Regenerative Roots
adds. “We make decisions that 600 families depend on, and that’s a pretty weighty responsibility.” For Wingard, WP Rawl’s business is as much about doing what’s best for the fields as it is about doing what’s best for the community. As part of a partnership with Whole Foods and the Rockin’ Appalachian Mom Project, a nonprofit focused on hunger relief and economic development in Appalachia, WP Rawl helped establish a community garden in Inez, Kentucky. The company also has a hand in economic development efforts in South Carolina by offering financial support to local schools and athletic programs, and by spending robustly for the business within a 50- mile radius of the Pelion farm. For WP Rawl, pursuing opportunities that enrich the land the company farms upon and the community it serves while eschewing breakneck growth is a formula that’s proven successful.
mildew and other crop diseases with a broader- spectrum fungicide because, he says, it requires less chemical product to spray before a disease could appear rather than after. But, he says, like pests, diseases can build resistance to certain chemicals and therefore also require rotating through a variety of chemicals to ensure they remain effective.
One way that WP Rawl is working to become “a little bit better tomorrow” is through its efforts to adopt certain regenerative agricultural practices. One of the more comprehensive practices WP Rawl has in place in the fields is Integrated Pest Management, a systematic process for controlling
Feeding the Future
At WP Rawl, Wing- ard says the compa- ny only adopts re- generative farming
practices if they are practical for their operation. For instance, Wingard says he’d like the compa- ny to be a no-till operation, because it allows for less soil and wind erosion while allowing dropped organic matter to enrich the soil. But it hasn’t worked out, Wingard says, because the seeds that are planted are often small and don’t perform well with no-till practices. Planting cover crops, on the other hand, has been effective. Wingard says the team has been planting some fields in South Carolina long enough to know that they have serious issues with diseases in peak heat. So, during the summer, farm workers plant cover crops like sunflowers, soybeans, corn, wheat, rye, peas, and sorghum. Doing so means sparing cash crops from weather-related disease, while the cover crops enable the team to maintain soil health until those cash crops are ready to go back in. Receiving a Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities grant from Elevated Foods will allow WP Rawl to expand its cover-crop practice on its 500 enrolled acres, both in terms of acreage and variety of species, Wingard says. “When we can expand that part of the operation, then we’re promoting better soil health, which will, in turn, help us produce a higher quantity of vegetables per acre,” he says. Wingard is not immune to feeling the timeline pressures of planting cover crops, despite it being such a helpful practice. Sometimes, taking fields out of rotation to focus on soil health can feel like leaving money on the table, he says. It can weigh on him, Wingard says, as the company employs about 600 people at the Pelion farm who then go on to spend their paychecks in the area. “That’s a lot of paychecks that get spent in the community,” he
infestations. The goal is to cycle through nonchemical interventions to seek a solution to pest outbreaks before introducing chemical sprays. The company learned the hard way that using chemical sprays isn’t always the answer. For instance, about 35 years ago, when WP Rawl’s South Carolina farm faced a diamondback moth blight, Wingard says his team went out and sprayed with a blanket chemical that worsened the problem. What they didn’t know at the time was that the spray was killing off the insects that would feed on the moths causing the problem. For the last 25 years, Wingard says, the farm has been using IPM tactics that attract and create habitats for beneficial insects like lacewings
Planting sweet corn.
and parasitoid wasps that will eat pests like diamondback moths. The team does this in part by planting wildflowers and sweet alyssum in the fields and by not mowing in ditch banks to allow weeds to flower. In the event of a pest outbreak, farm workers determine if they need to spray through an IPM tactic of observation, where they survey a broad selection of plants across the field and count the insects by variety on them. Based on the counts, Wingard will decide if it’s time to introduce a chemical intervention. “As soon as you spray, you’re starting to promote resistance in that species,” Wingard says, adding that in order for chemical sprays to remain effective it’s necessary to cycle through different kinds. Diseases, however, are treated differently. Wingard’s team sprays preventatively for downy
For the last 25 years, the farm has been using IPM tactics that attract and create habitats for beneficial insects like lacewings and parasitoid wasps that will eat pests like diamondback moths. The team does this in part by planting wildflowers and sweet alyssum in the fields and by not mowing in ditch banks to allow weeds to flower.
“We’ve been employing sustainable practices for a long time,” Wingard says. “I’m of the opinion that if you’re sustainable, then you can be profitable and you can stay in business. If you’re not sustainable, you’re not going to be profitable and you’re not going to be around tomorrow, next week, next year.” In 2025, the company celebrates a century in business and has some changes in the works. One of its big plans? Changing the name of its bagged produce line from Nature’s Greens to something with a little more history: WP Rawl.
2010 Company changes use of name from Walter P. Rawl & Sons to WP Rawl and new branding is revealed
2014 WP Rawl expands its Nature’s Greens ® selection to include kale chips, blends, Burgundy Kale™, and Kalettes ®
2017 34,000 sq ft distribution expansion in Florida
2019 Fresh Cut facility is established in Bunnell, FL
2023 Athens, MI farm is established
2014
2024
2016 Increased organic acreage
2018 Somerset, PA farm is established
2020 The Versatile Veggies ® brand is ended
Visit RAWL.NET to learn more.
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ISSUE 01
A CENTURY OF HARVESTS
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