Stacy Family Farm Grows With NCIF
The farm provides a variety of fresh local food to farmers’ markets, grocery stores and restaurants in the surrounding communities. Together with their three children, the Stacys grow sweet corn, popcorn, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, pumpkins, cucumbers and their renowned pick-your-own strawberries. Truck crops (such as corn, tomatoes, cantaloupe, peppers, and squash) were the main source of income for the farm for decades. Then, in the 1990s, Bill Stacy (known as Farmer Stacy) and his wife Janet learned to grow strawberries using a method that was not common in Ohio – plasticulture. After visiting farms and talking with experts in Virginia and North Carolina, Bill and Janet, along with their children Amanda, Todd and Tyler, made their first strawberry sales in 1995 from a single acre of plants. In 2000, the Stacy Family Farm received a Century Farm Award from the State of Ohio, and the farm was selected as a showcase farm at the Strawberry Expo in 2007.
For years, Bill and Janet wanted to increase their production and saw an opportunity to do so when the nearby Marietta State Nursery went up for sale. All they needed was financing to help them purchase the 95 acres of land.
Protecting the Land from Development, Creating New Jobs
The acreage that Farmer Stacy acquired with our help is protected from non-farm development under a land preservation agreement, and will be converted to an irrigated specialty crop production farm. Farmer Stacy’s oldest son, William, will take over the management and development of the new farmland under his parents’ supervision and will plant several acres of blueberry bushes to expand the variety of pick-your-own produce offered at the Stacy Family farm.The farm’s new production capacity is expected to create six full-time, two part-time and 30 new seasonal jobs in the first two years of operations.