**An Illinois farmer who values harmony with nature and community has
won a national award, The Patrick Madden Award for Sustainable
Agriculture in the north central region. Henry Brockman operates an*
*intensive, multi-generational, highly-diverse and sustainable vegetable
production in the Mackinaw River Valley of Woodford County, IL.

This $1,000 award for farmers and ranchers who raise food or fiber in
ways that are profitable, good for families and communities, and
beneficial to the environment is presented by the USDA’s North Central
Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE) program.

SARE – funded and administered by USDA’s Cooperative State Research,
Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) – advances farming systems
that are profitable, environmentally sound and good for communities. The
North Central Region includes: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South
Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Brockman specializes in biodiversity planting more than 600 varieties of
more than 100 distinct vegetable types on his Illinois farm, Henry’s
Farm. 550 different items were in Henry’s Farm’s 2007 seed order. His
operation provides produce to families in the Bloomington-Peoria area
with a CSA, and to families in the Chicago area with a stand at the
Evanston Farmers Market.

The organic certification process is something that Brockman values,
especially for beginning farmers. “I always encourage other farmers to
become certified until they can create a market for themselves like I
did. I see certification as a way to substantiate what you’re saying
about your products,” said Brockman.

“I was certified for the first 7 years, until 2000, with Organic Crop
Improvement Association. When the USDA took over the certification
process, it became a little confusing, and I dropped my certification,”
explained Brockman. “After I dropped out, I didn’t get back in to
certification because by that point I was already established in the in
my market as an organic farmer, and I was too busy to do all the
paperwork. For me, it wasn’t that I didn’t agree with the USDA’s organic
standards. It’s still on my to-do list to become certified again.”

Henry’s Farm is a busy and interactive place. Three generations of
family can be found working at Henry’s Farm – from Henry’s parents, to
his wife and their three children, to assorted brothers and sisters and
cousins and nieces and nephews. This is in addition to farm hands,
apprentices, and interns. Brockman’s parents, Herman and Marlene
Brockman, bought some land in the 1960s and raised their 6 children
there, and that land what was to become part of “Henry's Farm" is today.

“I grew up on a small farm. My parents had about 50 acres, and while my
father wasn’t a ‘farmer,’ we raised all of our own organic produce and
meats. In my family, it’s a given that you help each other out with the
garden and the animals,” said Brockman.

Brockman’s children, ages 13, 14, and 17 are involved on the farm today,
just as Brockman was when he was younger. “I think it’s important for
kids to be involved in what their parents are doing – it’s good for them
physically, and teaches them about responsibility. It gives them an
advantage out in the world; it makes it easier for them to adapt to new
situations and accept responsibility.”

In Brockman’s 2006 printed piece, /Organic Matters/, Brockman talks
about the role of biodiversity in sustainable agriculture: “The goal of
my way of farming is not only to enhance the lives of the crops and
those who eat them, but to enhance all life, from the lives of the
insects, worms, and arthropods of the vegetable field to the lives of
the wildlife and domesticated life (that includes us) who inhabit the
environment around the field. And on a grander scale . . . [to] enhance
the very life of the planet by protecting a piece of it and by not
polluting the planet’s water and air.”

/Organic Matters/ has been included the curriculum at Illinois Wesleyan
University and at Prescott University in Prescott, AZ, and Bon Appétit
Management Co. purchased 1,500 copies for educational purposes.

Brockman’s sister, Terra Brockman, who works at Henry’s Farm, had this
to say about her brother: “Henry lives each day at the intersection of
the natural and the human environment, and takes very seriously his duty
to the complex natural environment and to the next generation. He works
each day to conserve and enhance things of immeasurable value:
biodiversity, wildlife habitat, water quality, agricultural land, family
farms, rural communities, local economies, local food sources, rare
plant varieties, and of course our soil, air, water, and open space.”

Brockman was surprised to hear that he had won the Madden Award, and was
modest about the honor. “There are so many good farmers making a large
impact out there,” said Brockman. “I certainly wasn’t expecting this at
all. The truth of the matter is that any success I've had in farming and
life is due just as much to the help of my extended family as it is to
my own efforts.”

The $1,000 award will be presented at the final plenary of SARE's 20th
Anniversary New American Farm conference, to be held March 25-27, 2008
in Kansas City, MO (see www.sare.org for more conference details). Three
other Madden winners, each from SARE's remaining regions -- Southern,
Western and Northeast -- will also be receiving awards at the conference.