″What makes me feel good, though, is that land does have enormous regenerative capacity. ″It’s very challenging and it’s a little scary,″ he said. Soft-spoken but passionate, Rodale felt he finally was making an impact on the way the world grows things, estimating that 40 percent of America’s farmers incorporate some aspect of regenerative techniques. His children all stayed in Emmaus and the company has spread to nine buildings scattered through town. Robert Rodale lived in a modest house in Emmaus, though it is surrounded by acres of flower beds, gardens and greenhouses. Both were decades ahead of their time in espousing chemical-free food and drawing strong links between diet and health. Rodale, started Organic Gardening in 1942 and Prevention magazine in 1950. That interest led Rodale Press to buy Bicycling magazine in 1978. Rodale was a former Olympic skeet shooter and bicycling enthusiast who built the nation’s first velodrome, or banked race track, in Trexlertown. ″And that is the real spark of what makes Rodale Press different.″ ″This is an example of a group of science writers who said, ‘We’ve got a different view of science, we’re going to publish these magazines, make some money and be able to hire and fund our own scientific effort.’ And sometimes in a dry year we’ve even had better yields. ″It has proven that farmers can get the same yield with much less use of fertilizers and pesticides. ″That set of plots has literally changed American agriculture,″ Rodale said in an interview this summer. Rodale and institute agronomists have gone to China to encourage farmers to return to age-old organic practices to Guatemala to restore the efficient agriculture of the Mayans to Africa to show how crops can be grown beneath pruned trees to preserve forests.Īt the Rodale Research Center, a 305-acre farm in nearby Maxatawny, agronomists develop crops and techniques that are applied worldwide. The institute nurtured the concept of regenerative agriculture, a system to save and rebuild soil worn out by conventional farming and reduce the need for chemicals. His focus of the past 10 years has been the Rodale Institute, a nonprofit organization funded in part by the publishing company. Rodale’s role in day-to-day business was decreasing, but he continued to serve as editor-in-chief of Prevention, writing a monthly column. Officials have not determined who will replace Rodale as chief executive officer of the privately held company which employs three of his four children. In addition to publishing books on health, gardening and woodworking, the Rodale Press publishes such profitable magazines as Bicycling, Runner’s World, Practical Home Owner and Backpacker - none of which accept advertising from liquor or tobacco companies.
Rodale took a company based on two popular magazines founded by his father, Prevention and Organic Gardening, and built a publishing empire that generated $214 million in business last year and was a sophisticated direct marketer. Two other Rodale Press executives, vice presidents Paul Wessel and Chuck McCullough, had accompanied the publisher to Moscow last week, but had separate agendas and were not involved in the crash, the company said.
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