PULLMAN, Wash. — Ian Clark sees the potential for taking his farm in many different directions.

But there’s just not enough time for him to explore them all.

He imagines having “15 of yourselves just to do all these different things or live all these different iterations of life where, in this one, I’m going to do that, try and push real hard on this,” he said.

The Pullman, Wash., farmer lives to try new things.

As a graduate student at Washington State University, he worked on perennial wheat, and he has grown quinoa, a popular specialty crop.

“Maybe it’s just a ‘the grass is greener’ (thing),” he said. “There’s always some way you can improve. I know there’s some things we do really well, but we also have some weak points in our system.”

Clark grew up farming, and is now in his fourth season partnering with his uncle and cousin. He took over for his father, Asa, when he retired.

They raise wheat, canola, chickpeas, peas, barley, spring wheat, timothy and alfalfa on 7,000 acres.

“Ian is a thoughtful and conscientious farmer who embraces innovation,” said Kevin Murphy, WSU specialty crops breeder.

Clark takes part in on-farm experiments and works with researchers to come up with new ways to conserve and improve soil quality, Murphy said.

Clark allowed Murphy to plant quinoa trials on his farm, and, as a graduate student, worked on perennial grain in Murphy’s lab.

“Directed innovation” is the biggest need in the industry, Clark said.

“We have all this technology that is helping us, but we still haven’t realized what we can do with so much of this stuff,” he said. “Where can we cut our inputs to really improve the soil, but also continue to keep our profits where we need to see them to keep the system rolling?”

Clark previously tried raising quinoa, but hasn’t for a few years because of the cost of hauling the crop to southern Idaho for processing. It would take time and money to build the infrastructure necessary for such crops, he said.

But still, “I’d like to get back into it,” he said.

After graduate school, “when I came back to the farm full-time, it was everything I could do to keep up,” he said. “I still feel I’m getting my feet established. Keep the farm going and then as that goes, we can go back to the fun stuff.”

Clark originally intended to pursue a career in plant research. Love for his family, the Palouse and agriculture drew him back into the family business.

“A lot of things kind of folded back together in ways you didn’t think when you left high school,” he said. “You appreciate those things that a tight-knit community and family give you.”

He hopes to increase crop diversity on the farm. He wants to take a holistic approach beyond focusing solely on yield and instead emphasizing soil health.

He wants to address fundamental issues such as soil acidity and erosion.

“(My parents) left me with a lot better system than what they started with,” he said.

Daughter Elsie and her sibling — his wife, Lindsay Myron, is expecting — will be the sixth generation of the family on the farm.

“I’m proud of that, but I also see it as a huge burden,” he said. “If we do something to this land that means that they can’t (farm) — to me, that’s like a nightmare situation, to kind of hand someone a pile of rocks that they can’t do anything with.”

Title: Co-owner, Clark Farms

Age: 33

Hometown: Pullman, Wash.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in biology, University of Canterbury, New Zealand; master’s degree in crop science, Washington State University, 2017

Family: Wife Lindsay Myron; daughter Elsie, 17 months; baby due in January