Thomas Parsons is a young farmer advocating for a sustainable food system worldwide from his family’s ranch in southeastern Kansas.

On Parsons Ranch, Parsons combines his parents’ sustainability values with his positive outlook for global agriculture. “It is important to farm sustainably so that the upcoming generations can continue to farm and provide food for the world,” Parsons tells Food Tank. “If we do not take care of the land that we manage, it will not have any useful value to future generations.”

Parsons’s parents purchased the land in 1986, built a sustainable outdoor hog operation, and started raising cattle on pasture land. “I am the second generation on the operation,” says Parsons, “but my mom Teresa, my dad David, and I are all involved in making our farm be sustainable.”

The Parsons raise their hogs in large outdoor lots with deep-bedded sheds year-round. On the ranch, the family uses sustainable farming practices like rotational cattle grazing, using manure to improve soil health and their pastures, and composting waste from hay feeding and hog bedding. And while the Parsons enjoy farming as a family and working with the livestock, being able to improve the land and make the operation more sustainable keeps them on the land year after year. “Being able to work on your own place to better it for future generations and being able to provide food for the world is very rewarding,” Parsons explains to Food Tank.

Read the full article on sustainability lessons from a young farmer by Katherine Walla at Food Tank.