No-Till Journey at De Jong Farm

Описание: March Small Farms Updates 2026
Topic: No-Till Journey
Speaker: Matt De Jong, Farmer of De Jong Farm

Matt De Jong, farmer of De Jong Farm in Merrillville, Lake County has been relatively quickly improving the farm’s health via different conservation practices to provide food and a growing template to their community.

Matt DeJong Farms with his wife and family on 40 acres in Merrillville,
Indiana. He grew up on the family farm in Illinois on the south side of
Chicago. He holds a BSE in Mechanical Engineering from Dordt College Sioux Center IA and attended the University of Illinois NRES online masters program from 2010-2012 with the idea to investigate developing a no till small seeded vegetables template for growers. During this time he managed the family vegetable farm in Illinois until 2015. Focused on soil health, he started composing and planting mono- and multi-species cover crops in 2003. Closure of the family farm and 5 years of working as an engineer derailed plans for a while. In 2021, he and his wife started farming at their current location in NW Indiana with an emphasis on rotational grazing cattle and pumpkin production and in 2023 again began experiments with no till which resulted in some of the pictures that follow from 2025. DeJong Farms offers seasonal pumpkins, flowers, as well as meal planning with veggies, beef, pork, lamb and eggs.
Find out more at   / dejongfarm  

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Small Farms Updates is a monthly call hosted by Indiana Small Farms Conservation with rotating topics. Program highlights are presented at the end of each meeting.