A SOBERING REALITY

While Silk Grass Farms has progressed greatly, two years of operating exposed a sobering reality: In order to run a large-scale food production and processing operation in a way that truly leaves the land better, we need to innovate.

The best practices commonly tapped for responsible agriculture and food processing are not enough to turn the tide on climate change. 25% of the world’s CO2 emissions are from agriculture. Agricultural carbon sequestration and soil regeneration at the scale required for meaningful climate impact is simply not being done—and Silk Grass Farms seeks to change that.

Two towering obstacles emerged between us and our vision of using agriculture to regenerate land at scale.

1. We have a soil problem to solve. The scale and rate of topsoil regeneration required for meaningful carbon sequestration and organic production is monumental. To regenerate biodiverse topsoil across 3,000 acres of working farmland will require unprecedented methods.

2. We have a waste problem to solve. When biomass goes unused, it becomes something far more dangerous: bio-waste. Biomass from our post-harvest processing such as coconut shells and orange pulp is generated at a rate greater than our mulch or compost operations could ever absorb. Our Waste Nothing philosophy requires of us a level of trail blazing that will eliminate the very concept of waste.

putting it in perspective

Our annual production capacity will grow twenty times in the next three years, expanding from 243 tons of biomass from food processing in 2021 to more than 5,000 tons annually by 2024.

Accumulating thousands of tons of biomass over the years puts enormous strain on our environment and surrounding communities. When biowaste decomposes, it emits large amounts of CO2 in the process, equivalent to open burning. It also harbors pests and causes downstream water pollution.

What we can do with a growing mountain of post-processing biomass? AND how do we build topsoil on thousands of acres of degraded land?

These questions drive Silk Grass Farms Environmental Impact Strategy.