Breaking Ground on The Soil Center: A New Era of Regenerative Agriculture Begins at CMI Orchards; Bob Mast and Michael Hebdon Comment

ROYAL CITY, WA - CMI Orchards and Royal Family Farming proudly marked a major milestone on June 30, 2025, with the official groundbreaking of The Soil Center, a pioneering agricultural sustainability operation that will transform farm and orchard waste into carbon-rich soil amendments. The event celebrated the beginning of a bold new chapter in regenerative farming and sustainability innovation.

The groundbreaking included a tour of Royal Family Farming, followed by a formal ceremony. The tour offered a look into the farm's operations, from livestock to waste management, and it concluded at The Soil Center’s construction site where farm byproducts will soon be upcycled into nutrient-rich soil amendments through innovative practices such as vermicomposting and biochar production.

The Soil Center is projected to upcycle over 100,000 tons of manure, culled fruit, and woody waste annually. Soil amendment products include garden soil blends, compost, worm castings, biochar, and worm and compost teas. The biochar production alone will use three reactors to transform more than 20,000 tons of woody biomass from CMI Orchards into biochar annually, sequestering an estimated 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the soil for hundreds to thousands of years.

Upcycled soil products from The Soil Center are designed to support healthy, robust crop production by enhancing soil structure, water retention, and nutrient availability, while cutting down on gas emissions from the soil. The products also reduce the need for synthetic soil additives, which lowers the cost of operations for growers.

Bob Mast, President of CMI, shared his vision for the new facility in the recent press release, “The Soil Center is more than a regenerative project. It’s a blueprint for the future of farming and a legacy we’re proud to build. CMI’s owners have long believed that sustainability is not just a responsibility, but a strategic opportunity to lead. With this initiative, we’re bringing to life a vision that turns orchard, farm, and packing house waste into something truly valuable, supporting healthier soil, stronger yields, and more nutrient-rich fruit.”

“At the same time, we’re offering our customers the ability to purchase verified carbon offsets and reduce emissions within their own supply chains,” Mast shared. “This isn’t just about checking a sustainability box. It’s about growing the first proven carbon-negative apples, pears, and cherries, and helping our customers tell a story of real impact that today’s shoppers deeply care about.”

The Soil Center is actively pursuing Direct Environmental Benefits (DEB) status through the Washington State Cap and Invest program, aiming to quantify its carbon credits for verified environmental impact. The Soil Center will generate about 500,000 carbon credits annually, with plans to sell the credits as insets, empowering supply chain partners to make meaningful strides towards emissions reductions within their supply chains.

“We are humbled to stand on the shoulders of farmers that have come before us and provided a legacy of innovation and sustainability here in the Columbia Basin,” said Michael Hebdon, General Manager of The Soil Center. “As we honor our past we are empowered and duty-bound to pioneer a new future in farming—where regeneration, not extraction, defines success, and where every acre tells a story of healing, resilience, and hope.”

The Soil Center operation will also create many local skilled labor jobs, bring in tens of millions of dollars in business annually, and create revenue streams for waste within the wider agriculture network. The project is not only building and regenerating soil, but the local economy as well.

Construction on The Soil Center will continue throughout the year, with operations slated to begin by the end of the year.