Louisiana loses a dynamic young farmer

All of us who follow farmers and farmers markets were saddened to learn of the death earlier this month of Corwith Davis, III, the 35-year-old proprietor of Inglewood Farm, an organic operation just south of Alexandria. Davis, a married father of two, had been hiking in North Carolina when he died unexpectedly. Many of you who shop routinely at the Red Stick Farmers Market had spoken to him and his enthusiastic young staff at their lush organic produce booth. They often came to the Thursday market, and were one of the few organic growers across the state.

Davis was part of the family that owned Inglewood, a 1,300-acre stunning former plantation. Much of it had been leased for commercial farming until recently when the family decided it had a greater purpose. They had committed to converting the farm to certified organic land for the purposes of both row crops and humanely raised livestock, and Davis, who was transitioning away from a career in maritime law in New Orleans, was asked to serve as chief operating officer. Last year he had recruited a couple of experienced organic growers from around the country to work for him, and the farm’s first organic plots had made considerable progress. As young as it was, Inglewood was already the largest working organic farm in the state with nearly 30 acres certified.

The last time I spoke to Davis was this summer when I arrived at the market too late to buy any of his sweet corn. “There’s one little ear left. Might be wormy on the end,” he chuckled, and he threw it in with the cantaloupe and fresh edamame I was buying. “I’ll make salsa out of it,” I told him.

It was the best corn I tasted all summer.