The Global Land Grab: What It Means for Agriculture, Energy, and Society

By Kathleen Marquardt In recent years, the topic of land acquisition by major corporations, foreign governments, and private equity firms has gained increasing attention. Companies like BlackRock, JP Morgan, Vanguard, and others have been purchasing vast tracts of farmland, forests, and single-family homes, raising concerns about the long-term impact on agriculture and local communities. Additionally, foreign powers like China are …

Soybean Solution Solves Sticky Situation

By P.J. Heller It wasn’t that long ago when Jim Weber looked out at a section of his Ohio Mulch property and watched as trucks would get stuck in thick mud.  Weber wanted to use part of a 10-acre plot for truck and equipment storage and to construct a warehouse building. The problem was the ground was too damp, soft …

Processed Pine Substrates in Nursery Production: Updates and Potentials

By Dr. Brian E. Jackson As all aspects of horticultural crop production continue to improve and evolve, research and development of soilless substrates is also keeping pace with our ever changing and demanding production practices. Processed pine and fir bark has been the primary substrate component for nursery growers across the country for several decades, a trend that holds true …

Grandpa Sol’s Legacy Carries On At Rexius

By P.J. Heller Nine decades after “Grandpa Sol” started his business by repurposing wood waste materials, his legacy lives on.  “We’re doing the same thing 90 years later that grandpa did in the ’30s,” says his grandson, Rusty Rexius.  Grandpa Sol’s business – Rexius Fuel Service – initially involved going to Oregon sawmills to collect sawdust, which would normally be …

Growers Facing Supply & Demand Challenges for Growing Media

By Dr. Brian E. Jackson Once upon a time growers could call their growing media supplier(s) and have product ordered, shipped, and delivered within days. It is no mystery to anyone today that “those days” are gone, at least for the foreseeable future. The global growing media industry, like so many others in horticulture, has experienced unprecedented product demand which …

Ohio Mulch Success Strategy: Changing With The Times

By P.J. Heller Jim Weber has come a long way since he was a 19-year-old running a lawn service business out of the garage at his parents’ home. Today, some 38 years later, Weber is owner and president of Ohio Mulch, one of the largest mulch manufacturing companies in Ohio. The company, headquartered on a 56-acre site in Columbus, has …

Green Vision Materials: A Model for Success in the Mulch & Soil Business

By Keith Barker Beau Gibney, CEO/COO at Green Vision Materials (GVM) based out of Newbury, Ohio, near Cleveland, began in the mulch and soil products business after starting his own landscaping company right out of high school, in the early nineties. Through that decade, he aggressively grew his business and found he was generating a huge amount of green waste.“I …

In-House ELDT Driver Training Solution Now Available

By Robert L. LaGasseExecutive Director Mulch & Soil Council “Do you want your children to grow up to be truck drivers?” That was the question posed by Philip Byrd, then president of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and Bulldog Trucking, when he spoke to members of the Mulch & Soil Council about the issue of a looming truck driver shortage.  …

County Expands Compost Efforts To Meet California Recycling Law

By P.J. Heller A new $8 million composting facility — designed to speed up the composting process by as much as 50 percent or more from its two existing sites — is being planned by Orange County Waste & Recycling to help meet California’s mandate to divert organic waste from landfills in order to reduce greenhouse gases.  When completed, expected …

Sheep, Goats Helping to Mitigate Wildfires

By P.J. Heller When the Sleepy Hollow Fire Protection District and Fire Safe Marin wanted to reduce the impact of wildfires in Marin County communities north of San Francisco, they brought in a unique crew from Star Creek Land Stewards to remove fire fuel. Some 1,200 goats and sheep from Star Creek grazed hundreds of acres, removing fire fuel including …