Tag: tree planting

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?

Ethan Steinberg and Jeremy Kaufman, ready to invest over 15M into agroforestry systems in the US

A check in interview with the co-founders of Propagate Ventures Jeremy and Ethan after our interview 1,5 years ago! A conversation about how they are scaling up agroforestry to every farm and what they have learned in the past years.

Jurriaan Ruys, planting trees to restore 2b hectares degraded land

Jurrian Ruys is the CEO and co founder of Land Life Company, planting trees to restore 2b hectares of degraded land.