“As I grew up I always wanted to go back and try my hand at [farming] full time,” Bishop, 38, tells Modern Farmer in an email. “I went to college, got married, and got a real job. That seemed good, but I didn’t like the corporate job atmosphere and really felt the need to work more with my hands.”

Bishop and his wife, Amy, wrote a business proposal, which Joyce accepted, and in 2009, they moved onto the farm with their young daughter. They soon realized they needed help dealing with the large farm since they had been unable to start small and scale up. As Bishop says, they were forced to “go big or go home.”

The family got the help they needed from Bishop’s good friend Roddy Pick who moved down from Indiana with his daughter. Now, the team at Greenbrier Farms raises grass-fed, grass-finished beef cattle and pastured pork, and produce certified organic vegetables. They have a 75-member CSA, sell at two local farmers markets and to many local restaurants, and are suppliers to Whole Foods Market. They also host weddings and farm-to-table dinners at the farm.

“The business has grown leaps and bounds since then but we are all still having way too much fun for this to be a ‘real’ job,” says Bishop.

Modern Farmer: Why do you consider yourself a modern farmer?

Chad Bishop: Because we are using a modern model for how we do business. Our event portion of the farm adds agritourism revenue that a lot of small farms need. Also, we feel like we are up with technology and social media.

MF: Why is it important to you to support local agriculture?

CB: It’s important to me because dollars spent with local farms stay at home. Also, I think it is important to keep small farmers around. It is becoming increasingly hard to turn a profit at sustainable ag. Without money being spent, small farms tend to go out of business.

MF: If you could grow or raise any food or animal, what would it be and why?

CB: Well, for me, it would be kale and tomatoes. I just love growing produce of any kind. It feels good to provide my family and community with clean, healthy, tasty food. For Roddy, it would definitely be pigs. He was the one who decided to bring pigs on at the farm and they have been a great and profitable addition. He just loves how smart they are and from a business standpoint, they pay much more quickly than beef.

MF: What’s your favorite vegetable?

CB: My favorite veggie to eat is sweet corn and we don’t even grow it! It’s just not very profitable. But I love to just eat it fresh right when it’s picked. Not even cooked. For my wife, Amy, it would be tomatoes. She is a Southern girl who loves her tomato sandwiches. For Roddy, it would be spinach. He loves to make smoothies.

MF: If you could give other modern farmers any advice, what would it be?

CB: Sustainable farming is nothing unless you are financially sustainable. Stop thinking of the pie-in-the-sky dream farm you read about in a book and think about what works for your farm to be profitable.

MF: Do you have a farming/agricultural hero? Why do you admire them?

CB: Joel Salatin and not because of his farming practices, but because he is a voice for farmers like me. People are listening to him and it helps us on a much smaller level. Also, there is Ellen Polishuk from Potomac Vegetable Farm in Virginia. She taught a beginning farmer class at a sustainable ag conference we attended and had some really great advice when we were just getting started.

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