newport, Rhode Island, with a unique mission to improve land health and ocean ecosystems through diversified farming practices.

Together, they joined students in Dr. Kris Covey’s Regenerative Systems course, an environmental science class covering a variety of regenerative systems, including building design and construction, healthy and regenerative forests,  sustainable food systems and climate resilience. Each year, two Skidmore students spend the summer in an internship with Caney Fork Farms and Ocean Hour Farm. This class visit was a chance to connect with future interns and share real-world examples of regenerative farming. 

While on campus, the team also met with researchers in Kris Covey’s lab, which houses The Soil Inventory Project (TSIP), a nonprofit initiative that supports farmers by conducting standardized soil carbon sampling and analysis. TSIP helps farms like ours measure and understand the carbon storage potential of healthy, living soil, a critical piece of the climate solution puzzle.

Skidmore and TSIP researchers Kris Covey, Kelsey Jensen, and Morgan McClure hosted the meeting, where we mapped out the summer’s soil data collection strategy with this year’s interns. The collaboration will build on data collected in previous years and continue to inform our regenerative land management decisions at Caney Fork Farms.

Our team also had the opportunity to spend time with Sara Wuerstle, farm director at Ocean Hour Farm, one of TSIP’s partner farms. Ocean Hour is a relatively new operation that transitioned from a sheep genetics farm to a diversified regenerative system. They now manage multiple microclimates, integrate livestock and perennial crops, and even sample both their soils and seagrasses to track how farming practices impact ocean health. Their work exemplifies the link between land and sea, reminding us that improving soil health can ripple out far beyond the farm gate.

We were grateful to have Sara from Ocean Hour join us on three other farm visits, to Breadtree Farms, Glynwood Farm and Stone Barns where we met with farmers and researchers, exchanged knowledge, compared field methods, and strengthened the collective effort toward a more climate-resilient food system.

Looking Ahead: Welcoming Our Interns

This visit was not only about data and soil - it was about people. We are excited to welcome a new group of Skidmore College interns back to Caney Fork Farms next month. Their passion, curiosity, and dedication continue to inspire our team and advance our shared goals in regenerative agriculture.

Stay tuned as we introduce this year’s interns and highlight the important work they will be doing on our farm this summer. Together, we’re building a more informed and interconnected farming future.