Community Highlights: Meet Evan Folds of Be Agriculture

Today we’d like to introduce you to Evan Folds.

Hi Evan, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers. 
I was always interested in the natural world, so went to college in 1996 wanting to be a marine biologist. I ended up with a biology and a religion degree, always trying to see how everything works together. School did not teach systems thinking, so I left uninspired, not even knowing what I wanted to know. Then a book found me called “Secrets of the Soil” it introduced me to biodynamic agriculture, the work of Rudolf Steiner, and the concept of life force, which launched me into a deep discovery of the living world. What I found motivated me to want to teach others, so I started a retail garden center in Wilmington, NC, in 2002 called Progressive Gardens. This effort sparked my entrepreneurial spirit, resulting in ultimately having five different businesses at one time – retail garden store, wholesale compost tea business, a market vegetable farm, commercial wheatgrass enterprise, and an organic land care company. It was way too much, a boot camp of sorts, and in 2018 when I was exiting my companies, I discovered that my experience was valuable to others, so started a consulting platform called Be Agriculture. The insight that I have come to over the years is that agriculture is more than just farming; it includes eating, growing, and the impact of these endeavors on human and environmental health. Wendell Berry said, “Eating is an agricultural act,” which may be my favorite quote. The premise that I have come to after 20+ years in the work is that we are agricultural beings, and it is our disconnect from the living soil and what nourishes us that is manifesting the big challenges that we are facing in the world today. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Success is never a straight line. Leaving college with science and philosophy degrees, I learned business on the fly. The cliche of learning from failure is absolutely true, and I am blessed to have made my mistakes in the realm of my passion from such a young age. The agricultural markets that I worked in, things like urban agriculture, hydroponics, biodynamics, etc. were emerging and, in the beginning, before their time. The struggle of achieving success with cutting-edge concepts is much of what taught me how to help others do it for themselves with my consulting company Be Agriculture. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are agricultural beings grown from the living soil. The impact that agriculture has on hunger, poverty, health care, energy, climate, on and on…is profound. If we fix the soil, we fix ourselves. The way we are eating and growing our food is killing us. Our bodies are becoming disconnected from Nature; now, I in 2 people get cancer in their lifetimes. Be Agriculture is an invitation for everyone to take their rightful seat at the table of the intersection of food, farming, and health. I work with organizations championing this work, such as Farmers Footprint (www.farmersfootprint.us), Kiss the Ground (www.kisstheground.com), Project Biome (www.projectbiome.org), Food Forest Abundance (www.foodforestabundance.com), and more advocating for living soil solutions. I am working in South Africa in the Cradle of Humankind, looking to rewrite the human story and develop a new way of engaging with the Earth. I also work with homesteading and residential clients across the world doing fertility work through my Living Land Program. The program educates homeowners and landowners then generates soil testing, a product audit, and an initial consultation for first steps for growing living soil with your farm, garden, or landscape. No more using artificial fertilizers and toxic rescue chemistry in your landscapes and gardens; learn how to grow soil, not just plants. If you want to take control of your own personal agriculture, this program is for you. What we think, we grow. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Karma for the win; don’t believe in luck! 

Pricing:

• Living Land Program = $475

Contact Info:

• Website: www.beagriculture.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beagriculture
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beagriculture
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/be_agriculture