Introducing Mike Snow
Farmer and geographer
You get what you give when growing crops
We met Michael Snow for the first time when he was doing his masters at Cornell University in upstate New York. At the same time, he was growing small grains, dry beans, and popcorn. When getting to know each other, it became clear that Mike has many interests. First, he studied geography and worked part-time as a vegetable farmer. He learned about ecological dosing and wrote a thesis about compost and a local dairy farm. On his website, he summarizes his whereabouts:
Over the years I’ve taught, taught agriculture, and done agriculture. I ran the Ecosystem Farm at the Accokeek Foundation in Maryland, then a CSA and training farm, and then I started Willowsford Farm in Virginia. I designed and built that farm as one part of an integrated, 4,000-acre project – a multi-functional landscape with 2,000 houses, 1,700 acres of functioning ecosystems and recreation land, and 300 acres of food production. We raised vegetables, dry beans, laying hens, chickens and turkeys for meat, pigs for bacon, and goats for landscape management. We like to think we grew some community, also. In the Mid-Atlantic I was also on the board of Future Harvest-CASA (the Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture) and co-founded Chesapeake CRAFT, a training program for employees of regional farms.
An impressive list of experiences if you ask us!
A few years after our initial meeting Jos and I met Mike again. This time he bought a Treffler harrow to use on the land he was renting. The way Mike farms is inspiring, and it is therefore a great pleasure to introduce him to you all. When asking Mike to tell us a bit about himself and his experience with the harrow, he shared the following.
I came back to Vermont a few years ago after growing 25 acres of mixed vegetables in Virginia, and the Treffler was one of the first pieces of equipment I purchased. I don’t have land or much money or a boneyard of old machines and I tried to be thoughtful about what I wanted to start a new farm with. After doing a bunch of research, I reflected on my experience and bought a basic TS 200 (70” working width) in 2021. In 2024 I cultivated 10 acres by myself, part-time.
Some years ago, Klaas Martens spoke at the New England veggie growers meeting and I think we all started to get why many farmers have had uneven experiences with tine weeders. There are an assortment of tine types and angles which should correspond to conditions and weed pressure – in dry years, weeds might have strong, deep roots, even when they’re just a true leaf or two. In wet years they may have weak, shallow root systems, making them easy to uproot. Many of us had one kind of machine – a Lely, an Einbock, maybe a Kovar. But they each have a particular use, and here we are, diversified veggie growers using the same thing in every circumstance. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t, and dang it if that wasn’t confounding. But the Treffler is different; the two main adjustments allow it to adapt to different circumstances well.
I’ve been really happy with my machine and get the most out of it when I start using it early and often. I try to run it every week to week-and-a-half until I can’t and depending on conditions. When crops are young, I do three things, all of which make the machine less aggressive: 1) run the tines lower/closer to the ground, 2) less tension (lower number on the hydraulic unit), 3) drive more slowly. You can also lift the tines (using tine lifters or even ties) out of the row if you’re concerned about damage – I’ll admit I’m still learning when I want to use these and when I don’t need to. (Learning to tine weed effectively is a process, but the learning curve is much steeper now with the Treffler than it was before when I used a Williams Tool System and then an Einbock.)
As the crop gets bigger, I lift the machine higher, tighten the tension, and drive quickly. Tines work best when the weeds are invisible or white-root stage, so if you miss that window and have weeds with several true leaves, I think it can be good to combine two different sets of tools – I often run the tines behind my belly-mount finger weeders and beet knives. Jos has more experience and might say that’s unnecessary, so you might talk to him and see what he thinks.
This year I set aside about an hour an acre cultivating with the fingers, and a lot less without them, using my six-foot machine. I use tines in small grains, dry beans, corn, and veggies, and cover crops, especially if they’re seeded with a drill. I think keeping cover crops as clean as possible can be really important, and the Treffler is so fast and can be run with such a light tractor (10-15 hp) that you might find it worth strategically cultivating your cover crops. Jack Lazor had said using any tines might knock some of your grain yield (but I’m not sure if there was data to back that up), so I’ve been seeding grains or covers on the heavier side in case it’s true.
I like that I get a dust mulch when I use it, which is a dryland farming technique to reduce evaporation – it breaks the capillary action of moisture wicking up from the ground. I’m not sure what the science says but it makes sense to me.
I think you’ll find the Treffler more consistent, uniform, and versatile than other tine weeders. It’s engineered differently.
Good equipment feels so good to use
When reading these words, it makes us proud to work with farmers like Mike. It is clear that he keeps learning, from the people around him, from research and by doing the work. It inspires us to keep collaborating with farmers, and to keep supporting them in finding the best ways to take care of the soil.
Before closing, we want to leave you with one last thought that Mike shares on his website. He points out:
I like thinking about how I grow things, and my feeling is you get what you give. That is, the more you give, the more you get. I try to farm that way. What do I give? Soil crops (cover crops), compost and manures, rock minerals, and diversity.
Mike Snow: https://snoworganicag.com/pages/about
We want to thank Mike for taking time to answer our questions. We hope that the answers he has given to these questions will help other farmers learn about the important role the Treffler harrow plays on his farm.