Dave Brandt, Ohio farmer in viral 'It's honest work' meme and no-till advocate, has died
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Long before Ohio farmer Dave Brandt achieved Internet fame as part of a meme, he established himself as a leader in the nation’s sustainable farming community.
Brandt, who lived on his farm outside Carroll in Fairfield County, passed away Sunday after sustaining injuries in a traffic crash in Illinois. He was 76.
Brandt was the recipient of numerous awards for his conservation practices, including Ohio Agriculture's Man of the Year and the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation's Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award. He also was the former president of the Ohio No-Till Council.
In the early 2010s, Brandt’s photograph was used in a widely-shared meme on the social media site Reddit, with the words: "It ain't much, but it's honest work." Users shared the meme with various sub-captions, like “When your teacher asks you why you have submitted only one paper of 20 paper(s),” according to Know Your Meme.
“(Brandt) got a lot of joy after seeing (the meme), and seeing how it exploded all over! He didn’t object to it at all,” said Randall Reeder, a retired Ohio State University associate professor who collaborated with Brandt on agricultural extension for 30 years.
Reeder told The Dispatch that Brandt was a “godfather of soil health” and would be remembered for “his outgoing spirit, his infectious laugh, his willingness to help anybody.”
“He was determined to educate farmers about the value of conservation agriculture, and how it would improve soil health,” Reeder said.
Brandt was a Marine Corps veteran who saw combat in Vietnam before coming home to take over the family farm in the early 1970s, according to an online biography.
As agriculture in the Midwest became increasingly mechanized and chemical-dependent, Brandt took a different approach.
He began “no-till farming” — which involves planting cover crops like hairy vetch or cereal rye, and fostering habitat for invertebrates to promote soil health — in 1971. He was the longest-term, no-till farmer in Ohio, according to Understanding Ag, a sustainable farming consulting firm that he helped found.
In addition to corn, soybeans and wheat, Brandt raised pigs and cows — which he let forage outside during winter, rather then putting them up in a barn as most farmers do.
Brandt hosted field days and talks about soil health for farmers and researchers from throughout Ohio and the U.S.
At the invitation of the French agriculture ministry, Brandt once spent a week touring France and speaking with farmers there about his methods, according to Reeder.
“The biggest challenge is changing the mindset of producers so they understand the soil they are working with," Brandt wrote in a 2019 blog post. "This challenge is still there, but I continue.”
Rafiq Islam, a soil and bioenergy program leader at OSU, said he and Brandt were collaborating on a project for the U.N.’s World Food Program at the time Brandt died.
“He motivated academic faculty members like us,” he said.
A service for family and friends will be held June 2 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Dwayne Spence Funeral Home in Canal Winchester. The next day, June 3, a Celebration of Life for friends, colleagues and farmers will be held at the Brandt Farm at 6100 Basil Western Road in Carroll from 1 p.m to 6 p.m. In the coming weeks and months, Brandt will be memorialized at various field day events and conferences within the sustainable agriculture community, Randall said.
Peter Gill covers immigration, New American communities and religion for the Dispatch in partnership with Report for America. You can support work like his with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America at:bit.ly/3fNsGaZ.
pgill@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Dave Brandt, Ohio farmer in meme and no-till conservationist, has died
