Cancer Diagnosis Leads Duvall To Agriculture Research
Logan Duvall
RISON - The Arkansas Homesteading Conference is just around the corner on March 29 in Rison. One of the guest speakers at the conference, Logan Duvall, took part in the Free Range Conversations podcast this week to give a preview of the topics he will discuss at the conference.
Duvall, host of his own podcast Sowing Prosperity, and partner for the successful business Me and McGee Market in North Little Rock, shares his research on the regenerative agriculture movement, and the impact of foods we eat on diseases such as cancer.
Duvall’s journey in research began when his son Lander was diagnosed with stage four cancer at the age of five. Unsatisfied with the answers to asking what he should feed his son during treatments as an anti-cancer diet, he sought out the health benefits of nutrient-dense foods others found success eating.
“I knew a lot of what was being said by these diet gurus, even they were disconnected,” he said. “One of the big eye-openers is that processed food is absolutely garbage.”
This led Duvall to eliminate a lot of things to focus on health, and ultimately to the study of regenerative agriculture.
Now, six years past the diagnosis, his son is living a healthy life thanks in part to Duvall’s research on foods and the way they are grown.
Regenerative agriculture is a farming practice that aims to improve soil health and biodiversity by following nature’s cycles.
“When we look at, say woods or grasslands or prairie, savanna, whatever kind of ecosystem you’re looking at, we have cycles. The Great Plains, for example, we would have massive herds of bison, elk, (etc.) chased by some sort of predator like wolves, and they move and they migrate and they’re in these massive herds where they’re condensed and they’re just wiping out the grass. They’re they’re, you know, defecating and urinating all over it. And then they move on and they may not touch that ground again for a year. And so what happens is the cycles come in and you have life, growth and death and recycling,” he said.
In conventional agriculture where the soil is wiped out with no rest, regenerative efforts are constantly improving.
Having a background in agriculture, Duvall understands that the nutrients from the natural soil transfer into the produce grown, and also through the meats from animals that survive on the land.
“I don’t think you can have regenerative agriculture without animals,” he said. “You can have some sort of a vegetable production, but if you don't have animal impact, you're missing out on a massive piece of what nature is designed to do.”
He explains how animals like bison tromp down on the grass with their hooves and the photosynthetic process of creating a plant is put right back into the ground.
“The way an animal is living and what it eats matters,” he said.
Duvall shared that the best approach is eating foods that are local, seasonal and natural. He encourages people to shop with their neighborhood farmers markets and local farms for foods.
To make this process easier for many farmers, Duvall and his family run Me and McGee Market, where they sell produce, meats and other products - all locally-sourced in Arkansas.
During the podcast, Duvall shares more tips on eating in season, difference between local meats and those sold in stores, and how he hopes his family’s market can be an example for other communities to launch similar businesses to support their local farmers.
He also shares stories from his Sowing Prosperity podcast where he’s interviewed leading agriculture experts like Joel Salatin and more. His podcast is available on all platforms, and includes video on YouTube.
The full episode of Free Range Conversations is streaming now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and ClevelandCountyHerald.com
Duvall is one of several guest speakers scheduled for the 2025 Arkansas Homesteading Conference to be held March 29 at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds in Rison. For more information, visit ArkansasHomesteader.com