Tag: corn

Kevin Wolz – Starting an agroforestry industry in the belly of the beast, the soy and corn monoculture heartland of the US Midwest

A conversation with Kevin Wolz, CEO of Canopy Farm Management and former founder of the Savanna Institute. Canopy provides tree planting and management services to farmers and landowners in the US Midwest. They establish perennial crops, timber plantings, conservation practices, and integrated agroforestry systems.

We have been talking about agroforestry systems and investing before (see link at the bottom of this page!): trees were the answer to whatever your question was. But how do you start an agroforestry industry right in the middle of the belly of the beast, the American Midwest, where corn and soy are everywhere, leases are 1 to 3 years, and there are no trees as far as the eye can see? And especially here, trees are needed, not as magical carbon sequestration tools but as climate adaptation, against erosion, wind breaks, to protect animals and crops, nutrient leaking into streams, and, of course, to produce a lot of food integrated into the fields. What does it take to build an agroforestry industry here? What about finance, equipment, planting, seedlings, tree nursery, harvesting, markets, and much more?

Dan Barber, great flavour, health benefits and healthy ecosystems can only come from healthy soils not a lab

Dan Barber, chef and co-owner of Blue Hill both in NY and Stone Barn and co-founder of Row 7 Seed Company, joins us to talk about the role of seeds and chefs in regeneration, and where to invest in order to win while helping the environment.