Story and photos compiled by Melissa Blair, NRCS Public Affairs Specialist, Corpus Christi, Texas

Situated in Brenham, Texas, grassy fields, colorful crops, and grazing livestock coincide to make Whitehurst Farm a welcoming place. It’s here that Michael and Leslie Marchand began their farming journey nearly a decade ago.

“One of the main reasons we started the farm was to grow and raise food for our family,” said Leslie.

They started with chickens and have diversified their offerings. These days, the Marchands grow, raise, and make pasture-raised meat and eggs, produce, herbs, cold-pressed juice, artisan foods, and farm merchandise.  

“I credit a shift to more produce to financially stabilizing our farm business,” Michael said of the conservation practices that have helped to extend their growing season. “Weekly, over 2,000 people from the Brenham area eat a portion of their diet from produce grown organically on our farm.” 

The Marchands credit their success to hard work, support from restaurants and businesses, and assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to help with conservation planning so they could improve their natural resources and their agricultural operation. 

From Desktop to Dirt

Michael had successfully run a document services business for 11 years, but craved change, longing for a life beyond office walls.

“I found myself waking up thinking, ‘What do I do today?’" Michael recalls. Raised in a farming family, Michael named the farm after his grandfather, Emmet Whitehurst, who cherished the outdoors and the self-sufficient.

With Leslie's support, the Marchands transitioned from suburban life to living on Whitehurst Farm. “Michael has the right combination of business experience, vision, passion, work ethic, and risk tolerance to make a farm business work,” Leslie said. 

Hobby Gone Wild to Dream Come True

Before the big move, Michael explained that something he called ‘the planting bug’ took hold when they were still living near Houston. Slowly but steadily, their manicured landscape went from flower beds to potted tomatoes. Produce sprouted where perfectly trimmed shrubs had stood. Raised beds replaced a trampoline in the backyard. 

The Marchands faced challenges on properties in Cypress and the area along the Brazos River due to floods, but they didn’t give up. In 2017, Michael was visiting a friend’s farm in Washington County when he noticed a For Sale sign down the road. He and Leslie were drawn to the property, knowing it needed work. Soon, they were in business and eventually moved their family to the farm in 2020.

"You don't think about how much time you spend sitting in traffic. You live out here, you don’t have traffic lights," said Michael. When he drives into Houston these days, he already looks forward to heading home. "You get out here and feel this breeze. The air is clean."

A Practice-Focused Drive 

Initially, they had a simple business mindset—raise a product and sell it for profit. 

“We began to raise meat chickens, pastured eggs, turkey, and pigs,” said Michael. Produce came along a little later, with juice following in 2018.

With Michael’s vision and NRCS’s support, Whitehurst Farm began a path of regenerative agriculture, with a focus on large distribution channels. The transition was more than a business move; it was a lifestyle shift towards holistic farming practices. Beyond eating healthier food themselves, they wanted to offer the same to their community.

“The process began a long journey of learning about hardships of farmers,” said Michael. He expressed his concern for the lack of access to clean food in underserved areas and hardships in distributing larger volumes of food to many people. “We increased production, finding the customer base and organizations that could help get it to people who needed and would appreciate regenerative healthy foods.”

Implementing NRCS conservation practices, they returned to their roots, raising their animals and plants the way that they’d learned from their grandparents. Michael explained that the prior landowners had used the land to run cattle, farm cotton, and cut hay. The hay was seeded yearly but no fertilizer had been applied.

"Ninety-five percent of everything we do, we start from seed," said Michael, who engineered a refrigerator to serve as a seed germination chamber to provide a microclimate. 

They grow warm season plants such as cucumbers, tomatoes, cantaloupe, and peppers, as well as cool season plants like eggplant, lettuce, basil, squash, zucchini, chard, and kale. They’re even able to grow more unique crops such as fennel, ginger, and turmeric. 

Michael credits NRCS District Conservationist Ben Garcia with the idea of using high tunnels to grow produce earlier and longer. After trying their first high tunnel through the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) program, the Marchands began to add more. “That took me from almost nothing to where I am now,” said Michael.

With NRCS’s help in 2020, they installed about 900 feet of fence to divide a pasture in the back end of their property for grazing purposes. Rotational grazing is improving his soil health, controlling weeds, and enhancing the quality of produce and livestock.

“Younger farmers who are more likely to try new methods, have much more limited resources, specifically land and capital. This requires alternative ways of running a small farm business,” said Michael.

Whitehurst Farm’s livestock, including Texas longhorns, meat chickens, pigs, and turkey, are all raised with organic practices. The cattle are grass-fed and finished, something Michael says differentiates their practice from others. 

“In simple terms, we pre-plan use of spaces over time and adjust the scale of growing crops, rotating poultry and beef, and other enterprises so conservation of the land becomes timed and easy to maintain. Both plants and animals benefit from extraordinarily healthy thriving soil and the ecosystems existing in the soil,” said Michael.

Collaborative Regenerative Projects and Practices

Garcia has enjoyed sharing over 20-years of conservation experience with the Marchands. He admires Michael for his rapid implementation of learned practices.

"What he's doing here with all of this, it's not typical," Garcia stated.   Their partnership emphasizes the importance of collaboration in sustainable farming, especially on an operation that has changed so much in such a short time.
 

NRCS-supported projects, including water management and infrastructure development, have been integral to Whitehurst Farm’s growth and resilience. 

Community Sourcing

Whitehurst Farm sources 90 percent of its produce and meats locally. They support other farms and partner with local chefs to create value-added products like bone broth, pesto, and pickles.

“Before starting the farm, we bought organic produce and pastured meats as often as possible,” said Leslie. “Now, we primarily eat food that we grow, raise, and prepare.”

The personal and business relationships the Marchands have made not only promote sustainable agriculture but strengthen the local food system, benefiting their community.

“Each time a customer shares their story with us, we’re reminded of our mission and inspired to continue moving forward,” says Leslie.

Future Practices and Plans

While their lifestyle has been far from easy, it’s been a decision they do not regret.
 
“I don't think we could’ve imagined the challenges we’ve faced along the way, yet we’ve made it to the other side each,” said Leslie. “We’ve paused many times to ask ourselves if the effort and work is worth it. Our answer has been ‘yes’ every single time.”

Like Michael, Leslie loves living on the farm, involving their kids (and now grandkids) in the planting process and eating the food they grow. 

“Working with the Marchands has been great,” says Garcia. “Michael comes already educated. He's been doing his homework. It's just been a very enjoyable experience.” 

With a desk and grey office walls far behind, Michael no longer wakes up wondering what to do. The animals, his faithful working dogs, and rows of healthy produce are a daily reminder of where he’s needed most.

For more information on Whitehurst Farms visit their website at https://whitehurstfarm.com and for more information on technical and financial assistance offered through the USDA NRCS for improving and protecting the natural resources on your land, visit www.nrcs.usda.gov/Texas.