He Built His Farm On These Biblical Principles, Now He’s Giving Back to the Kingdom

“The beauty of farming for me is this being in sync with nature and with what God actually made.” Says David Stelzer, “It’s not what we’re here to get from the land, It’s the relationship that we’re able to have with the land. We take care of it as if it was a loving spouse.”

For generations, farming has been a way of life for David Stelzer’s family. His organic farming operation in Oregon began with a radical decision by his father. To change the way they farmed. David says, “My dad, who actually started farming organically way before it was cool, this is in 1973. Who had heard of organic farming back then? And dad actually pioneered the way. He was the first large scale organic farmer in the state, one of the first in the country.”

The move to organic farming began when David was a boy, suffering with debilitating food allergies. Switching to an organic diet was an answer to prayer and a naturopathic way to restore David’s health. He says, “I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for God. If my parents hadn’t found that naturopath, I wouldn’t be alive today. My parents made that change, and it wasn’t perfect but that was the start, and that was the change, and that was enough to change the trajectory of, of my health.”

Towards the end of 1987 David and his wife Kimberly started Azure Standard, with the goal of growing and distributing national, organic, healthy food. David says, “We want to create a right standard for food. And we were so far from that at the time, that was a completely visionary statement. We were a remote farm in the middle of nowhere that nobody knew about at that point, but that was in our family’s heart, that, that was the vision, now Azure has become the leading voice nationally towards a healthier diet and lifestyle and healthier food standards. You know, that almost 40 years ago vision is now bearing fruit. God has been faithful to move this thing forward in ways that I never imagined.”

However, his journey hasn’t been easy, years ago, software issues prevented online ordering and nearly killed the business. Then in 2022 a suspicious fire burned down an important warehouse. Still, David remained committed to his calling to improve our nation’s health. “The farmer is the guardian of the nation’s health. Most farmers don’t know that. But ultimately, where the food comes from is the original source of health for the entire nation. The diet of America starts in the soil. We have a nation where 54% of our children have been diagnosed with a chronic disorder. That rides firmly on diet related choices. We want to have the highest quality food in the nation from farmers who really care about the quality of their soil. We didn’t really have what we know today as a conventional and industrialized food system until about 100 years ago, obesity was rare. 100 years ago, cancer was almost unheard of. How many people really, if they knew, would like to be eating Agent Orange every time they have a sandwich? Well, whether they like it or not, unless they’re eating organic bread, they are. Not only Agent Orange, but they’re probably eating glyphosates. Organic eliminates those things.”

David believes Christians, especially, should strive toward better health through organic choices in their food. “If we’re gonna do the mission of Christ, we need to take care of the temple that he gave us.” David says, “This is exceedingly close to my heart because he gave us a purpose to be on earth. Every Christian has a purpose in my opinion, and a healthy body is key to fulfilling the calling that has been put on our life. Food is, it’s not everything when it comes to, to health, but it’s a great big old chunk. And we wanna work on that big old chunk. We have to actually keep, you know, the basic principles of health. And a lot of those are actually laid out in the Bible. It’s not foreign to who we are as Christians. Taking care of the temple is not a foreign concept.”

Another Biblical principle Azure Standard implements is the farming practice outlined in the Bible allowing the land a sabbath rest. David found that resting the soil produces an abundant harvest in following years. He discovered doing things God’s way is always successful. “If we’re not grateful for it, it’s easy to waste.” He says, “We take good care of our resources if we’re thankful for them. We also see them as God’s and we’re stewards of them, and we are more inclined to invest our resources, whether that’s our time, our energy, our money, into things that He sees, that we see as the calling of God.”

The health of his own family is all the proof he needs to confirm he is on the right path regarding food standards. “We were able to raise 11 children to adulthood without but one doctor visit for all 11 children.” Says David, “It was not healthy genetics. It wasn’t luck, this, relationship between food and health is absolutely real, especially with your, when you’re dealing with families and children.”

David believes part of America’s obesity epidemic can be traced back to chemical fertilizers and pesticides depleting the soil of the nutrients needed for healthy food. “You know, we’re eating too much, but we need to because we’re not getting the nutrients that we need. Or we supplement. I’m not against supplements, but God made our supplements in food in the perfect balance.”

For that reason, Azure Standard has over 4500 delivery locations across all 50 states, through a network of churches and communities that desire healthy organic food. He feels farming is a calling, given to him by God to help heal the nation. David says, “I’m absolutely thankful every single day. I’ve got, you know, a beautiful family, a loving wife. I’ve got 11 responsible children. I’ve got a beautiful farm to wake up to every morning. I’ve got a wonderful team at Azure that helps keep things running every day, I have wonderful customers that I can serve, and I have a mission that God’s given me to, to try to push forward every, every single day. What else can we ask for?”

He Built His Farm On These Biblical Principles, Now He’s Giving Back to the Kingdom

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