#168: Darren Small (Oko) — Simplifying Logistics and Automating Supply Chains

John Kempf — founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA), a regenerative agronomy company started back in 2006 to share the knowledge, tools, and systems that regenerate farm profitability, soil health, and plant health, all while reducing the need for fertilizers and pesticides.

Under John’s leadership, AEA has grown to be trusted by over 10,000 growers across the world to deliver exceptional yield and quality improvement results on over 4 million collective acres of fruit, nut, vegetable, and broad acre crops all while profitably generating over $20mm in revenue last year and raising over $2.5 million in crowdfunding.

From a recognition that our existing food system is fundamentally broken, John’s vision is one that agriculture — the source of so many challenges in our world today — has the capacity to be the solution to those very challenges, where the process of growing food regenerates land, revitalizes rural communities, produces food that improves our health, and leads to farming landscapes that are beautiful, vibrant and clean.

In addition to building AEA, John is also the host of the Regenerative Agriculture podcast — one of the leading agriculture podcasts in the country, with millions of downloads— where he interviews leading farmers and scientists on the practices and science that accelerate the healing of soil, crops, livestock, and our relationship to land.

It’s hard not to be inspired after meeting with John — he is clearly pushing the envelope of what is possible and necessary — unaccepting of the status quo and limitations of conventional agriculture; his passion and enthusiasm are infectious and his progress with AEA is more than compelling. This was such a fun and educational conversation — from unpacking the larger concept of regenerative agriculture to hearing about the influence of his Amish upbringing and much more.

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LINKS:
https://johnkempf.com/
https://advancingecoag.com/
https://regenerativeagriculturepodcast.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRApdrU3BA0Pzo6MNWTD2jg
https://www.instagram.com/advancingecoag/

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