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SUS Farms — Allegedly Organic
Five generations on the same dirt

A working farm in central Utah, doing the slow things on purpose.

Established 1891. Same family. Same red dirt. The methods evolved; the standards didn’t.

1891

Year founded

5

Generations

125+

Plant varieties

2

Working dogs

Our story

At Sus Farms, we think the modern food system has a funny way of naming things.

Today, farming with massive amounts of synthetic chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers is called “conventional.” Meanwhile, farming the way humanity farmed for thousands of years — building healthy soil, working with nature, rotating crops, and raising food without drenching it in chemicals — is now labeled “organic.”

Or worse… ‘sus.’

And honestly, that in itself feels a little suspicious to us.

Somewhere along the way, natural became unusual. Simple became radical. Food grown the old way became the alternative.

So we leaned into it.

Sus Farms is about questioning what we’ve accepted as normal. It’s about growing real food in living soil, respecting the land, and remembering that the methods sustaining humanity for generations probably weren’t the crazy ones after all.

If caring about clean food, healthy animals, healthy soil, and fewer chemicals makes us ‘sus,’ we’re okay with that.

Old method, new tools.

At Sus Farms, we combine time-tested growing principles with modern greenhouse technology to create a system that is both sustainable and efficient. By blending traditional farming wisdom with controlled environments, water-efficient systems, climate management, and thoughtful innovation, we’re able to grow healthier plants year-round while using fewer resources and minimizing waste. To us, the future of farming isn’t choosing between old and new — it’s taking the best of both.

I farm the way the four generations before me farmed — growing a wide variety of food and raising much of what the family ate themselves. Gardens weren’t hobbies back then; they were a way of life.

My family grew vegetables, preserved harvests, raised animals, and worked with the seasons because that’s simply how people fed themselves. They understood the value of self-sufficiency, healthy soil, and knowing exactly where your food came from.

That mindset still shapes Sus Farms today: growing diverse, nutrient-rich food with methods rooted in practicality, stewardship, and generations of experience.

— The fifth generation
1891194519852010Now

Chapter 1 / 5

1891

Five generations, one piece of land

How we kept doing the same thing — better.

1891

It started with dirt.

The first generation arrived in Sevier County when farming was just work — no marketing, no certifications, no brand. Land, animals, and the weather doing whatever it wanted. We still farm the same red ground.

1945

The world got loud.

Big inputs and bigger claims arrived between the wars. The second generation watched the trends, kept what worked, and ignored what didn’t. That decision shapes the farm to this day.

1985

LaRene’s nursery.

Third-generation LaRene Smith started selling plant starts out of a backyard greenhouse. Customers showed up because the plants were good and the advice was honest. We still operate on those rules.

2010

Scaling up the right way.

The fourth generation built greenhouses, expanded the catalog, and kept the no-spray, low-input method. Bigger surface area, same standards. Working dogs, sheep, goats, and a pond got added in stages.

Now

Fifth generation, building.

Different tools. Same playbook. Rotate crops. Compost everything. Pay attention. Fix what breaks. Keep showing up. Apparently that approach is trending again.

How we farm

A few things we’ve made non-negotiable.

Generations on this farm

5

Doing it the same way since 1891.

Soil is a living thing. Treat it like one and it behaves. Treat it like inventory and it quits.

On the philosophy of rotation

Heartface lamb with her mother

Lambing season — the busiest weeks of the year.

Plant varieties

125+

Each one selected for Utah’s climate.

Plants ripen when they ripen. Nothing good on this farm has ever happened on a deadline.

On the philosophy of patience

Big Mama, Bandit, and Oreo on guard

The dogs run the place. We just open gates.

Drip irrigation lines and flower pots inside the SUS Farms greenhouse

The practice

The soil is the real crop here.

Fans and airflow inside the greenhouse
Spring blossoms in the nursery
Moving sheep to fresh pasture

01

The practice

How we farm differently.

No fancy inputs. No spreadsheets dictating when plants grow. Crop rotation on a 4-year cycle, compost top-dressed every fall, drip irrigation on every bed, integrated pest management instead of broad-spectrum chemicals. The methods are old. The discipline is what makes them work.

Visit the farm

The people

Who works the land.

LaRene Smith in the nursery

Third generation

LaRene Smith

Started the nursery side of the farm out of a backyard greenhouse. Decades of plant knowledge that no book replicates. We kept a page for her at /larene.

Michael out in the field

Fourth generation

Michael

Built the greenhouses. Runs the propagation operation. Knows where every drip-line elbow is buried because he probably buried it.

Cameron learning livestock care

Fifth generation

The next ones

Cameron, Reese, and crew. Learning livestock care, plant ID, and the parts of farming that only show up at 5am. Already better with the dogs than most adults.

Meet the cast

Lambs, working dogs, the deaf horse, and the rest.

Short clips from the day-to-day. The animals have opinions. The opinions are usually right.

First triplets of the season

Three at once. Mom is unbothered.

Heidi has two black and one white

The most photogenic family on the property.

Lamb sleeping in the hay trough

Bed is where you make it.

Heartface and her mom

Yes, the marking is real. Yes, that is her name.

Lamb standing on his mom

She is allegedly used to it.

Baby lambs — weekly update

Everyone is fine. Everyone is also chaos.

A brown lamb. Suspicious.

The genetics know things we do not.

A lamb that appears to be smiling

Witness for the defense.

Even more black sheep

Statistically improbable. We checked.

Aftermath of treat day

The crime scene is the field.

Reese roping a sheep

Not on her resume yet, but it should be.

Lexi teaching Bonnie how to herd

On-the-job training for the next generation.

Come see it

The farm is best understood in person.

Photos do part of the work. The rest happens when you walk the rows, meet the animals, and ask the questions you came with.

Keep in touch

Plant updates, weather rants, and the occasional goat photo.

We send one newsletter per month. No spam. Honestly, we barely remember to do it.