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Fireside Chat: Climate First Bank & Real Organic Project

Rachel Kent

February 1, 2023

Join us for another Climate First Fireside Chat, where Climate First Bank CEO & Founder, Ken LaRoe speaks with special guest Dave Chapman, Co-Founder of Real Organic Project.

Dave Chapman is a force to be reckoned with. He grew up on a dairy farm in Lancaster Country, PA and, after trying many different things, ended up in Vermont on a two-and-a-half acre rented piece of land with a team of oxen growing organic vegetables.

Fast forward forty years, he owns the land, and it is now covered with a Dutch glass greenhouse. The oxen departed and Dave became a grower of extraordinarily delicious organic tomatoes (we can vouch for that!). After raising two kids, Dave decided to dig into efforts to reform the USDA's National Organic Program. The further he dug, the worse it turned out to be.Dave decided the only way to reignite the organic movement was to take matters into his own hands and five years ago, he co-founded the Real Organic Project.

The project now certifies over a thousand farms across the country as 'Real Organic', and that number keeps growing. In Dave's words "the best is yet to come".

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