Co-Founder Stories
Find out who we are, what qualifies us, and what we bring to the table at Soil Seed and Water.
Dan Nowell's Purpose
I have been composting for many years. In that time, I made it a priority to learn about soil and seed and the needs of farmers. I believe farmers and US agriculture are the bedrock of our country. Farmers are a uniquely stubborn, hardworking and passionate group. I am always their student. I listen to their expertise which is often several generations deep in wisdom. I listen to their dreams of how the world can use better agriculture practices and how they believe we can stop hunger and save the environment. Sometimes these dreams seem frustratingly far ahead but they wake up with the sun each day and go to work anyhow.
My dream is to help them improve their soils and grow better crops. Noah Lakriz with CCOF (California certified organic farming) just wrote an article about the Russel Research project which is in its 25th year of a 100-year comparative study on conventional versus organic farming. It showed a 12.6% increase in organic carbon using cover crops and compost which underscores the benefits of organic farming. These benefits include reducing the need for water, better filtration which reduces nitrate run off, better crop value and ultimately lower costs to the farmer. My passion and my purpose in life is to promote both compost and hemp use as a cover crop.
Michael McMahon's Purpose
My professional background has primarily been in the landscape construction of very large projects. This has required: financing, budgeting, estimating, project management, the coordination of subcontractors, large labor crews, the use of heavy materials and a variety of materials. My brain is wired to work and set goals that scale in size. Soil Seed and Water’s purpose is to supply the demand of the ever-growing organic farm industry. Specifically, we want to provide consistent quality soils and seed products on a large scale for organic farmers and for retail customers in the southwest United States. To achieve that we require trained employees with the discipline to meet the standards and strict protocols we’ve developed for all our processes.
We are very heavy equipment-oriented which is to say, very capital intensive. Our soil products include compost and blended compost, worm castings, topsoil and the Ready go Garden growing system which includes organic heirloom seeds that we grow in Yuma. We also grow and sell a multi-use hemp seed. Hemp is a much-needed cover crop that requires low amounts of water and can be used in rotation, along with compost to help farmers improve and steward their fields. My purpose in SSW is to bring best business practices to our organization.