Author Bio

Dan is owner and farmer at Perkins’ Good Earth Farm. He is known as the “Cover Crop Guy” in NW Indiana. Perkins' Good Earth Farm utilizes no-till, permanent deep-compost beds, and is a certified organic and real organic project farm growing 18,000 bulbs of hardneck garlic and produce via a 200 member CSA, on-farm stand, commercial kitchen, and local wholesale accounts. The farm generates a good living and lifestyle for their family of 6. Dan has over 16+ years of experience in organic and conventional crop management and growing experience in Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, and Indiana. Presentation: Returns on Investment - A Year in the Life of a AZS Rinse Conveyor Washer on an Organic Farm: In this candid talk, I am going to report on the main reasons I used to justify the purchase of an AZS Rinse Conveyor. We affectionately call it “Petey.” Petey was a $12,300 investment for just the base machine. We will share some good upgrades for post harvest that don't involve Petey, but also our time studies on our old washing methods compared to Petey and some specific crop tips from having used Petey for the last 5 months (July-Nov 2025).