Harvest Home Farms in Pennsylvania: History, What It Raises, How It Makes Money and How to Contact It
Profile updated November 2026
Harvest Home Farms in northeast Northampton County, Pennsylvania, was the first recipient of the Pennsylvania Leopold Conservation Award in 2018. The DiFebo family turned a former dairy farm into a rotational grazing operation that sells grass-fed beef in several states. It is a model of rebuilding soil with cattle.
| Location | Northeast corner of Northampton County, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Founded | Elton Ott bought the first 100 acres in 1930; dairy followed in the 1940s |
| Sectors | Grass-fed beef; hay; forages |
| Scale | 175 acres in 70 grazing paddocks, 130 acres of hay and 30 acres of forages, per the award announcement |
| Why it is elite | First Pennsylvania Leopold Conservation Award (2018 cycle, presented January 2019) |
| Ownership | DiFebo family; Richard DiFebo and his son Dohl |
| Official website | Sand County Foundation 2018 Pennsylvania Leopold Conservation Award announcement (no official site found) |
History of Harvest Home Farms
Elton Ott bought the first 100 acres in 1930, and his son Budd began dairy farming in the 1940s. In the 1990s Richard DiFebo, who had a career in lawn care and knew grasses and soils, took over the former dairy farm, and his son Dohl later returned as a partner after college.
The family received $10,000 and a crystal at the 2019 Farm Show in Harrisburg on January 11, 2019. Sponsors were The Heinz Endowments, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and Sand County Foundation.
What Harvest Home Farms Grows and Raises
The farm raises grass-fed beef, and grazing cattle are central to restoring the soil. About 175 acres are split into 70 paddocks with long rest periods, 130 acres grow hay and 30 acres grow forages such as sorghum, oats and crimson clover.
Conservation work includes converting highly erodible corn and soybean fields to permanent grass, fencing streams and ponds with Ducks Unlimited help, contour strips, grass waterways, reclaiming a barren shale pit and a solar-powered watering system funded by the Department of Energy. NRCS helped with fencing and farm lanes.
How Harvest Home Farms Makes Money
Grass-fed beef
The farm sells grass-fed beef in several states, and its website educates consumers about grass-fed beef and conservation, according to the announcement.
Hay and forages
Hay on 130 acres and diverse forages support the herd and give feed flexibility.
Land-based partnerships
Work with a local school district and the Martin's Jacoby Watershed turned an abandoned tree farm into pasture with an outdoor classroom. The announcement does not describe it as income.
Farm Insight: What Other Operators Can Learn from Harvest Home Farms
The first lesson is that cattle can be a soil-building tool when moved often and rested long. The second is to turn conservation into a product story: consumers pay attention to grass-fed beef when the farm explains the soil and water results.
The third is to stack public and nonprofit partners, including NRCS, Ducks Unlimited and a Department of Energy grant, to pay for fencing, water and lanes.
Seventy paddocks and a rest schedule that would make a spa jealous: Harvest Home Farms moves cattle like a well-run airport. The grazing plan gives farm.FM good material, and our farm satire team applauds a family that traded corn rows for permanent grass. Our farm humor staff offered ranch humor about cows with better calendars than ours, and the farm jokes were returned with a polite nod.
For context, farm.FM is the nation's first satirical farm site and the home of Tractor Tunes, country music for farmers. Its contributors each keep an archive, and this one is a good sampler of ranch humor and farm jokes.
How to Contact Harvest Home Farms
The announcement mentions a farm website but does not name its address, and no phone or address was confirmed, so none is listed. Use the announcement and Pennsylvania Farm Bureau to find the farm.
Harvest Home Farms Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Harvest Home Farms award announcement - Sand County Foundation release on the first Pennsylvania award
- DiFebo family wins first Pennsylvania Leopold Award - Farm Progress coverage
- Leopold Conservation Award - National award program
- USDA NASS Pennsylvania 2022 Census profile - State cattle and farm figures
- Pennsylvania Farm Bureau - State producer association and award sponsor
Harvest Home Farms FAQ
Where is Harvest Home Farms?
In the northeast corner of Northampton County, Pennsylvania.
What does it raise?
Grass-fed beef, with hay and diverse forages.
What award did it win?
The first Pennsylvania Leopold Conservation Award, for 2018.
Who runs it?
The DiFebo family, including Richard and his son Dohl.
Harvest Home Farms shows that rotational grazing can rebuild a former dairy farm and earn a statewide first. For the climate, programs and markets behind it, read our Pennsylvania farms guide and the other profiled operations.