Agra-CycleIt has been a matter of principle that we have a standard that says that we would neither seek nor accept any money or resource from local, state or federal government agencies. That has not been an easy principle to follow at times but we continue to steadfastly reject any such notions. How can we accept taxpayer money that has been taken from working citizens? We can’t! That simply flies in the face of sustainability and the self sufficiency that we are encouraging others to seek for themselves.
At our very first organizational meeting, we made the decision that if we were going to promote sustainability, then Agra-Cycle was going to have to be sustainable as well. We have a number of very good projects that we are ready to begin in our community except for one thing. The fact that there just isn’t the capital to implement them yet. Agra-Cycle holds the rights to the Vee-Stack, a fully self contained hyper-thermophillic composting unit capable of composting up to 10 tons or organic waste a DAY! Agra-Cycle has also have developed a self contained anaerobic vessel that can ferment organic waste without any methane emissions while preserving ALL the nutrients and minerals. These are truly wonderful projects that will divert thousands of tons of organic waste from Shelby county landfills each year, while simultaneously providing tons of organic matter that can be returned back to the fields where it originated. Agra-Cycle is currently developing a program of teaching individuals, groups, schools and businesses how to use Bokashi to compost all the organic waste that their office or business produces and matching them up with community gardens to help feed the those in need. They are able reduce their disposal costs, successfully institute a practical landfill diversion strategy and help the environment. All while enabling locally grown nutritious crops for the community. The problem is cash flow. Our volunteers can only do so much. There is time and expense of managing this website and other bills that we continually face on a monthly basis. It has looked bleak the last few months until an opportunity “fell” into our laps. The Memphis area is sorely lacking in organic gardening supplies and locally available organic supplies for large scale growers and farmers are non-existent. It is a difficult thing to talk a farmer or grower into converting from using toxic chemicals to organics when there is nothing available to replace it. That has been an ongoing problem we have faced for years, but now we believe that we a way to address that problem. Agra-Cycle has been able to use it’s non-profit status to open a wholesale account with some of the nations most respected manufacturers of organic products. These products are the REAL deal. These are products that are approved by the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) and listed with the Organic materials Research Institute (OMRI) That was a major step! Unfortunately, we soon realized that we do not have a retail location in which to operate and we certainly cannot afford to rent a commercial location. Getting our website developed to host an on-line store is still weeks, maybe even months away. But then, something very miraculous happened! We had an established local business suggest that we put up a couple of product display racks in their store in support of our mission! (We are still dancing with joy!) You can now find the most effective organic products available on the market today from the nations leading organic manufacturers in the lobby of The Detail Shop at 7601 Highway 64 in Memphis, Tennessee! Please visit The Detail Shop for more information on their store hours and location. That single act of selflessness on the part of a local retailer has breathed new life into our non profit. And, it has us thinking. Maybe there are a few other people who have a retail store or perhaps a vendor at a local Farmers market that would be willing to allow us to put up a display rack at their location as well? Maybe there are a couple other businesses scattered around the Memphis area that might welcome additional walk-in traffic and some free publicity as well? What about you? Does this opportunity sound like something that you would like to become part of? Please visit our contact page and drop us a line! We have a number of ways to advertise and promote your business on-line with some of the most heavily trafficked websites in the Memphis area to help you in return for helping us! But what about the growers and the farmers? Who is going to stock pallets of SuperCal 98, Surround-WP or 50 gallon barrels of Medina liquid fertilizer? Well the short answer is this. No one. All that additional shipping and handling does nothing but increase the price. Instead Agra-Cycle is able to drop ship right to the farm via common carrier. This also eliminates a problem many farmers face every season and that is “How long do I have to wait to get a truck delivery scheduled to bring my fertilizer?” Thank You for visiting our website! We ask that please bookmark us and stop again in the new future and watch us grow!
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