We’re looking forward to introducing you to Pasquale Caccavella. Check out our conversation below.
Pasquale, really appreciate you sharing your stories and insights with us. The world would have so much more understanding and empathy if we all were a bit more open about our stories and how they have helped shaped our journey and worldview. Let’s jump in with a fun one: What are you chasing, and what would happen if you stopped?
Ultimately, I’m chasing ownership of a regenerative farm. I’d like to grow my small business enough to be able to afford the cost of living, land ownership, and attain the time freedom to manage a market garden and livestock. Right now I’m both a small business owner and a full time employee of a large privately held packaging distribution company. I split my time between traveling to customer manufacturing facilities, responding to inquiries via email, and all the details of my small business. As I’ve spent the last year fortifying my credentials as a Soil Food Web Consultant, I’ve fallen behind in marketing and product development for my small business. I’m watching as some companies in my niche accelerate and others disappear. I liken my current position to The Valley of Despair outlined in the Dunning-Kruger effect. While my early confidence has faded and the obstacles ahead feel overwhelming, I now recognize that this stage signals the beginning of the Slope of Enlightenment. If I stopped now I’d quit merely at the beginning of my journey to my ultimate goals. Stopping would mean I never truly tried. This realization has honestly been a relief. I have plenty of trying left in me and the faith to continue forward.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hello! My name is Pasquale Caccavella, I’m a full time packaging engineer and packaging sales expert with a lifelong dream of influencing human health in my community through nutrient dense food. This path brought me to the Soil Food Web School, where I studied under Dr. Elaine Ingham and began my journey as a Soil Food Web Consultant. From that work, I founded Salem Soil Solutions. My business provides soil testing through microscopy and produces biologically rich compost, worm castings, liquid extracts, and organic fertilizers. My business provides a foundation for growers of all kinds including landscapers, gardeners, and farm owners to gain insight and improve their soil health naturally. Improving soil health without the use of chemical fertilizers and industrial chemistry lays the foundation for healthy plants and subsequently improves the health of the animals and humans that consume them. Improving soils with the use of local biological amendments is also cheap, sustainable, and closes multiple on farm agri-waste loops, improving input cost management, sequestering carbon, and leading to a greener planet.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
I find that I’m an over-thinker leading to wondering, doubting, and wasting time. While I think managing a growing system requires a tremendous amount of forethought and careful planning, nature doesn’t wait. This has been my biggest realization in the last few years of my business. Products and applications can only be optimized so much before you’ve run out of daylight. Growing seasons are only so long and you only get one of them per year (in the southeastern US). Going into 2026 I’m letting go of overthinking and prioritizing action first, closely observing results, and making adjustments as needed.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
I believe that physical and mental suffering are great teachers for beginning to know yourself. Suffering’s often a sign post to places you haven’t looked into, and an illuminator of things you didn’t know were there to begin with. Suffering has taught me to change my perspective in life. I’ll often ask myself things like: Is it me or is it someone else? If it’s me what can I do differently to suffer less? If I haven’t begun to suffer less after making a meaningful change, what am I missing? Times that I didn’t give into despair have continually been the most concrete and reinforcing memories I have in my life. They’ve provided me with the confidence and the self esteem to move forward in the world and take risks. Not all suffering is the same, but when someone faces suffering in their lives that they have the opportunity to overcome, it can be transformative.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
As I might have previously hinted to, I’d like to become a regenerative farmer. Conventional farmers are retiring faster than their industry replacement rate. There’s good reason too, U.S. farmers have one of the highest rates of suicide of any other occupation. Why would a young person want to spend their lives in debt? Tirelessly working for subsidies in an industry that’s moving the globe towards environmental collapse? Conventional agriculture and the Green Revolution have fed billions for approaching half a decade, but there’s side effects… dead soils, species collapse, poison food, and poison water. I believe that small and mid-scale regenerative farms will be the cornerstone of food security and human health over the next 100 years. I believe that regenerative farming is the best way to sequester carbon from the atmosphere to positively effect climate change. I believe that regenerative farming is the best way to restore the water table and improve soil quality to such a degree that polluted water can be brought back to life. I believe regenerative agriculture is the only chance the globe has of restoring keystone native species of insects, amphibians, and birds. I believe regenerative agriculture can do it all, but it requires the full commitment of one’s lifetime and is difficult to scale, so the industry needs more people that share these beliefs. My hope with Salem Soil Solutions is that it will give conventional farmers the opportunity to have a successful transition into regenerative agriculture and first time farmers the confidence to accelerate returns on their land and livestock investments.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Are you tap dancing to work? Have you been that level of excited at any point in your career? If so, please tell us about those days.
At my core, I find deep meaning in asking questions and solving problems. Through both my full time role and my small business, I have found myself positioned between two good places, each of which I am proud to be part of. One of the most rewarding customer interactions I experienced this year was with an aspiring, first time farmer in Pinnacle, North Carolina. Just like me, he’s working full time in an unrelated industry while taking his first steps toward farming. He was seeking soil testing to better understand the nutrients available in his soil, with plans to plant a diverse forage cover crop and introduce cattle for rotational grazing. He shared his excitement about applying regenerative models taught by educators such as Gabe Brown, Joel Salatin, and Greg Judy to restore land that had historically been managed under conventional tobacco and hay production. While our conversation began with soil testing, it quickly became clear that we shared the same goals and values. He was not simply looking for a soil test to quantify soil chemistry. He was committed to the belief that biological amendments are foundational to plant and livestock health. In that moment, I realized that my business occupies a niche people in my own community are actively searching for, often without knowing where to turn. Today, we are working together to develop a plan to regenerate the soil on his newly acquired land and improve the long term resilience of his livestock operation. Finding and supporting a local community that is investing in land stewardship and soil regeneration is deeply motivating, and it reinforces why this work matters to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://salemsoilsolutions.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/salemsoilsolutions/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/salemsoilsolutions/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SalemSoilSolutions
Image Credits
Maria Davis of MTD Photo (https://mtdphoto.co/)
