Center View Farms in Iowa: History, What It Grows, How It Makes Money and How to Contact It
Profile updated November 2026
Center View Farms in Floyd County, Iowa, farms about 1,000 acres of no-till corn, soybeans and small grains, and its sister Joia Food and Fiber Farm grazes livestock on 130 acres of perennial pasture. Wendy Mariko Johnson received the 2024 Iowa Leopold Conservation Award for the pair, and she chairs the Iowa USDA Farm Service Agency state committee.
| Location | Floyd County, Iowa (operator from Charles City) |
|---|---|
| Founded | Family farm that grew into two farms |
| Sectors | Corn; soybeans; small grains; sheep, cattle, hogs, poultry |
| Scale | About 1,000 acres at Center View; 130 acres at Joia, per Sand County Foundation |
| Why it is elite | 2024 Iowa Leopold Conservation Award recipient |
| Ownership | Family, operated by Wendy Mariko Johnson |
| Official website | Sand County Foundation 2024 Leopold Conservation Award announcement |
History of Center View Farms
Wendy Mariko Johnson is an Iowa native who worked in California's fashion industry before returning to Floyd County with her husband, Johnny Rankin, to farm. The family farm grew into two farms, and her parents work at Center View Farms.
Johnson also helped create the direct-marketing food company 99 Counties and started Counting Sheep Sleep Company, a wool business. She is vice president of Perennial Promise Growers Cooperative. The 2024 award came with a $10,000 prize.
What Center View Farms Grows and Raises
Center View Farms uses prairie strips, cover crops and no-till in a rotation of corn, soybeans and small grains. It runs 60-inch row corn research trials and uses alfalfa for weed suppression and soil fertility.
Joia Food and Fiber Farm, 130 acres of former conventional corn, is now perennial pasture. Sheep, cattle, hogs and poultry are raised with adaptive rotational grazing. The operation has planted more than 6,000 fruit, nut and hardwood trees and shrubs over a decade, uses silvopasture, delays mowing for grassland birds, restores riparian areas and grows Kernza, a perennial grain.
How Center View Farms Makes Money
Grain sales
No-till corn, soybeans and small grains from about 1,000 acres form the base of income.
Livestock wholesale and direct
Per the award announcement, products from Joia are sold at wholesale markets and direct to consumers.
Value-added ventures
Johnson's role in 99 Counties and Counting Sheep Sleep Company shows wool and food products moving into branded channels.
Farm Insight: What Other Operators Can Learn from Center View Farms
Splitting a farm into a commodity side and a diversified side can manage risk while testing new markets. Center View runs the first and Joia the second.
Cooperatives and direct marketing can open channels that commodity prices do not. Perennials such as Kernza and silvopasture also need patient trials before scaling.
A farm that tests 60-inch corn rows and grows a perennial grain is clearly not afraid of a challenge, and Floyd County is lucky to have it. At farm.FM we gather farm satire, farm humor, ranch humor and farm jokes, and sheep that moonlight as wool-bedding suppliers fit right in. The hogs, hens and trees are welcome, too.
The outlet behind those laughs, farm.FM, is the nation's first satirical farm site, complete with Tractor Tunes country music for farmers. A farm.FM humorist's archive shows what a week of it looks like.
How to Contact Center View Farms
No official operation website was found; this is the best verified public page about the operation. Confirm details before traveling or contacting.
Center View Farms Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Leopold Award announcement - Official 2024 Iowa award details
- 2024 Leopold finalists - Sand County Foundation finalist announcement
- Iowa Soybean Association - Iowa Leopold Conservation Award coverage
- USDA FSA Iowa State Office - Iowa FSA programs and state committee
- USDA NASS Iowa 2022 Census of Agriculture - State farm counts and crop data
Center View Farms FAQ
Where is Center View Farms?
It is in Floyd County, Iowa; operator Wendy Mariko Johnson is from Charles City.
What is Joia Food and Fiber Farm?
A 130-acre sister farm with perennial pasture and rotationally grazed livestock.
What award did it win?
The 2024 Iowa Leopold Conservation Award.
What is Kernza?
A perennial grain grown on the operation, per the award announcement.
Center View Farms shows that a grain farm and a diversified grazing farm can work side by side. See our Iowa farms guide for the markets and programs behind them.