The Farmer-Labor Podcast

In this episode, we interview Mary Dougherty, a Bayfield resident near Lake Superior. Mary talks about how organizing in rural communities takes many deep conversations and finding common ground to bring people together. We discuss how Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) affect the community and the environment. She explains how these facilities externalize costs to the community and in...

In this episode, we discuss the impact of immigration on rural communities and the systemic issues that have led workers to leave their homes. We hear from Rodrigo Cala, an immigrant, farmer, and former farmworker, as he shares his experiences moving to a new country and the challenges faced by immigrant laborers. We also speak with Christine Neumann-Ortiz, the Executive director of Voces de la Fr...

In this episode, we talk with Kristy Allen, a beekeeper in Western Wisconsin. She sheds light on the impact of agricultural consolidation on bees, family farms, and rural communities. Kristy shares her firsthand experiences with beekeeping, including the challenges posed by land use, pesticides, and the need for diversity in forage. The conversation details the interconnectedness of bees' wellbein...

In this episode, Ed Gorell, a lifelong farmer and member of Wisconsin Farmers Union's board, shares his insights into the transformation of farming in Wisconsin, particularly in the wake of trade agreements like NAFTA. He discusses how family farms and small agricultural operations have been increasingly overshadowed by large-scale industrial farming. Ed's personal journey, from growing up on a fa...

Welcome to Season 2 of the Farmer-Labor Podcast! In this episode, host Zoe Sullivan will be speaking with Brittany Olson. Brittany is a fifth-generation dairy farmer from Barron County, Wisconsin. They discuss the challenges farmers face, including mental health struggles faced by farm youth, the impact of financial pressures and razor-thin profit margins on farmers' wellbeing, and more.  

For this episode, we've brought back Dennis Olson, a senior policy staffer at the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, to discuss projects and policies that UFCW and others are building through a farmer-labor alliance to advance shared interests. Dennis discusses the complexity of building a farmer- and worker-owned supply chain, why a revived cattle herd and fair rules for the...

This podcast features a conversation between Angela Lang, Executive Director of Black Leaders Organizing Communities (BLOC) and Julie Bomar, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Farmers Union (WFU). They'll discuss the issues that are common to Black residents of Milwaukee and rural residents and farmers in "out-state" Wisconsin. Their conversation shows the need to do the hard work of breaking dow...

This episode we'll meet Nick Webber, the organizer for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 953. Nick's journey into Wisconsin politics and organizing, which began when he was just a high schooler, shows how unions, campaigns, students, teachers, and families all push a person into organizing, and how work sometimes becomes much more than that. Nick's story brings us th...

This episode explores the farm activism of the 80s through one of its core leaders, former Wisconsin Farmers Union Executive Director, Tom Quinn. Tom's story reveals the tension between the New Deal generation and those that came after, and how relationships with labor came together, though in limited ways.  

In the following two episodes, we'll hear from leaders in farm activism and students of its history. Farmers have long been organizing into movements, with varying degrees of success and solidarity. Their insights and memories inform our work for the future. For this episode we talked with two historians of farm activism, one amateur and one professional, about farmer-led political organizations o...

This episode, we'll look at the structures that make people more powerful together than they are as individuals. We'll cover the basics of unions and coops through the personal stories of labor leaders in the state, and WFU camp director Cathy Statz.

In this chapter, we listen to union leadership and farm policy advocates about power in the workplace, a way to rethink farm prices, and keeping workers informed during coronavirus confusion. It's about fair wages and fair prices, and how they're connected.

In Chapter 1, we discuss how in recent decades corporate power has put downward pressure on farmers and workers, and why to confront the challenges of today, we need to strengthen old alliances and build new ones across the supply chain and labor force.