Growing up, Kim Junk­­er dreamed of a plot of land where she could grow flowers and trees. She found that 80-acre parcel in Butler County, close to where her then-boyfriend, Ted, was renting to grow corn and soybeans.

Twenty years later, farmers Ted and Kim Junker have created their own oasis on that 80 acres, which is enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). It’s just one piece of ...