WESTMINSTER, CO.  — Natural meat brand leader Niman Ranch has recognized the Gilbert family of Iowa Falls, Iowa, as its 2021 Sustainable Farm of the Year. 

This award honors the Gilberts for their continual pursuit of conserving land, waterways and biodiversity as well as for their efforts to support and encourage independent, diversified farms, according to Niman.

The Gilberts raise antibiotic-free, pasture-farrowed pigs, milk Brown Swiss dairy cattle and grow an array of crops and forage. The Gilbert family use various sustainable farming practices including crop rotation, no- and ridge-till, riparian buffers, rotational grazing, conservation land and terracing. 

Their family farm sits along Southfork, a tributary of the Iowa River, and they strive to ensure their farm has positive benefits for water quality through their regenerative practices.

On behalf of the Gilberts, Niman Ranch donated to the Southfork Watershed Alliance in celebration of this award. The Alliance used the gift to purchase a ground-water flow model that was donated to the Hardin County Conservation’s Calkins Nature Center for their youth education programming on water quality.