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AEA Newsletter
February 2025
5-minute read
Hi Friends,
Sharing hope is a joy. That's one reason we love working in regenerative agriculture: hope abounds.
We have lots of updates this month: events, a new online resource for growers, and a chance to win a phone call with John Kempf.
But let's begin with some hope.
1 big thing: 🍊 Saving Citrus
If you haven’t been keeping an eye on the Florida citrus industry this month, the news has been dire.
Chaotic weather and citrus greening disease have combined to wreak havoc on Florida’s famed fruit industry.
Citrus production in Florida has dropped 90% since 2004, when greening first appeared in Florida (greening is caused by the bacteria Huanglongbing (HLB)).
One of the largest producers in the state, Alico Inc., shut down its citrus operations this month “after facing increasing financial challenges from citrus greening disease and adverse weather for several seasons”. Alico owns over 53,000 acres across the state.
“Florida citrus projected at century-low levels” [Produce Blue Book]
“Is the Florida citrus industry on its way out?” [WINK Fort Myers]
All of this has prompted at least one observer to say: “It's time to accept reality, the Florida citrus industry is done."
🍊 Amidst these apocalyptic announcements, AEA is proud to share 2 pieces of good news about citrus:
1.We ran a controlled trial where a 16-acre block of Florida grapefruit under AEA management was compared side-by-side with an equivalent block on the grower’s standard management program.
A single year on the AEA program resulted in:
41% reduction in pesticide costs
14% reduction in total per-acre costs
Equivalent yields
We anticipate a yield improvement next year: the leaves and canopy look a lot better on the AEA-treated block.
2. AEA grower Herb Young of Squeeze Citrus has achieved incredible results in his southwest Georgia grove.
Herb juiced his fruit and sent it to a USDA lab for nutrient analysis, along with samples of the same varieties from nearby conventional groves, picked the same day.
Herb’s regenerative citrus was8x more nutrient dense on average than the conventional.
All of the carotenoids and flavonoids measured on the nutrient analysis have known benefits for human health.
Nutrient density hasn’t just been good for Herb’s customers, but also his bottom line. By advertising his test results, and marketing direct to consumers, Herb has been able to get a price 10 times higher than standard.
We’ll be featuring a detailed report on Herb’s regenerative practices on our blog tomorrow. You can sign up to get our blog posts emailed to you by clicking here.
💡 The upshot: We firmly believe citrus has a flourishing future in Florida.
Regenerative techniques can help citrus growers stay financially viable by lowering costs and getting more for their fruit.
Plant nutrition will increase yields in the long run, and help trees weather climatic stressors
We haven’t yet solved greening, but we have some hopeful hypotheses about how trees can resist the worst symptoms of the disease and remain productive.
We’ll be sharing more citrus success stories as the year rolls on. Stay tuned.
2. ☎️ Win a phone call with John Kempf!
You could win a 30-minute 1-on-1 phone call with John Kempf. All you have to do is tell us about your favorite AEA product!
*Submitting a testimonial gives AEA the right to use it online and in our printed material.
3. 📋 AgList launches as “Yelp for agriculture”
Speaking of testimonials, our friends Tim and Tyler Nuss of The Modern Acre podcast have launched AgList, which they’re calling “Yelp for agriculture.”
Manufacturers can list their biological products on AgList, and farmers can review them.
The Nuss brothers hope that AgList helps growers navigate the crowded world of biologicals, and find products that will truly move the needle.
AgTech listings will be a future offering.
AEA’s BioCoat Gold™ is on AgList. If you’ve used BioCoat Gold and like it, consider endorsing to help others find it. Thanks!
Bruno Sagrera wrote about the benefits of seed saving: how it can help growers reduce input costs, grow higher-quality crops, and reclaim control over one of the most important components of their farms.
Jeffrey Kleypas wrote about the steps needed to shift to a regenerative mindset, and how doing so can help growers weather the unpredictable future.
Brothers Bob and Lee Jones of The Chef’s Garden in Ohio have been busy this month!
The Chef’s Garden TV show premiered last week. Farmer Lee Jones hosts celebrated chefs at his farm, where they cook up culinary concoctions using his incredible regeneratively-grown produce. You can watch it on FYI.
Bob Jones was the subject of American Vegetable Grower’s cover story last month, where he describes how the farm’s push for regenerative practices came from “A desire for a stronger, more stable business for generations to come”
Bob also wrote the magazine’s January editorial, arguing that “Sustainability is not necessarily . . . the correct target” and that regeneration is really what’s needed.
(If you missed Bob Jones on the Regenerative Agriculture Podcast last year, it’s a great listen. Check it out here.)
Farmer Lee Jones on The Chef's Garden (photo: FYI)
Their family grows wheat, peas, lentils, garbanzos, flax, vegetables, cut flowers, and more in Wilsall, Montana.
They work with NRCS on a variety of conservation projects aiming to improve the health of their soil
The article describes some of the regenerative practices the family uses, along with innovative sales and marketing techniques
6. 🧅 John Kempf workshop in Georgia
John Kempf will be giving an all-day workshop in Lyons, Georgia on Thursday, February 20th.
John will describe how to develop regenerative agriculture ecosystems in which soil health is quickly regenerated, crop yields and quality constantly improve, and pest pressure becomes less of a challenge.
John will engage in-depth with questions from the audience. Attendees should come prepared with questions.
We will primarily focus on vegetable crops, though the principles are transferable to all crops.
Featuring all of our webinars, along with grower stories and all of the episodes of the Regenerative Agriculture podcast, our YouTube channel is an educational platform that has changed peoples' lives
It has cemented us as a thought leader in the industry
We recently heard from a groggy grower who’d been up until 2am bingeing on AEA YouTube videos.
We heard from another grower in marital distress because his wife had tired of the constant presence of John Kempf's voice in their house!
