Scott E Strough

I grew up on a small homestead type farm. We grew a 1/2 acre garden, a small orchard with cherries, peaches and apples, a milk goat named Sally, 200+ chickens, and a whole bunch of rabbits, 3 beef cows, strawberry patch etc… You get the idea. All us kids were active in Scouts and 4H. Pretty typical rural US childhood. And this little homestead was right square in the middle of a huge commercial farmer’s corn field. Across the road was another slightly smaller commercial farmer, who also grew corn etc… But just enough to feed his pastured pig and beef cow operation. As soon as I could work I was working on those neighbors’ farms.

So I literally grew up seeing first hand and understanding all scales of farming here in US, from the tiny small family farm to the large commercial operations and everything in between. I even took a job at the seed company next town over for summer work and learned corporate farming and seed research, building and documenting test plots with controls, running and training an agricultural labor crew etc… too.

My family ended up losing the farm and for a while I worked as a merchant marine engineer. I learned to view the world differently after seeing many countries and their impacts on the environment. Most impactful of all was seeing the environmental and human quality of life devastation that occurred in Haiti when agriculture collapsed there.

I am now retired from the Merchant Marine and have started my Red Baron Project which will become my ultimate life's work and legacy. My small help in fixing huge problems facing future generations if we don't make our systems sustainable.

February 2020