By Daniel Jackson | djackson@repub.com
Updated: Feb. 10, 2026, 2:19 p.m.|Published: Feb. 10, 2026, 2:18 p.m.
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Lessening the ‘carbon hoof-print’
Denise Barstow Manz, a seventh-generation family member in Hadley, said her family’s farm has been adapting for generations. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, Barstow’s Longview Farm would rely on hay for animal feed, as New England’s climate was dryer than it is today, she said.
Not only has the farm switched to silage for its 600 head of cattle, it has begun no-till farming methods for the 500 acres it uses to grow its animals’ feed.
Traditionally, tilling is a first step for farmers before sowing seed. But the farm is replacing that with a method with a multitude of benefits, according to Barstow Manz.
“We know that by having a lower impact on that soil, you’re going to keep that soil ecosystem more intact,” Barstow Manz said of the no-till techniques. “So all that good fungi and those good bugs can really thrive. And we know carbon is in things that are alive. So if we can keep the soil more alive, we’ll sequester more carbon in the ground. It reduces erosion. So the amount of soil that’s coming off in the wind and the rain.”
The farm began the shift around 2014. The USDA helped pay for the specialized equipment for the farm to switch to no-till agriculture, and it also studied the crop yields for five years. Now, the fields can produce even more than what was grown with traditional farming techniques.
The farm switched fully to no-till production methods in 2019. These days, the farm leases the equipment to neighboring farms that also adopted no-till production.
This isn’t the only way Barstow Longview Farm is aiming to reduce its “carbon hoof-print,” Barstow Manz said.
Cows, too, are sensitive to temperature. Barstow Manz said the cows on their farm are happiest on a 45-degree day. Happy cows mean better milk, and so the farm seeks ways to boost bovine comfort, such as sprinklers and fans.
And when it comes to the cow waste, the farm years ago installed an anerobic digester, converting methane into enough power for 1,600 homes, Barstow Manz said.
This is just a snippet of this article, you can read the entire article on MassLive right here!