Johnny Appleseed of organic composting, Farmer D, to develop two biodynamic farms in Bruce

Tree-hugging and real estate development, like politics, make strange bedfellows. On July 17, some of each camp found enough common ground to sit down to lunch together.

Land use attorney, developer and restaurant owner Lloyd Blue and environmentalist/philanthropist/financier M.C. Davis laid on the bayside organic feast at the former Café 3-31 for about 20 conservationists, visionary developers and friendlies.

The lunch featured Daron ‘Farmer D’ Joffe of Atlanta who, in describing the trajectory of his career (from ordinary sandwich eater to organic sandwich grower), planted some seeds of biodynamic farming that have rapidly taken root in the soil of Walton County. Lunch guest Bill Cole’s dream of an organic farmer’s market north of the Choctawhatchee Bay is now one step closer to realization.

Three days after the lunch, Blue made an announcement.

“Farmer D is on board with us to develop a fully biodynamic commercial organic farm on the Cowford Farm, surrounded by the Nokuse Preserve,” said Blue.

Nor was Davis reluctant to commit.

“The E. O. Wilson Biophilia Center has reached an agreement with Farmer D to do educational programs for the local schools, teaching about nutrition and the cycles of organic composting and agriculture,” said Davis. “He will be creating an organic garden at Biophilia.”

Plans are now in the works for Farmer D to create both a 100-acre commercial organic farming operation at Cowford Farms and a totally closed loop sustainable organic farm for the residents of Emerald Glen, an equestrian community under development by Blue. Both Cowford Farms and Emerald Glen are located near the Nokuse Preserve and the E.O. Wilson Biophilia Center in Bruce.

These projects in Walton County join such exemplars of sustainable agricultural development (also designed by Joffe) as Hampton Island (near Savannah, Ga.) and Serenbe Farms (near Atlanta).

WHO IS FARMER D?

Joffe addressed the luncheon clad in well-worn jeans and a straw hat. He spent about an hour detailing his evolution from curious sandwich-eater (wondering where the ingredients came from) as a student at the University of Wisconsin to organic farmer, entrepreneur and proponent of biodynamic farming.

The objective of biodynamic farming is to develop long-term sustainable forms of land management integrating organic farming with nature conservation and landscape ecology (e.g., creation of hedges, field margins, buffer strips, field woods and ponds that follow the natural contours of the land). In closed loop biodynamic farming, organic waste materials from animals as well as plants are recycled into the farm of origin as compost and fertilizer.

Crediting the “best biodynamic farm in the world,” (located in East Troy, Wis.) and the Michael Fields Institute as influential mentors, Joffe detailed a career that combined years of practical farming experience with research that helped him pursue his goals.

The practice of biodynamics, a global movement which has found a significant following in Europe and the U.S., is also grounded in a spiritual basis of bringing eaters into a more fulfilling relationship with the process of natural food production and the cycles of waste management, soil replenishment and sensitive recycling that practitioners believe will yield sustainable results for the healthy ecology of the earth, it’s animals and people.

As a demonstrably successful businessman, Joffe’s remarks carried substantial credibility as well as topical interest to the diverse luncheon audience.

Derailing the dominance of agribusiness, which he said has been more interested in the shelf life and appearance of foods than in their role in supporting human health, in favor of small, sustainable organic farms is Joffe’s intent. Joffe would like to help all eaters recognize and appreciate a sandwich that tastes less like cardboard and is better for them, spiritually as well as physically. In addition to taste, Joffe wants to address the current epidemics of diabetes and childhood obesity by changing eating habits from an early age.

WHAT IS HE SELLING?

Through the innovation of an organic composting process, and successful partnerships with farmers and Whole Foods, a natural grocery retail chain, Joffe has already mounted a wide variety of sustainable agricultural projects as well as the profitable production and distribution of related products and services.

Joffe now sells his Farmer D organic compost and a host of other products related to sustainable organic agriculture online and through the Whole Foods chain of retail grocery stores. Finding it necessary to have a retail operation to anchor the online business, he converted the family car wash/auto detailing business in Atlanta to a production and retail facility for the Farmer D line of gardening items, including a line of shovel-ready raised beds, composting equipment and other gardening essentials.

WHAT WILL WALTON COUNTY BUY?

Farmer D wrapped up his remarks with encouragement to those gathered to pursue a sustainable agriculture path in Walton County.

“It’s easy for an authentic, small community to go in this direction,” said Joffe. “There’s a beautiful, unique ecology here and a vibrant community.”

“How can we fight predators organically?” Davis wanted to know.

Joffe outlined a system of double fencing to ward off vaulting deer, the use of certain nematodes and complimentary plants to control invasive beetles and also the use of crop rotation to discourage predators. 

Another audience member asked if the sustainable farming movement was as evident in other parts of the world. Joffe responded that he had recently been to China, where he described interest in biodynamic farming as exploding. He said that across Europe and the United Kingdom, organic farming practices and biodynamic farming has been growing for decades.

Joffe spent several days in Walton County, touring Blue’s planned Emerald Glen development project in Bruce, consisting of 30 home sites around a 120 acre farm. Joffe also toured Cowford Farms, a 300 acre existing farm adjacent to the Nokuse Preserve. Both Cowford Farms and Emerald Glen have been marketed as equestrian communities. Now developer Lloyd Blue is broadening the original concept in keeping with national market trends and opportunities he foresees in Walton County.

“I’m particularly excited about a full-blown organic farm in Bruce,” said Blue. “Farmer D has taken soil samples and we have reached an agreement to bring him on to develop it with us.” Blue said that the land expected to be used for the farm has not been treated with fertilizers for several years, so would be on a fast track for certification and production of organic produce for local restaurants.

“It is ambitious but not unattainable to expect our first crop in late fall,” said Joffe. “In collaboration with the Biophilia Center, this is a culmination of my experience and passions. At Cowford Farms we will have animal villages and include some Florida cracker cows.”

Agricultural innovations by Farmer D include:

• In San Francisco, Farmer D directed a prison-based organic farming program that had inmates cultivating and distributing boxes of organic produce to their families, friends and visitors to the prison.
• 30 miles outside Atlanta, Joffe has recently been consulting on the development of an organic farm on the renowned Serenbe development. There, he said, the organic farm has become the highest rated attraction among such traditional competitors as golf and tennis.
• The renovated barns at Serenbe that house the agricultural education center also house a holistic spa. The farm provides herbs for the massage oils and other therapeutic purposes of the spa. Started by the Pleasant Peasant restaurant family, Serenbe is now touted as a model of sustainable utopian development, combining eco-friendly amenities with rural land conservation practices.
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