SPRING 2025 Farm Life Stress Resources for farmers The Dark Side of Biochar A critical examination Niche Products Create Farm Fans ATrendof DirecttoConsumer MODERNAG Tree NutsThe new year is well underway, and we’re always on the lookout for what can help growers. Whether desperate times, desperate measures or necessity being the mother of invention, people adapt, some are proactive, and others — if not most — have their fortitude tested for something as seemingly prosaic as an income-producing farm. How do some growers handle this? We spoke with three (among many!) who have tapped into niche endeavors that have proven to be worth the initial risk. Since then, more and more growers have reached out to share with us how they have built additional on-farm income — campouts, unique and traditional product lines, festivals, u-pick, the trusty farmstand, and more. This issue also hosts a critique of the biochar fanfare. While it has its place in the realm of carbon sequestration, how much of it really belongs in U.S. agriculture? As with most things for your farm, you’ll have to be the judge. Crystal Nay Managing Editor Modern Ag - Tree Nuts is published quarterly (winter, spring, summer, fall) by Modern Ag Media, PO Box 1095, Columbia, CA, 95310, 209-900-1141, info@modern-ag.net. Modern Ag Media and Modern Ag - Tree Nuts are not responsible for content or opinions included in this publication. Reference in this publication to any specific commercial product or service is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. ISSN 2995-8652 (print), ISSN 2995-8660 (online). © 2025, Modern Ag Media. All right reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without written permission from Modern Ag Media. Published by Modern Ag Media Managing Editor Crystal Nay Art and Design Matt Hannon Editor’s Note EDITOR’S LETTERCOVER STORY A Trend of Direct to Consumer Skipping the middle man 4 SOIL HEALTH The Dark Side of Biochar Unearthing the complexities 10 MENTAL HEALTH Farm Life Stress Resources for struggling farmers 16 GRANTS The Role of Grant Funding in Agriculture Where to look for farm grants 24 DISEASE The Concern of Red Leaf Blotch Almonds have been spotted 20 EDUCATION Hours, Wages, Training Keys to successful agribusiness internships 28 On the cover: Baby Hartley Photo: Tenderly Rooted TABLE OF CONTENTS MODERN-AG.NET | 3A Trend of Direct to Consumer A Trend of Direct to Consumer A Trend of When prices are low, farmers tap into other options for on-farm income When prices are low, farmers tap into other options for on-farm income By Crystal Nay By Crystal Nay SALE SALESALE SALE 4 | SPRING 2025 | MODERN AG - TREE NUTSFamily, friends, and neighbors help plant trees. Photos: Capay Hills Orchards Brian Paddock found a niche in raw almonds. N o two ways about it: When pricing is low, farmers have a rough go. It also forces growers to look at other options for farm-produced income, such as u-pick, farm tours, and other agritourism efforts. Many growers hold back a percentage of their crop to take it directly to the consumer themselves. Modern Ag took a look at three family operations to see how these tree nut farmers are finding income — and creating fans — in niche, direct-to-consumer markets. Capay Hills Orchards Capay Hills Orchards, founded in 2000, is one such farm in Northern California that began with a few 100-year-old, dry-farmed almonds trees that served as a childhood experience for the Paddock family’s kids. A commercial pilot in the early aughts, Brian Paddock decided it was time to earn money from the farm while the airline industry struggled in a post-9/11 world. That moved toward applying for NRCS grants, which were successful in 2008/2009, another economically eventful time. Over the following two years, the Paddocks had family, friends, and neighbors over, and together they planted 1,400 new almond trees. The move to organic was simply smart farming for Paddock. “We drink the exact same water,” he said. “I just didn’t want to take any chances, and the market was there. I think it was a very wise decision, and since then I’ve been a complete believer in organic.” Capay Hills Orchards then fell into a niche market — raw, unpasteurized almonds. In September 2007, USDA required the pasteurization of raw almonds in response to a salmonella outbreak that was traced back to raw almonds. The law, however, contained a direct sales exemption clause that exempted farmers that sold their nuts directly to consumers through e-commerce, farmers markets, roadside farm stands, and community supported agriculture. The product, however, still requires labeling as unpasteurized. (Note: In 2022, the Almond Board of California proposed a rule to change this exemption. With over 1,100 comments on the proposal, 98% opposed it, and USDA-AMS withdrew the proposed rule.) “With a small orchard like ours, which is 12.5 planted acres, this kind of fits pretty well. We could do it ourselves,” said Paddock. The farm sells organic, unpasteurized, raw almonds online, at a roadside stand, and at the occasional farmer’s market. Would the same decisions have been made COVER STORY MODERN-AG.NET | 5without the USDA mandate? Paddock can’t say for sure, but “the truth is, if you take the middleman out of anything, you’re going to make more money. By the time the [almonds] get to [consumers], it’s been marked up quite a bit. So if you can keep the relationship direct to the consumer, it’s really a win-win for everybody.” Of the three primary products that the farm sells, raw almonds account for about 95% of the sales, said Paddock, with customers being selective in their variety choices. “You know what a wine snob is? Well, I’ve kind of made an almond snob out of a lot of my customers.” Tenderly Rooted Fourth-generation farmer Kaben Kramer and his wife, Jenn, co-founded and began farming Tenderly Rooted in 2018. When they received their check in 2019, they realized it was enough “to squeak by on” before the wild days that followed in 2020. But, in order to farm full time, raise a family, and pay the lease, the couple started a walnut-focused side hustle and found themselves in their own small niche. “I’m allergic to walnuts,” said Jenn Kramer, co-founder of Tenderly Rooted. “I can’t eat them, but I can eat a sprouted walnut.” When a walnut is sprouted, said Jenn, it reduces the allergens, phytic acids, and tannins. While this is not medical advice, the Kramers have found that most people with mild walnut allergies have been able to consume sprouted walnuts. They coupled their idea and access to walnuts on the backdrop that Americans don’t eat a lot of walnuts due to the bitterness, and oftentimes by the time consumers grab them from the grocery store shelves, “they’re old and dry and chalky. Now you’ve got a dry, chalky, bitter nut, so you’re probably not going to eat very many of them,” she said. Working around the trope of subpar quality from the baking aisle, the Kramers have made walnuts snackable by sprouting them, dipping them into a real food broth to infuse different flavors, and then drying them out again. “Suddenly, they’re very pleasant to eat. We COVER STORY 6 | SPRING 2025 | MODERN AG - TREE NUTS Photos: Tenderly Rootedknew we had this way of getting walnuts to still be a superfood, but would be palatable to Americans,” Jenn said. “We had to get out of the baking aisle, and we had to get out of the farmer’s market, and we wanted to get them to people outside of the area.” The pandemic’s shipping and supply chain complications pushed back the initial launch date for Tenderly Rooted’s sprouted walnuts, and in 2021 the product officially launched. The farm was selling a humble 12 bags a month — very much a side hustle — and Jenn maintained a full-time job off the farm. As part of a marketing effort, the farm sent out bags to Instagram influencers in early 2021, and in April of that year, one influencer in particular moved the needle. “She shared our walnuts, and overnight our product kind of exploded, and it went from this side hustle to our full-time gig,” said Jenn. “This walnut has kept us afloat because there was no money to farm with” due to walnut prices being so low. As Tenderly Rooted grows its direct-to- consumer market, the holidays have become a particularly great time — the farm sees a significant uptick in online orders, typically seeing 30% of its annual revenue occur between Nov. 15 and Dec. 15. It’s also when four holiday-exclusive flavors are released, along with two chocolate options, and most recently a brand new Brünut Butter flavor. Both Kaben and Jenn now work full time on the farm and have two employees. In the Kramers’ first year, they held back 1% of their crop for direct-to-consumer. Today, they’re holding back 10-15% of their crop, meaning the majority still goes to the commodity market, and they are still heavily impacted by the poorer market prices, which in turn still limits their ability to do some of the things they’d like to do on the farm. “So, the idea would be to obviously grow that direct consumer. The challenge there, of COVER STORY MODERN-AG.NET | 7 The Kramer family. Photo: Tenderly Rootedcourse, is that we’re building a new market brick by brick,” Kaben said. “Most people have a negative association with walnuts, and most people have never even heard of what a sprouted walnut is. It’s a lot of consumer education.” There are multiple layers of education behind every sale at Tenderly Rooted, and it’s an uphill conversation, said Kaben. But on the other side of that conversation is a robust and loyal customer base that understands and appreciates the value. This is seen in repeat customers and subscription boxes, which serve as the backbone of the farm’s direct-to- consumer approach. “Everyone wants to snack,” Kaben said, “but no one wants the guilt.” The same concept can apply to farmers looking to try their own hand at direct-to- consumer options. When the Kramers held back that first 1% of the crop, it wasn’t a huge risk to their bottom line, which makes “just start small” a key piece of advice they share with other growers. “It doesn’t have to be scary to start your own direct-to-consumer products,” Jenn said. “If you think about the fact that we can make more money on 10% of our crop going direct to consumer than we can 90% to the commodity market, it’s compelling.” “And it should be compelling to the vertically integrated handlers,” Kaben said. “We flipped the equation on its head. We realized we had to be price setters instead of price takers.” Pearson Farms It’s a similar story on the other side of the country with Pearson Farms, a Georgia peach and pecan farm in operation since 1885. Lawton Pearson is fifth generation, and when he returned to the farm in the early 2000s, there was already a small retail, direct-to-consumer presence that had dated back to the 1990s. The last 15 years, however, has been a full-force push into their website and mail order, direct-to-consumer packaging for pecans. Depending on the year, 92-95% of the crop is wholesale, but even that 5-8% that gets kept back is sizable on the 4,000-acre pecan orchard. And every year, the direct-to-consumer aspect expands. And customers love to talk about varieties. “They love to experience the differences in different varieties,” said Lawton Pearson, owner, Pearson Farms. Pearson sells by variety and markets them as a seasonal item that is different. He also has an interest in teaching everyone the differences in varieties, why some are better than others, and other traits that make variety “the spice of life.” “It gives us, I think, an edge in that a pecan is not just a pecan,” he said. The farm has particular varieties that are particularly suited to specific purposes, such as baking or in-shell, and this approach has helped not only build a following, but create interested and more educated consumers. The pecan industry has watched its sister industries of almonds, walnuts, and pistachios grow to impressive success over the years, and it hopes for similar success as the industry begins shaping a more unified identity and process. And in this rise to success, it has also been witness to the downfalls. Spread across 13 states, direct-to-consumer is far more COVER STORY 8 | SPRING 2025 | MODERN AG - TREE NUTScommon across this industry. This means that this approach may be more challenging in pecan, as they’re more widespread, and people are quite partial to their local pecans. “There are pecans everywhere. How do you compete in that?” said Pearson. “If it’s not hyper local, I think you have to go hyper high end, hyper premium. “We can talk all day long about how great our pecans are. Everybody thinks their pecans are the best, and that’s fine, but you’ve got to prove it and go after something that’s going to return more money. Because, at the end of the day, the only reason to do that is the margin between what you can get from direct retail and what you get from wholesale. That’s all you got is that margin. And if you can’t make that margin, you’re better off not doing it.” Neither the USDA nor the tree nut commodity boards or commissions track direct-to-consumer data. COVER STORY MODERN-AG.NET | 9 Photos: Pearson FarmsNext >