Farmer Steve Groff knows that healthy soil yields healthy food. Since the mid-1990s, this third-generation farmer has built healthy soil on his family farm through regenerative agriculture, a model that uses cover crops, no tilling and other measures to produce nutrient-dense food while holistically managing the land. On Cedar Meadow Farm, he grows produce, and in 2019 he added hemp, which he uses for a line of cannabidiol (CBD) products.

Groff’s grandparents had purchased the Cedar Meadow Farm property in 1935. His grandfather farmed while his grandmother, Mary Groff, maintained a garden. She was influenced by the practices of Jerome Irving Rodale, founder of the Rodale Institute. Rodale researched and promoted chemical-free and biological farming.

When Groff’s parents took over Cedar Meadow Farm, they bought the neighboring farm that adjoined their property. Groff always knew that he wanted to be a farmer. “That’s something that never wavered,” he relates. He always tried to finish his homework during school hours so he could immediately go into the fields when he returned home.

Upon graduating high school, Groff started working on his family’s farm full time. As he learned more about what would become known as regenerative farming, he began implementing those practices to improve soil health on the farm. He stopped tilling, which disrupts the soil structure and leads to erosion. He planted cover crops such as rye, clover and radishes to keep the soil biology alive, which in turn produces soil rich in nutrients. “It took about 10 years for my dad to see that this is not a bad way to farm,” Groff says. “He died last November, but he was proud of what this farm has become. My grandmother would be proud, too.”

Groff reiterates that soil health cannot be bought; it takes a grassroots effort to wean off chemical inputs on which modern agriculture has become dependent. While rich, living soil full of vitamins and minerals yields healthy cash crops like tomatoes, pumpkin and squash, Groff says regenerative farming has also been extremely beneficial for his latest venture, CBD hemp.

“In 1999, I partnered in an effort in Lancaster County to grow industrial hemp for fiber and grain, but we were ahead of our time,” Groff says. Once industrial hemp became federally legal, he planted CBD hemp strains and grew the plant in the same manner in which he grows his vegetable crops. Through a partnership with the Penn State College of Medicine, researchers are studying the CBD hemp grown on Cedar Meadow Farm. Research includes not only how CBD can affect human health, but also whether CBD grown in healthy soil is of better quality than CBD grown in soil not farmed regeneratively.

Groff created a line of CBD tinctures, salves, lotions and pet products from hemp grown on Cedar Meadow Farm. The CBD is also processed and bottled locally. “It never leaves Lancaster County,” Groff says. The items are sold online and locally at the Universal Athletic Club.

Groff notes that to date, there has been very little federal regulation in the CBD retail market. Some products made overseas and sold at places such as gas stations have been found to contain additives and fillers, but no CBD. Certificates of analysis that come with products can be inaccurate or falsified. “There is a lot of fraudulent CBD out there,” he warns. “Some people say, ‘I tried CBD and it doesn’t work,’ and that may be true because they had no way of verifying if the product actually had CBD in it.”

Cedar Meadow Farm recently received Regenerative Verified certification through Soil Regen. The certification means that the soil has been tested and has met a criteria of healthy levels of organisms. Groff sees regenerative agriculture as the future of farming and is consulting for investors working to convert conventionally farmed land to regenerative practices. He has given talks and lectures in the United States and abroad. His book, The Future-Proof Farm, is geared to consumers so they can learn how regenerative agriculture yields healthier food.

“This is the evolution of growing food,” Groff says, as he looks forward to continued research and experimentation on how regenerative farming can be beneficial for healthy hemp production.