CMI Orchards Sustainability Case Study

Over the years, CMI Orchards has grown from a small, mostly export company to one of the largest apple and pear shippers in Washington state. The company has four families of ownership (McDougall and Sons, Columbia Fruit Packers, Yakima Fruit and Double Diamond, who also owns Royal Family Farming that grow row crops such as peas, corn, potatoes, alfalfa, triticale and mint) and has a significant focus on organic growing, which was prioritized early on by the owners. This foresight positioned CMI Orchards to support retail growth in organics. The company now grows 33 different varietals, 15% of which is organic and increasing.

The company’s point of differentiation is achieved through a closed-loop system of growing that uses innovation—from new varietal development; the use of new tools, machinery, equipment and robotics to improve efficiencies; to implementing regenerative agriculture practices that reduce waste and work with nature’s processes to increase efficiencies and environmental health. CMI Orchards strives to produce the best tasting fruit while conserving resources for future generations.

The challenge:
Soil Degradation and Unsustainable Farming

For farmers, degradation of soil health due to years of synthetic buildup has been a cumulative problem. Over time, the use of synthetic additives to provide for plant nutrition has led to detrimental impacts on soil health. After decades of cultivation and “nutrient mining”, the soil is depleted of valuable nutrients that are rich with microbes—like those found in a natural, untouched, unadulterated setting like the Amazon jungle, which has some of the most fertile soil in the world.

"We understand to stay in this business, we have to be soil farmers first,” states Rochelle Bohm, Vice President of Marketing for CMI Orchards. “If our soil isn't healthy, we're not producing resilient crops.”

Over-tilling can also be a problematic part of the traditional cultivation process (i.e., plowing, disking, etc.) as it not only disturbs the soil, destroying the underlying microbiomes that provide valuable nutrients, but also exposes those soil aggregates to wind, rain, and sun. Wind and rain can lead to soil erosion while heat from the sun can act as a catalyst for carbon release into the atmosphere.

Additionally, in orchards, retired trees and cut limbs are typically burned as it is the easiest and cheapest way to remove diseased or unproductive trees. This negates the carbon sequestration that was banked during the life of the tree. When the tree is burned, it releases stored carbon back into the atmosphere primarily as carbon dioxide (CO2), contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. Burning wood often produces more carbon dioxide per unit of energy than burning fossil fuels like coal or natural gas.

Also important to healthy soil is crop rotation to maintain soil fertility. If the same crops are grown in the same field year over year, it will inevitably strip the soil of the nutrients the plants need to grow. Bohm explains, "Our goal is to return soil to what it was before commercial farming really started taking off.”

The Solution:
A Closed Loop Approach to Farming

CMI Orchards, in partnership with Royal Family Farming, has implemented successful regenerative agriculture practices that improve the health of the environment rather than deplete it.

Royal Family Farming (part of the CMI Orchard family) has implemented a low-till approach to its row crop growing practices. The fields are prepared with a no-till or minimum tillage practice once at the beginning of the growing season during the planting process, reducing the disturbance of the soil and keeping carbon sequestered.

To keep the soil healthy and active for the entire season, cover crops are introduced throughout the fields and between orchard rows, which minimizes the soil’s exposure to weather events and prevents carbon from leaking from the soil into the atmosphere. Cover crops also help regulate the temperature and moisture levels beneath, acting as a blanket in the winter and shade in the summer.

Maintaining appropriate soil temperature and moisture levels is essential because it influences the activity of soil microbes, which in turn affects plant growth, nutrient cycling, and overall ecosystem health. Optimal soil conditions within a specific range of temperature and moisture are vital for plants to thrive and for the soil to perform functions like organic matter decomposition and nutrient availability.

Livestock integration is also important to CMI Orchards’ processes, particularly with ruminants (animals with a unique digestive system that allows them to better use energy from fibrous plant material) like cows that help process and upcycle waste into valuable soil amendments. Remains from the orchard and fields that would otherwise become waste (product that doesn’t’ fit the industry standard for retail, etc.) is converted into food for the cows. This supports not only the prevention of product waste from the fields and orchards but also supports the health of the cows through a nutritious diet designed for animal health and reduces enteric emissions (stomach gasses), meaning healthier outputs such as milk, etc. and fewer greenhouse gases released in the atmosphere. The cows love the taste of fruit in their feed, which encourages them to eat two full meals every day.

Worms are another valuable contributor to the company’s circular initiative and its zero-burn commitment. Rather than following the industry standard and burning the retired trees and trimmed wood, CMI Orchards instead transports wood waste to worm farms at Royal Family Farming. For its 14-acres of worm farms, 2,000 acres per year of wood chips are required for biofiltration, of which CMI Orchards contributes 700+. The remaining 1,300+ acres are sourced by other industry members for the common good and for its forest thinning project that reduces the chances and severity of forest fires.

The cows and worms together create a symbiotic process. From the cattle pens, liquid waste runs off into a large liquid waste tank and is then irrigated over the wood chips in the worm beds. The worms ingest the manure solids that have accumulated in the wood then convert them into castings—the most valuable of soil amendments—which are applied back into the orchards, reducing dependence on synthetic NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium) and increasing soil organic matter and biological activity.

Cows and worms both provide valuable additions to the compost used to fertilize the soil. The compost consists of leftover crops, hay, manure, wood chips and other compostable organic waste from the processing facilities, which utilizes natural decomposition processes and then it all goes back into the fields to enhance nutrient dense diversity and leaves the fields prepped and balanced for the next crop.

CMI Partner, Royal Family Farming, also implements crop rotation as part of its sustainable practices. Crops have different growth habits, nutrient needs, and pest and disease pressures, and rotating the various crops reduces production risk through diversification and can disrupt the life cycle of pests and reduce the need for chemicals, improve nutrients and organic matter in the soil and increase yields.

Says Bohm, “We're looking at upcycling and converting everything we can into other uses on the farms, ultimately to reduce our dependence on synthetic fertilizers and improve our soil. We want to build up soil health as naturally as we can, using every input that we can in the process.”

The Takeaway: Regenerative Agriculture at Scale

CMI Orchards' and Royal Family Farming’s commitment to regenerative agriculture via its closed-loop system has led to significant improvements in soil health and sustainability. By focusing on natural soil amendments and creating a circular economy, the company has created a scalable and replicable model for other growers. The integration of various sustainable practices has not only benefited the company but also the broader agricultural community.

While the monetary profit is not immediate (though it is only a matter of time) the environmental profitability is. The CMI family repurposes every waste output to enhance its farming operations that work with nature, not against it. As Bohm noted, "The future of ag really is regenerative, we have to think about how we can be using more, wasting less and keeping carbon in the soil where it does the most good for our crops in the future."

CMI Orchards has many other initiatives incorporated in it closed loop system, such as support of pollinators and converting its orchards to drip irrigation and micro-sprinklers to eliminate excess water application as well as the use of Integrated Pest Management in its orchards to reduce the frequency, application and overall usage of pesticides.

One of the newest initiatives is CMI Orchard’s partnership with Royal Family Farming to build a world-class enterprise called The Soil Center. This independent business focuses on creating ingredients for soil health using regenerative practices. The Soil Center assists in taking soil measurements within the orchards and cultivates the perfect blend to bring the soil into balance as naturally as possible. This initiative not only benefits CMI Orchards but also provides affordable soil health products to outside growers and farmers.

The Soil Center helps bring more affordable, better quality product for farm use with the goal to educate buyers on what government incentives and initiatives are out there they could potentially tap into in terms of funding and opportunities for adopting regenerative practices at the farm level.

This education aims to differentiate regenerative products in the market and build incremental value. CMI Orchards plans to expand its educational efforts through social media and other channels with authentic voices to share its story, emphasizing the importance of regenerative agriculture for the future of farming.

CMI Orchards' and Royal Family Farming’s regenerative agriculture initiatives have not only improved soil health but also created a sustainable and profitable model for the future. The company's commitment to innovation and sustainability sets a strong example for the agricultural industry.