We have an extremely practical conversation with Tom Wahl, co-founder of the Red Fern Farm, convincing us he has developed a very functional and economic system. The team there has chosen a variety of rustic crops that need little care, are high in demand, and picked by the customers themselves. Planted on fantastic soil for growing trees and you have a system where all Tom and his team need to do is 'mow the grass'. In the interview we focused on chestnuts, his main crop, looking at why the economics make it a no brainer, and finish off talking about ground cover management and woodchips. We hope you end up as inspired we did.  • TABLE OF CONTENTS 02:15 - Introduction to a low input farm model 13:10 - Tom understanding of agroforestry and imitating a savannah biome 17:40 - orchard architecture, spacing and competition between species 25:50 - Chestnut production and potential 30:30 - Integrating animals in the orchard 52:30 - Why is chestnut so interesting economically? 59:40 - Thoughts on mechanising chestnut harvest 01:02:30 - Characteristics that make a crop profitable 01:05:20 - The potential of chestnut as a staple 01:09:25 - U-pick as a commercialisation strategy and some more economics 01:18:30 - The honey berries experiment 01:21:20 - Managing the ground cover and comments on woodchips • RESOURCES https://www.redfernfarm.com/ Presentation discussed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAf1lUrqSq4 https://www.facebook.com/redfernfarm.iowa • GET IN TOUCH www.regenerativeagroforestry.org • SUPPORT US www.gumroad.com/regenagroforestry • FOLLOW US on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.