By Carin Michaels

Chad Kymal starts his day by walking through his organic apple orchard at 5 a.m. to inspect for any issues with his crop. He did not start Amrita Farms orchard ten years ago with such acumen. When asked to describe his experience, he stammers, looking tired, and quotes his recent Google search that stated it’s unsustainable. He truly cares about organic farming’s environmental practices which foster nature’s biodiversity in order to preserve natural resources. Kymal’s advantage as a full-time farmer is that he has a second day job. As president and founder of Omnex, he provides management solutions for different computing and operation standards and methods; also, he represents the United States for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Unbeknownst to him, his resume enabled him to become an organic farmer in pursuit of the more perfect apple, and with a keen eye for process improvements, he had the grit to grapple with complicated problems on the farm.

Amrita Farms is the only organic apple orchard within over a 50-mile radius for U-Pick apples. The farm was started 27 years ago, on a 54-acre parcel, in order to combine sustainable farming and education in pursuit of an eco-friendly lifestyle. The owner’s first initiative was to help mother nature by planting several hundred evergreens. The farm struggled since its start to find its identity, milling through multiple products with a revenue stream not taking root because of the clay soil. Kymal, known in business circles as a serial entrepreneur, refused to accept failure. During the Covid outbreak, when he became landlocked and unable to travel to his 12 offices worldwide, he dedicated himself to the orchard.

The orchard sits on five acres with 10 apple varieties. He started with 1200 trees but only 950 survived given the initial harsh winters. As with any farm, the main challenges are climate, soil erosion, nutrient management, technology, and consumer expectations, but with truly an endless list, Kymal was able to conquer the challenges by hard study and investment. As a gentleman, Kymal attributes his success to others, particularly his mentors and volunteers. Amrita Farms is one-hundred percent volunteer-led with one hundred percent of the revenue going to charity. But he quickly retracts the latter tagline because he believes his product can stand on its own laurels; it is that good.

Kymal was born in India but moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan with his parents during high school. Community service was part of his spiritual upbringing. He always asks himself how he can offer a hand to his fellow human being. He attributes his business success to this charitableness, as he believes the adage, whoever is kind to those in need will be rewarded for what they have done. Locally, Kymal cites support from fruit tree expert William Shane of MSU’s Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center. Internationally, he ascribes his soil solution to the famous Dr. Elaine Ingham, a soil microbiologist and researcher whose work uses a soil-food-web approach that emphasizes soil regeneration. Kymal has his soil and trees tested twice a year to ensure they are not nutritionally depleted. He uses Dr. Ingham’s recipe for wood chip permaculture and aerated tea compost (a compost brewed with water and other natural products like seaweed, liquid kelp, neem, and humic acid) to ensure his trees and soil are healthy. He also namedrops another famous Japanese farmer, Fukuoka Masanobu, who propagated the “no-till” philosophy since plowing leads to soil erosion and the loss of microbial life. The tenets from such sages advanced Kymal’s farming acuity. When the weather gets cold, Kymal blankets his trees. When the bugs arrive, he uses an integrated pest management system that involves neem spray and/or followed by kaolin clay or nettle slurry. Other valuable investments have been in technology: an agricultural sprayer, a tractor, a truck—basic needs for farming a large orchard.

The organic farmer in Kymal always questions another part of himself as a quality-environmental standards engineer because what is good for the apple may not be ideal for the environment. Kymal wishes to adhere to Masanobu’s natural farming principles by not disrupting the life-sustaining humus of our land so Kymal grapples with ethical questions when considering pest management. There is never an ideal solution when hanging traps for plum curculio (a beetle that can cause irreparable damage to his fruit harvest) or the codling moth that inhibits fruit growth and must be eliminated with an organic spray. Such mental gymnastics are just part of Kymal’s day. This year he will help write a zero-carbon footprint manual for multi-national companies to follow. It makes sense that his energies have come full-circle back into the soil.

As a businessman, Kymal is acutely aware of consumer expectations. He never forgot when Masanobu stated in a video, that if he had to sow his farm over again, he would plant dwarf trees. It’s so much easier to pick fruit from a shorter tree. Amrita Farms wanted to attract families who were interested in giving their children the apple picking experience that honors their mission of eco-friendly lifestyles. He attributes the farm’s success to moms who go out of their way to bring their children to the farm—notably because they can reach up and grab an organic apple all by themselves.

Amrita Farms has 10 different cutting-edge apple varieties that intrigue the taste buds: Twin Bee Gala, Gale Gala, Early Fuji Earligold, Autumn Crisp, Wine Crisp, Pink Lady, Snow Sweet, Liberty, Enterprise, and Zestar. The farm began making cider last year and each batch sold out with a waiting list for the following week’s production. Kymal’s slogan for his cider appropriately speaks to “a delicious life-changing experience.” He is correct in focusing on the quality of the product instead of it as a means-to-an-end, even if the end is one that benefits charities.

Shana Weddington, manager of Argicole Farm Stop, speaks of Amrita Farms’s “commitment to growing food naturally without the use of pesticides, [and] their apples are an unassuming premium product—incredible flavor and texture, but not the perfect grocery store version that most folks are used to seeing. They have spots and marks that sprayed apples do not. We were prepared to educate and encourage people to try them and more times than not, people were blown away and back for more!” Organic food consumers at times need to be reminded of the trade-offs from not being exposed to toxic and persistent chemicals on farms.

When visiting the Amrita U-Pick Farm, guests are privy to educational tours and various locally-made organic products for sale in their barn. In conjunction with their apples and cider, there is a group of volunteers that manage the farm’s honeybee apiary which produced over 108 pounds of organic honey in 2021 and 92 pounds in 2022.

The Amrita Farms’s Bee Club struggled over the last few years because of the harsh winters. They bounced back under the tutelage of Winn Harliss of A2B2, Ann Arbor Backyard Beekeepers, who is an 84-year-old third generation beekeeper. The biodiversity of organic farming plays out between the orchard and bee club volunteers when they keep each other updated on their progress since fruit trees require the cross pollination from honeybees.

Harkening back to the phrase It Takes a Village to Raise a Child, in this instance It Takes a Village to Maintain an Orchard, especially one that is non-profit. Kymal’s right-hand volunteer arrived via the WWOOFing program (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms). This organization started over 50 years ago to match volunteers with organic farmers to promote a cultural and an educational exchange that builds community consciousness for ecological farming and sustainability practices. The mission of the organization is truly spiritual when like-minds collide as with Atlas Niles and Kymal. Niles is from Kalamazoo and would commute to the farm on weekends, showing up with his passion for the environment unmatched by any other on the farm.

Other volunteers understand that cultivating the environment enables them to feed the homeless at the Salvation Army-Staples Family Center Shelter on Packard Street in Ann Arbor and fund monthly food drives for Meals on Wheels. The board of directors at Amrita Farms decides which organizations need their attention. The last major international initiative they subsidized supported families left homeless from the Ukraine war. A volunteer at the Amrita Farms has parents in the Ukraine and she was able to research which nonprofit would be best served. The International Red Cross was one such organization.

It would be remiss if Kymal’s spouse, Ajitha, was overlooked as the point-person for on-site communications and hospitable chai during a work break. She helps carry the burden and is baker extraordinaire specifically for her sugarless apple crisp. She refuses credit because she says, “our apples are naturally sweet,” and over the last few years she has grown an immense respect for farmers, stating, “We are at the mercy of Mother Nature and without spiritual rumblings under my breath it would not be sustainable.”

As with her husband, Ajitha is grateful for the village of volunteers who show up. Aside from the orchard, volunteers help maintain the ecological biodiversity at Amrita Farms, which include a Kratergarten, made from earth mounds that surround an aquaculture pond, increasing their land’s nutritional footprint, or similarly, Hugelkulture Beds, where mounds are made from wood debris and compost. Also, there is a tree and plant propagation lab, a permaculture food forest, and the honeybee apiary. It is not uncommon to see Ajitha traveling the 54-acre compound in an old golf cart to aid volunteers.

Amrita Farms has a special relationship with Argicole Farm Stop, whichh helps local farmers realize their goals of farm-to-table products. Shana Weddington, Agricole’s manager, led Kymal through the process of getting certified by the State of Michigan to press cider in their commercial kitchen in order to sell directly to customers. Weddington states, “We learned a ton together about the process for making unpasteurized cider and the licensing requirements. Their cider was the best I’ve ever tasted, and we were honored to be able to be a part of their journey.”

Amrita Farms volunteers present themselves on weekends at the Farm Stop to make and sell cider and talk to customers. Weddington adds, “One of the most rewarding parts of our mission here at the Farm Stop is being able to watch customers engage with our local food producers. Having Amrita here in the space making cider, selling cider, and engaging with the community for seven weeks, was such a gift. There’s great objective data that shows an increase in foot traffic and sales on the days that Amrita was here, but we also have subjective data from people sharing with us how much they loved having Chad, Ajitha, and the Amrita crew here to provide education, insight, and delicious fresh cider!” Kymal’s edict was correct: the cider’s sales pitch should begin and end with a taste-test because the product can speak for itself.

Amrita Farms is open Labor Day weekend through mid-November. The apples and cider are sold at the farm, Detroit Eastern Market, Argicole Farm Stop, Arbor Farms Market, and Argus Farm Stop. Amrita Farms also delivers bushels to interested customers. To pick your own apples, visit the farm at 4301 Ann Arbor-Saline Rd, Ann Arbor, MI 48103. Learn more at amritafarms.com.