Episode 119: Empowering Generational Family Farmers with Corwin Heatwole
Regenerative Agriculture Podcast
AEA Marketing
4.7 • 548 Ratings
🗓️ 23 May 2024
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Corwin Heatwole is a 6th-generation farmer and the visionary founder and chairman of Farmer Focus. Starting his journey at age 23 with a 300-bird organic farm, Corwin's commitment to high-quality, humanely raised chicken quickly expanded his operation to 3,000 birds within a few months. This growth led to the transformation of Shenandoah Valley Organic into Farmer Focus in 2014, where Corwin began partnering with other growers to meet increasing demand.
Farmer Focus is dedicated to empowering farmers through fair compensation, support for transitioning to organic and regenerative agriculture, and a strong emphasis on sustainability and transparency. Their mission is to enhance soil health and farmer profitability while ensuring responsible farming practices.
In this episode, Corwin and John discuss:
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The successful business model of Farmer Focus
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How regenerative agriculture improves soil health and boosts farmer profitability
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Strategies for sourcing grains from diverse regions to mitigate risks and stabilize supply
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The importance of scientific research in shaping policy decisions
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Corwin's advocacy and legislative efforts
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The impact of farming practices on vulnerable communities and ecosystems
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Collaborative conservation projects with local communities
About John Kempf
John Kempf is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA). A top expert in biological and regenerative farming, John founded AEA in 2006 to help fellow farmers by providing the education, tools, and strategies that will have a global effect on the food supply and those who grow it.
Through intense study and the knowledge gleaned from many industry leaders, John is building a comprehensive systems-based approach to plant nutrition – a system solidly based on the sciences of plant physiology, mineral nutrition, and soil microbiology.
Support For This Show & Helping You Grow
Since 2006, AEA has been on a mission to help growers become more resilient, efficient, and profitable with regenerative agriculture.
AEA works directly with growers to apply its unique line of liquid mineral crop nutrition products and biological inoculants. Informed by cutting-edge plant and soil data-gathering techniques, AEA's science-based programs empower farm operations to meet the crop quality markers that matter the most.
AEA has created real and lasting change on millions of acres with its products and data-driven services by working hand-in-hand with growers to produce healthier soil, stronger crops, and higher profits.
Beyond working on the ground with growers, AEA leads in regenerative agriculture media and education, producing and distributing the popular and highly-regarded Regenerative Agriculture Podcast, inspiring webinars, and other educational content that serve as go-to resources for growers worldwide.
Learn more about AEA's regenerative programs and products: https://www.advancingecoag.com
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VIDEO: To learn more from John Kempf about regenerative agriculture, watch this conversation between John and three AEA grower partners about how regenerative agriculture is changing lives and conventional farming: https://youtu.be/n9U6GwbYPDk
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, friends, this is John. Welcome back to the regenerative agriculture podcast where we have all kinds of fun conversations related to regenerating our soil, regenerating ecosystem health, plant health, animal health, and ultimately our own health. And, of course, as a part of that, it's important for us to regenerate our relationships and to regenerate our capacity for stewardship so that we can be closely connected and reward farmers well for doing a good job. |
| 0:29.9 | I've been looking forward to the conversation we're having today for some time. |
| 0:33.7 | I'm very pleased to have here with me Corwin Heatwall from Farmer Focus. |
| 0:39.0 | Corwin has been doing an amazing job. One of the pieces that is so desperately needed in our space is facilitating market |
| 0:46.3 | access. And Corwin has quite a remarkable story in that domain. So Corwin, please tell us a little |
| 0:53.8 | bit about your journey, the whole |
| 0:57.0 | story arc of scope of the work that you're doing today and what brought you here. |
| 1:02.5 | Thank you, John. First, it's a pleasure to be with you today. And I'll take you back to how I grew up |
| 1:10.3 | on the farm and just valuing the farming lifestyle. |
| 1:13.9 | I'm a sixth-generational farmer here in the Shenandoah Valley. |
| 1:17.9 | And growing up on the farm, just that immersed in the farmer's lifestyle and working hard on the farm, |
| 1:26.4 | taught work ethic at a young age, get your hands dirty, |
| 1:29.2 | barefoot in the barns and around, you know, manure squishing up between your toes. Not sure how |
| 1:34.9 | many brain cells that affected, but hopefully not too many. Oh, I would expect that it affected |
| 1:39.9 | them, but probably positively. We have a large part of our neural network associated with our gut, |
| 1:46.1 | and that's associated with our microbiome. So yes, our microbiome affects our ability to think. |
| 1:51.4 | Well, I'm not surprised by that, and I'm sure that you're not surprised that you have knowledge on that, |
| 1:56.8 | John. But, you know, growing up on a farm, they say, you know, you can, you can take the boy out of the |
| 2:04.3 | farm, but you can't take the farmer out of the boy. And after going on several business adventures, |
| 2:11.3 | I had purchased my first farm at 23 years old. And after several years of running a farm growing for an integrated company and seeing |
| 2:21.2 | some of the challenges firsthand for myself that I didn't have access to when I was just growing up |
| 2:27.7 | on the farm doing the work and not understanding all the financial challenges and all the inside |
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