Wenatchee-based CMI Orchards, Royal Family Farms partner to turn agriculture waste into soil

ROYAL CITY, Wash. – The Soil Center will break ground in late May in Royal City and provide orchard growers and dairy farmers an opportunity to get rid of waste and compost it into reusable soil amendments, according to CMI Orchards.

Wenatchee-based CMI Orchards announced The Soil Center was a partnership with Royal Family Farms of Royal City in a March 5 news release.

The Soil Center will span 50 acres next to Royal Dairy at 11792 Road 12.5 SW. Royal Dairy is a dairy farm under Royal Family Farms.

Soil scientist Jonathan Cox, president of The Soil Center, said he is excited about the project.

“What we are looking to accomplish is basically take waste from all our operations, from the farm operations all the way to the packing house, to repurpose that waste in a variety of different tools into soil amendments that we can then put back in the ground to create a significantly closed-loop agricultural system at a very large scale,” Cox said.

Cox said the conventional way growers get rid of old orchard trees is to pile them and burn them, which releases carbon dioxide into the air. And the conventional way to get rid of cow manure is to put it in a lagoon.

The process will begin with using The Soil Center’s mobile wood chippers to go to grower’s orchards to collect orchard trees that are no longer needed. The chippers will convert the trees into wood chips and haul them back to The Soil Center.

The wood chips, along with cow manure and “green water” from dairy farms will be put in an 8-acre worm farm with millions of worms inside a “pool,” Cox said.

The worms will extract nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, allowing new, clean soil with carbon to be packed and put back into the grounds of orchards.

Wood from pallets and cardboard from fruit packing warehouses can also be composted at The Soil Center.

Another service The Soil Center will offer is taking soil samples from orchards to examine and determine what kind of custom blend of soil the orchards need to sustain healthy fruit trees, Cox said.

Cox said the company aims to have product ready for growers in the CMI Orchards’ network in the fall. Beginning early next year the center will be open for growers outside the CMI Orchards network.

CMI Orchards’ network includes: McDougall and Sons, Double Diamond Fruit, Columbia Fruit Packers, Yakima Fruit and Cold Storage Co., with thousands of acres across Washington state, according to Rochelle Bohm, CMI Orchards’ vice president of marketing.

Cox said The Soil Center will provide an opportunity for growers to get soil amendments locally instead of other parts of the county and world while being environmentally sustainable.

“CMI is steadfast in its commitment to a carbon-negative fruit industry. Our partnership with The Soil Center reflects this commitment,” CMI Orchards President Bob Mast said. “We are focused on creating a model that helps the entire agricultural sector, extending these advantages to all growers. Our efforts are aimed at enhancing the global agricultural environment sustainably, and our customers and end consumers deserve to be served by companies passionately devoted to the highest standards of land and animal stewardship. This project isn’t just a mission; it’s a promise of that commitment in action brought together by a family whose dedication has transformed what it means to farm with the future in mind.”

Austin Allred, president of Royal Family Farming, is also a co-owner of CMI Orchards, according to the press release.

“What began as a personal endeavor to support our family’s farming efforts has blossomed into one of the largest regenerative farms operating at scale,” Allred said in the release. “We’re taking the intimate, red barn farmer’s market approach and expanding it, proving that sustainable practices can be successfully implemented on a larger scale. Rethinking our approach to carbon is imperative in this journey. Our goal is to significantly increase soil carbon, a critical factor for cultivating healthier crops and fostering a more resilient agricultural ecosystem. A major part of our mission is to educate consumers and shift the general perspective on carbon. It’s not just about reducing carbon in the atmosphere; it’s about enhancing carbon in the soil, where it can do the most good for our planet.”