In part one of a three part series on farming in the Pocono Mountains, Chris Barrett sits down with Zach Jones at Robinson Family Farm near Waymart. Jones' family has been farming the land for generations and has seen major changes in the way farmers have to adapt to economic pressures and consumer demands.

Jones and his farm are part of the Agrolegacy of the Northern Poconos which is part of an initiative through Wayne Tomorrow. Watch for future segments at farms in Wayne County on Pocono Mountains Magazine in March and April.

Learn more about Robinson Family Farm here.

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Chris Barrett

How has farming changed for you and your family?

Zach Jones

So this used to be a dairy farm, and as the industry, dairy industry has gone through quite a spiral, it was no longer a dairy farm.

They closed out and switched to beef cows.

Chris Barrett

Does it concern you that families are getting out of farming? 

And have you been seeing that a lot lately over the last 20 years?

Zach Jones

Yes, very concerning. Just as a local food supply, it takes a village to raise a child, but it also takes a lot of farms to raise a village, and it takes a lot of food to help people. 

And the more that you can have local, better access to quality fresh stuff really matters.

Chris Barrett

So we're here with Zach Jones. You're watching Pocono Perspectives. 

We're at one of the farms in Wayne County. 

We're talking about farming. 

There'll be a series of these. We're talking to families who have been farming for decades. 

So, Zach, I really want to thank you for being here with us. 

I've really been looking forward to this. 

A lot of stuff going on now in the world with inflation, with supply chain issues that have happened over the last two years. 

So one of the things I wanted to ask you is at this point in time, 

In August of 2022, we're hearing a lot about droughts in the Midwest and the west. 

Are we experiencing that here in the east?

And how do you feel about what's happening in the west with water? 

And how will that affect agriculture?

Zach Jones

Water is the number one thing that life needs to survive, and without it, there is no life. So it is extremely concerning. 

I guess in a drought, we are dry, very dry. We haven't had rain. 

Yesterday was the first rain we had in about three weeks. 

So a lot of our stuff has not really been able to put fruit out. 

It takes a lot of water to do that. So when you think of food and you think of a tomato per se, that's like 80% water. 

So without that water, it's not going to grow.

Chris Barrett

So you referenced fruit. Can you get into that a little bit more, just everybody's watching? You might not know what that means.

Zach Jones

Okay, so fruit would just mean like, the actual thing that you eat. 

So when I say fruits, it could be grains on a stock of corn and ear corn. 

Could be the grain, it could be wheat, even the fruiting body. 

That would be the reproductive aspect of that plant.

Chris Barrett

So, Zach, tell us about what you're farming here. 

What are you traditionally growing here?

Zach Jones

So, right now we are growing diverse vegetables, so all different kinds of vegetables. And we also have beef, cows.

Chris Barrett

What types of vegetables?

Zach Jones

We have tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, we have eggplants, all kinds of stuff that you would see normally in a grocery store or a farmers market.

Chris Barrett

So where are they sold?

Zach Jones

So we sell one of our local farmers markets in Newfoundland. 

We also sell here on the farm and sell some through Facebook too.

Chris Barrett

The local community buys a lot of produce from you guys at the farmers markets and come here to do that as well.

Zach Jones

Yeah.

Chris Barrett

So what was it when you transitioned from a dairy farm to where you're at right now? When did that happen?

Zach Jones

That actually happened in 1983. 

My great grandfather and his brother retired. 

They decided that at that point they were going to live life and not work as much anymore. So in 1983, they had the auction right here on the farm and sold all the milk cows.

Chris Barrett

Zach, one thing that's really fascinated me when we first talked was that this farm has been in your family for generations. 

So can you walk us through that, how that all started from the year that you think it started into where we are right now?

Zach Jones

Sure. Yeah. So we think somewhere around the early 1900s, we believe in 1920 the house that my parents owned was built and they had been farming there at that time. 

So I guess the most concrete answer I could give is 1919.

Chris Barrett

So going back to 1919, what did the farm look like that what did your great grandfather do there on the farm?

Zach Jones

So my great great grandfather, great great grandfather

Chris Barrett

What was his name? 

Zach Jones

Charles. Charles Robinson. And he actually had beef cows back in the early 1900s. 

This was a beef farm and he was a logger. 

He owned the mountain and logged that.

Chris Barrett

The mountain that's on the farm here.

Close to the farm

Zach Jones

right next door. Actually, if you look at it, you'll see it's a state game lands now, but he owned 1500 acres and he logged that and he sold timber.

Chris Barrett

Oh, wow. So he did that in addition to working on the farm?

Zach Jones

Oh, yeah.

Zach Jones

Oh, it was just hay. And I think they might have done some small grains back then just to feed the cows.

Chris Barrett

Did they sustain themselves from the farm? 

Totally. So did they plant everything they ate and can it  do all those kinds of things?

Zach Jones

Oh, yeah. 

My great great grandmother was quite a lady. 

She fed a house full of 14 people on an old wood cook stove. 

Yeah, she made everything.

Chris Barrett

So then how did it transition from your great great grandfather to kind of where we're we're at right now, where you are.

Zach Jones

Okay. So my great great grandfather gave the farm to my great grandfather when he was probably in his twenties and realized 

that it could only be sustained by one family. So my great great grandfather passed it on to his son and actually two of his sons.

Chris Barrett

So how many acres was it then and is it now? Is it still the same size?

Zach Jones

It is the same size as it was in the 80s. So it's 200 acres.

Chris Barrett

So tell me about your uncle.

Zach Jones

So my uncle actually bought the farm when my great grandfather passed away, but he worked with my great grandfather milk and cows.

Chris Barrett

How did he transition back to you and your parents and then you then?

Zach Jones

So my great grandfather leased the farm out to local farmers, and then my uncle decided he wanted to get into farming.

And in 2003, my great grandfather passed away. And when he passed away, my uncle and my aunt bought the farm.

Chris Barrett

So how did he decide that he wanted to get back into farming? 

Was it just something he felt was in his blood and he missed?

Zach Jones

You step into manure and it sticks to your boots for the rest of your life. You can't get it off.

Chris Barrett

Did he try anything else? Did he try anything else?

Zach Jones

But he has horses and he had horses, and so he actually needed to do hay. 

So this is the perfect spot to do it. So he decided to start doing hay. 

They planted corn, oats, different kind of clover, and one thing led to another, and now we have vegetables.

Chris Barrett

I would assume that equipment has really changed dramatically how farms are run. Correct?

Zach Jones

In some aspects, yes. 

There's been updates in equipment, and then sometimes you go back to some original concepts.

Chris Barrett

What's an original concept versus doing something with equipment?

Zach Jones

Good example. Is that a hay baler? So a small square baler, the knotting system that was designed in that to tie these knots 

on these square bales was designed in the early 1900s. That has not changed. The baler that we run is from the 60s. It's quite old, but it's good and it works.

Chris Barrett

So I've been told that farmers could fix or maintain anything, is that right?

Zach Jones

Oh, yeah.

Chris Barrett

So you fix everything that breaks down. It doesn't go anywhere else?

Zach Jones

We do as much as we possibly can. Yeah.

Chris Barrett

Some farmers have additional occupations to farming, right? 

Zach?

Zach Jones

Oh yeah.

Chris Barrett

What usually are they? And what do you do?

Zach Jones

I work for the Conservation District. I work for Wayne County. 

I'm the nutrient management specialist. So I actually work with other farmers and getting in compliance with Department of Environmental Protection regarding clean streams and erosion, stuff like that.

Chris Barrett

So does that have to do with how much fertilizers used or nutrients for soil? Is that right?

Zach Jones

Yeah. So different fertilizers, manure, especially. 

We want to make sure that our water stays clean in the Pocono Mountains. We're extremely lucky to have one of the cleanest rivers in the world of Delaware, and it is exceptional value and high quality, so we wanted to keep it that way.

Chris Barrett

That's awesome to know you're helping to keep that clean.

I did want to ask this, though. How much is farming, science of nutrients and all those types of things? I'm probably not asking the question the right way, but I think you kind of know what I mean.

Zach Jones

I do.

Chris Barrett

How do you do that? How do you go about that?

Zach Jones

So I listen to a lot of information. I'm constantly learning, and the science behind it is insane. It's chemistry and biology, but without biology, there's no chemistry. So in order to grow something really good, we have to focus on what's already living and making it that much better, especially within the soil. 

All the micro and macro invertebrates that live there, the fungi, the bacteria, stuff like that, that's ultimately what makes a tomato taste better. Really?

Chris Barrett

So what's your educational background?

Zach Jones

So I went to college, but I went to college for recreational services management. I never really thought about doing anything farming until I graduated college, actually.

Chris Barrett

Where did you graduate from?

Zach Jones

I went to East Stroudsburg University.

Chris Barrett

So you decided that you wanted to go in a different direction versus farming.

Zach Jones

Yeah. 

Chris Barrett

So what called you back? I think I know what you might say, 

but what made you come back?

Zach Jones

I really learned who I was when I was in college and what mattered to me, and my values always come back to this farm in my family. 

So I wanted to come back and I wanted to be a part of it, and I wanted to do my own thing and expand it.

Chris Barrett

What family lives on the farm now? Your family, right?

Zach Jones

Yes. So my mom and dad live next door to me. I live there with my kids, and then my grandma and grandpa lived next door to me. I live in the middle.

Chris Barrett

How old are your kids?

Zach Jones

He's seven months old, and then seven, nine, and 16.

Chris Barrett

Oh, wow. Do this seven, nine, and 16. How do they feel about living on a farm?

Zach Jones

They like it sometimes.

(Laughs)

They like it sometimes.but they enjoy the open space.

Chris Barrett

Do they have their chores every day?

Zach Jones

Yeah, sometimes, especially in the summertime.

Chris Barrett

So how do you think do you think that there'll be another generation here on the farm? Farm?

Zach Jones

I hope so.

I won't push it.

If that's what they want to do, then I fully support it.

But if they decide to do other things, that's acceptable as well.

I'd like to see this continue and be a farm.

Chris Barrett

So do you want to operate this for the rest of your life, right?

Zach Jones

Yeah, until I want to retire and live on a beach one of these days, maybe years from now.

Chris Barrett

So is your dad retired? 

Zach Jones

No.

Chris Barrett

So he's working a farm too. Wow.

So how many people does it take to work 200 acres?

Zach Jones

A lot.

My entire family.So we're extremely fortunate that we have my mom, my my dad, my aunts, my uncles.

It's a true family farm. Everybody here pitches in.

Chris Barrett

What were your challenges this year in 2022?

Zach Jones

So this year was exceptionally dry and it made things extremely difficult, which doesn't allow a lot of the vegetables to grow or the hay to grow as good as it could.

Chris Barrett

If we get enough precipitation from now until the end of the season, will we catch up as far as the farm here? Will you catch up?

Zach Jones

Well, annually we'll catch up. Unfortunately, what we missed, we missed.I'm sure we'll get all of it in hurricane season end of September, but yeah, we needed it in June and July.

Chris Barrett

Is that going to affect your crop yield at all?

Zach Jones

Oh, yeah.

Chris Barrett

How does it 

Zach Jones

we lost a lot of yield. A lot of tomatoes actually got what's called blossom end rot, which is actually a calcium deficiency.But there was adequate calcium.It just wasn't enough water to move the calcium into the fruit itself, so it ended up having to throw it out because it was rotten.

Chris Barrett 

Do you irrigate it all? 

Zach Jones

We do, yeah. We have underground drip tape that we irrigate with.

Chris Barrett

Oh, what is that?

Zach Jones

So that's just a plastic tube that has a small split every twelve inches, that once it hits a certain PSI, it will just have a little drop of water that comes out. 

so that I don't have to waste any water I can direct right to the root of that plant.

Chris Barrett

Of the 200 acres, how much is actually that 200 devoted to growing completely.

Zach Jones

To completely.So there's about 75 acres in fields, and we probably do two to two and a half acres of vegetables. So roughly 70 acres of hay.

Chris Barrett

and irrigation.How much water does it take to irrigate that?

Zach Jones

A good example is a tomato plant needs about a gallon a week or more, depending on how dry it is and how the soil, if it's holding water or not.

Chris Barrett

So in a normal year of precipitation, how much of a crop would you yield and how much do you think you'll yield this year because of the lack of water?

Zach Jones

So a good example is ice drive for £20 of tomatoes per plant.And this year I'll be lucky if I get like twelve.

Chris Barrett

It's substantial. It's almost half.

Zach Jones

And I've been irrigating it.I couldn't keep up with it.

Chris Barrett

before we close. And this has been really great.Zach, I appreciate you taking the time and sharing about your family, but I think what we want people to know is the devotion it takes to farm.

So I wanted you to talk a little bit about that, the sacrifices that your family over the generations have given us so that we can eat. talk to us a little bit about that.

Zach Jones

A lot of missed baseball games.I missed a lot of stuff. I'm working.I work all day long, every day. Drink our coffee as quick as you can, and then you immediately head out, start irrigating, turn the water on for things in the greenhouse and the high tunneling outside and just checking on things. 

And then you have to get dressed quick, go to work. And once you get home from work,then you got to start all over. Take care of the animals, cows, and make sure whatever field work needs to get done,you do it when the sun is shining.And then on weekends, I work from sunup to sun down, just about.

Chris Barrett

So no matter what, the cows have to be taken care of every day.

Zach Jones

Every day.

Chris Barrett

Any other animals here?

Zach Jones

There's a couple of goats, some turkeys, but they're inside, which is nice. And they're pretty easy to take care of.

Chris Barrett

because you always think about a farm having animals everywhere.

Zach Jones

It's like, it's all like old McDonald here sometimes.

Chris Barrett

But, you know, getting back to the sacrifice before we close, talk to me about what farming has meant to your family, because you talked about values, which I think is really important. But what has farming meant to your family? And has the sacrifice been worth it?

Zach Jones

Yes, it's hard. There's fights, there's arguments, there's happy times. Sometimes you're happy you get to work with your family and then sometimes it's difficult to work with your family. But I feel fortunate to spend that much time with my family. We do everything together. We work, we hang out, we eat, we like to have supper together a lot, which is one of the things that I always loved as a kid. And I get to continue that tradition now.

Chris Barrett

Well, that's really what life is all about, you know, family and country and all the things you've done here. And you've really helped us, feeding us all these decades. In a century so it's been over 100 years, and we really, really thank you for that. Zach. And this has been Pocono perspectives. We're we're coming from Wayne County. This is Zach Jones. He talked to us about a farm that has been in his family for over 100 years, and we've really enjoyed it.Zack, thank you so much. 

Zach Jones

Thank you.

Chris Barrett

And as always, thank you for watching PTN, the Pocono Television Network