{"id":31879,"date":"2019-07-10T04:00:51","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T09:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/civileats.com\/?p=31879"},"modified":"2021-10-28T14:43:49","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T21:43:49","slug":"a-maryland-grain-grower-takes-regenerative-agriculture-to-the-next-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/civileats.com\/2019\/07\/10\/a-maryland-grain-grower-takes-regenerative-agriculture-to-the-next-step\/","title":{"rendered":"A Maryland Grain Grower Takes Regenerative Agriculture to the Next Step"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his 20s, farmer Heinz Thomet recalls asking himself: \u201cWhat do you want to do with your life? Are you going to purchase some mountain valley and live a hermit life… or do you want to be in the world and be part of change?\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckily for eaters in the Washington, D.C. area, he chose the latter. Thomet is driven to farm by what he sees as a world in crisis\u2014unbridled consumerism, environmental disasters, mass shootings\u2014all of it related to the same combative approach to existence. Disconnected from nature, humans attempt to solve problems with heavy artillery instead of seeking to understand the root causes of disharmony, he says. Blinded by the pursuit of wealth, they lose sight of their ability to do good.<\/p>\n

Observe his work and evidence of that dysfunction disappears. In its place are endless rows of immaculate lettuces, kale, and scallions; lush fields of grain, overwintered onions ready to be harvested, caraway, dill, and peppermint plants sprouting up; and an orchard of kiwi and fig trees.<\/p>\n

\"rows

\u201cI am a person who functions in a pioneer situation,\u201d Thomet says, and his daily response to an era of bleak climate change predictions<\/a> is simple: Get to work. \u201cWhat is my place in it all? I will always have a piece of land, and I obviously know how to drive a tractor,” he says. “You need to have models that we can look towards to say, \u2018Hey, that can work.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Next Step Produce<\/a>, which Thomet runs with his wife, Gabrielle Lajoie, is a compelling model. For close to 20 years, the couple has been at the forefront of sustainable farming in southern Maryland, growing staples including grains to diversify the local food economy and building soil health with regenerative practices.<\/p>\n

Farming Step by Step<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thomet grew up on a farm in Switzerland and arrived in the U.S. as a young man, by way of New York City. \u201cMy first thought was to get the hell out of there,\u201d he says, and he hit the Appalachian Trail. Later, he worked at Caretaker Farm<\/a> in Massachusetts and then at the famed biodynamic Hawthorne Valley Farm<\/a> in upstate New York.<\/p>\n

In 2000, he started farming on an 86-acre parcel of land about 50 miles south of Washington, D.C, in Newburg, Maryland. After he married Lajoie, she became a crucial partner on the farm, and they laid out what would be Next Step Produce\u2019s enduring philosophy: commitment to growing nourishing food in harmony with nature.<\/p>\n

Over the years, Thomet became a well-known player in D.C.\u2019s local food movement. Many know his wild salt-and-pepper beard, Swiss accent, and intensity from the many years he was a fixture at the Dupont farmers\u2019 market.<\/p>\n

Next Step now has a small direct-to-consumer business but primarily sells to restaurants and small-batch food brands. In Baltimore, the farm\u2019s vegetables and grains are featured on the menus at Woodberry Kitchen<\/a> and Artifact Coffee<\/a>. Keepwell<\/a>, based in Pennsylvania, uses Thomet\u2019s bitter lemons to make vinegar. And his grains are baked into plentiful loaves at Seylou<\/a>, often referred to as D.C.\u2019s best bakery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe both love what we do. He loves farming; I love baking with local whole grains,\u201d said Seylou co-owner and head baker Jonathan Bethony. \u201cI\u2019m just trying to use the beautiful products that he has grown and to keep that chain of integrity alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Spiritual-Scientific Approach to Farming<\/strong><\/p>\n

Next Step is a certified organic farm, but that\u2019s not where it ends. Thomet is a prolific reader and has tapped various agricultural and spiritual philosophies to hone his approach. The farm isn\u2019t certified biodynamic, but he uses some biodynamic practices and believes in many principles of anthroposophy, the spiritual philosophy developed by the founder of biodynamic farming, Rudolf Steiner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the base of all of Thomet\u2019s thinking is a central tenet: If something goes wrong on the farm, it\u2019s because some element is out of balance. For example, he uses some of the protocols sold by farm consultant company Advancing Eco Agriculture<\/a>, which promotes the idea that pest problems are caused by trace element deficiencies in soil. In other words, if minerals and other nutrients in the soil are balanced properly, plants are resilient and insects and diseases don\u2019t go after them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first question should be: ‘How do you create a healthy plant?’\u201d he says, as opposed to simply attacking whatever is causing the problem.<\/p>\n

\"Heinz

Of course, nature is unpredictable, and that doesn\u2019t always work perfectly. Two years ago, Thomet had a heavy infestation of aphids on his sorghum. Still, he approached the issue with the intent to save the plants, not kill the pest. \u201cWe sprayed potassium silicate to strengthen the cell wall,\u201d he recalls. Doing so \u201cstrengthened the plant and pushed the aphids back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russell Trimmer, a farmer-turned-baker, worked at Next Step alongside Thomet and Lajoie for about three years. \u201cHe pulls from a really broad base of knowledge, and that open-mindedness and willingness to experiment and decide for himself in a very scientific way has been huge,\u201d Trimmer says. \u201cOf course, that only gets you so far, unless you have a really crazy work ethic to follow through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trimmer says that Next Step\u2019s operations were notably efficient, so that work that would have taken an entire season to complete at another farm could be completed in a week. But he was initially drawn to the job by a simpler promise: communal vegan farm lunches. While other farms feed their workers PB&J on the go, Lajoie cooks farm fresh vegan meals and workers sit down with the family (which now includes three teenage daughters\u2014Mikayla, Raphaelle, and Hazel), offer thanks for the food, and eat together.<\/p>\n

The vegan ethic also extends beyond the table. The only domesticated animals on the farm are three happy dogs and a few chickens. (\u201cThey\u2019re pets!\u201d Thomet says, matter-of-factly.) Instead of manure, plentiful compost is made from hay, straw, and leaves and amended with minerals and trace elements. Through a system of compost application, crop rotations, cover crops, and mineral balancing, Thomet has slowly regenerated the soil on the farm, which was once depleted by years of extractive, conventional tobacco farming.<\/p>\n

\"Some

So far, he says he\u2019s increased organic matter in the soil by about 1 percent, an accomplishment that can take decades<\/a>. In addition to growing nourishing food, he sees building healthy soil that can sequester carbon<\/a> as one of the essential tasks of the modern farmer.<\/p>\n

Building a Local Food System to Feed a Region<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thomet also thinks deeply about his role in the regional food system in relation to what other farms are producing\u2014or not producing. For instance, in his area, there are many small farms growing vegetables but very few producing grains or sweeteners.<\/p>\n

Noting rising demand for local grains, he started planting them in 2010 and attracted the most attention<\/a> for growing rice, a crop that hasn\u2019t been commercially grown in the Chesapeake region for more than a century. If others are currently growing it in Maryland and Virginia, it\u2019s not enough to even register on the most recent USDA Agricultural Census.<\/a> Thomet is also using a system called System of Rice Intensification<\/a> (SRI). Instead of using flooded paddies, SRI involves keeping soil moist and amending it with compost and other nutrients. This requires less seed and water and reduces methane emissions, which result from bacteria that thrive in flooded fields.<\/p>\n

\"Heinz

In addition to rice, Next Step\u2019s grain rotations now include barley, buckwheat, millet, oats, rye, and various wheats. \u00a0The operation eventually inspired Trimmer to start baking.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe grains that we were growing and milling… it was pretty special,\u201d he said, \u201cand I saw that even Heinz really had to hustle in order to sell these things … that no one at the market knew what to do with it, how to bake with the whole grains.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trimmer went on to bake with local grains at Sub Rosa Bakery<\/a> in Richmond, Virginia. He then ran the bread baking program at Woodberry Kitchen<\/a>, where he used Next Step\u2019s grains. Now, he\u2019s buying grains from Thomet for his own bakery, Motzi Bread<\/a>, also in Baltimore, which is currently operating on a membership model and will open a brick-and-mortar shop later this year.<\/p>\n

Putting Hope in the Ground<\/strong><\/p>\n

D.C.\u2019s Seylou also owes part of its origin story to Thomet. Co-owner Bethony says that when he was trying to decide on a location for his bakery, he considered New York, Colorado, and Washington State, but decided to set up in D.C. out of a desire to work with Thomet, who he considers a kindred spirit. \u201cHe cares about healing the land and healing bodies with nutritious foods. That\u2019s his first priority,\u201d Bethony says.<\/p>\n

Today, the two have a close, working relationship. After realizing that a healthy farm system requires multiple crop rotations, Bethony adjusted his baking to work with less common grains such as millet, buckwheat, and rye. He now bases his recipes on whatever Thomet grows at a given time, and Thomet experiments with growing new grains on his behalf, too. The result is a Seylou menu that includes options like gluten-free bread made with pearl millet or German-style bread made with whole wheat, rye, and buckwheat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do our best to make it delicious and accessible, but it\u2019s something much deeper than just business or showing off,\u201d Bethony says. \u201cIt\u2019s about keeping the money here in the region and helping farmers like Heinz to survive. If more bakers and restaurateurs don\u2019t start thinking like this, these guys will go away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Heinz

In fact, while Thomet is the farmer, he comes back over and over to the impact that buyers and eaters have on the food system. Unlike at a factory, \u201cWe take something very little, put a bunch of hope in it by putting it in the ground… and we are able to produce genuine wealth with sunlight, air, and soil,\u201d he says. \u201cBut we farmers are about 1 percent of the U.S. population, and out of that, about 1 percent is organic.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order for farms like his to survive and for other farmers to follow in his footsteps, he says, consumers need to show up at farmers\u2019 markets, ask questions about carbon sequestration and regenerative practices, and use their resources to support food that supports healthy bodies and a healthier planet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe questions are \u2018What are people for?\u2019 and \u2018What future do you want?\u2019 and \u2018What are you actively doing to make it happen?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

All photos \u00a9 Lisa Held.<\/em><\/p>\n

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In his 20s, farmer Heinz Thomet recalls asking himself: \u201cWhat do you want to do with your life? Are you going to purchase some mountain valley and live a hermit life… or do you want to be in the world and be part of change?\u201d Luckily for eaters in the Washington, D.C. area, he chose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":740,"featured_media":32017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3255,4632,12433],"tags":[12092,12090,12091],"coauthors":[4440],"class_list":["post-31879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agroecology","category-farmer-profiles","category-regenerative-agriculture","tag-regen","tag-regenerativeagriculture","tag-regenerativeag"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Maryland Grain Grower Takes Regenerative Agriculture to the Next Step | Civil Eats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Heinz Thomet works in balance with nature to grow highly sought-after specialty crops, while sequestering 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