Dennis Barnett has found a way to turn his passion into two agriculturally based businesses. Since moving to the Fairfield Bench in 2000, Barnett has grown a large vegetable garden on the family's roughly four acres simply because he enjoys eating fresh produce. He likes knowing where the vegetables are grown and what, if any chemicals, are used to enhance the growth of the plants. His enthusiasm as a gardener led him to create Greenfields Produce Farm.
Because he lives in Montana which has a relatively short growing season, he wanted to find a way to allow the gardens to continue to produce vegetables for several additional months or maybe all year long. Being a true handy man, if he couldn't find a readymade structure in Montana to move the plants inside, he found a grant program and designed his own, starting Undercover Agriculture — Greenhouses, High and Low Tunnel kits for installation in Montana and surrounding states.
Barnett was head of maintenance for the Fairfield school district for the past 21 years retiring last spring. Having operated both businesses parttime in the past couple years he is now expanding and dedicated to running them fulltime.
He laughed when noting there are 83,000-plus acres of irrigated land on the bench and not many of them are used to grow something you can pick and eat. He is changing that by growing and selling vegetables and continually expanding the garden size. He jokingly said this is one way to cut down on mowing.
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