__________________________________________________________________________________________________ CMI
Orchards
A joint venture between CMI Orchards and Royal Family Farming, The Soil Center is redefining sustainable agriculture. One of CMI’ s owner companies, Double Diamond Fruit, also owns Royal Family Farming, creating a deeply aligned partnership in which the same family that helped build the region’ s fruit economy is now guiding it toward a regenerative future.
“ Many of us are blessed to have been born in the Columbia Basin to farming families,” says Michael Hebdon, General Manager of The Soil Center and Vice President of Regenerative Agriculture at Royal Family Farming.“ Stewardship isn’ t something we were taught; it runs in our blood.” The Soil Center embodies that belief by transforming orchard byproducts and livestock waste into valuable soil amendments: worm castings, compost, and biochar, that return nutrients to the land.“ Healthier soils lead to healthier orchards,” he explains,“ and healthier orchards support stronger fruit-growing economies and communities.”
The operation functions as a closedloop system where every output from the orchards, packing facilities, and row crops become an input for regeneration. Around 50,000 cattle supply manure for composting and worm systems, linking animal health directly to soil regeneration. Millions of worms across 14 acres of worm farms convert liquid manure and woody orchard waste into castings rich in microbes that restore fertility and water retention.“ Waste that once had little value now returns to the land as one of the most effective tools we
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