Add back in more than you take out.
That simple premise is the driver behind a push nationwide to re-enrich the soil, combat climate change, and find sustainable solutions to growing food in the U.S.
Here in the Tri-State that comes in many forms and is easily noticeable inside the fungi farm that is New Richmond’s “Rich Life Farms.”
“Our growing medium for our mushrooms is made up of agricultural byproducts, things that didn't really have a purpose before,” said Pete Richman. He and his wife Emalee started this Clermont County business three years ago.
The medium he refers to is a mix of oak sawdust and soybean hulls after they get pressed for oil. They are waste, but the mushrooms they grow on help to break them down.
“Mushrooms are decomposers and the fungi that we grow are kind of going through and doing the initial decomposition. But then there's a whole host of other microbes, bacteria, fungi that are going to continue to break that down and turn it back into soil,” Richman said, and then it goes into the compost pile instead of the trash, a huge benefit.
“When we are growing our mushrooms, and we're done with that medium, what we do is we introduce it back to the Earth,” said Emalee. “It's actually really incredible. This was the first year we added it to our personal garden. And I've never had a more successful garden in my entire life.”
The Environmental Protection Agency says more than 10% of greenhouse gas emissions come from the agriculture sector:
The EPA estimates that agriculture accounted for 10.6 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2021. Of the 10.6 percent, electricity-related CO2 emissions accounted for 0.6 percent. Other agricultural emissions include nitrous oxide from cropped and grazed soils, methane from enteric fermentation and rice cultivation, nitrous oxide and methane from managed livestock manure, and CO2 from on-farm energy use.
The World Economic Forum describes “regenerative agriculture” as a way of farming that focuses on soil health” and that “when soil is healthy, it produces more food and nutrition, stores more carbon and increases biodiversity – the variety of species.”
For the Richmans, while they aren’t using the soil for growing their gourmet mushrooms, they know what they put back helps the overall food production cycle and soil in our area. That ties back into Emalee’s work with the Greater Cincinnati Regional Food Policy Council.
Maddie Chera is the Director. She said they’ve “advocated for the agricultural resilience act and some other policies that incorporate elements of regenerative agriculture, really paying attention to things like composting and soil health.
Chera said the region is on the cutting edge.
“We have so many diverse communities that are trying different things and there's a lot of options," Chera said. "So Rich Life (Farms) was giving us a great example of some of the things we can do. And then there's tons of other ways we can get involved in regenerative actions."
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