Farm To Table Talk

Rewilding can regenerate our relationship with nature/soil, sequester carbon, increase biodiversity, nourish foods and heal our communities. Rewilding is happening in Nelson County, Virginia with 100% grass-fed and finished cattle, heritage & holistically foraged pigs, and 100% grass-fed sheep on the Timshel Wildland –a 400-acre regenerative, process-led, and emergent conservation wildla...

  World leaders have committed to tackling global hunger, climate change and biodiversity loss at an historic UN Food Systems Summit.  More than 150 countries made commitments to transform their food systems, while championing greater participation and equity, especially amongst farmers, women, youth and indigenous groups. What is this global food system and why does it matter? After a full d...

Everything is changing down on the farm, except for the laws.  How do farmers and ranchers keep up while they diversify in to direct to consumer sales, wedding sites, field dinners, local meat processing, pesticide drift, agri-tourism, cottage food, food safety liability, NIMBY neighbors, run off, carbon credits, etc?  The trusty local lawyer may not have all the answers.  That\’s why Rachel...

Call it what you will, the climate is weird and getting more dangerous. Still reactive blanket prescriptions for changing the world\’s diets must take in to account that over 800,000 people are subsisting on incomes of $2 per day. In these areas the most serious threat is physical and cognitive stunting of up to 30% of the children due to poor diets; however,   global regenerative agricultur...

The world can draw down all of our Carbon emissions if agriculture fully embraced regenerative agriculture. Soils must be regularly monitored by probing  carbon levels because the more that is in the soil the less is in the atmosphere.  These themes are promoted by the Chico Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems to reduce greenhouse gasses, restore soil resiliency, increase the...

Global regenerative abundance is the goal and holistic management is the way to get there. It\’s an abstract perspective at first, but when coached to this vision by the Savory Institute\’s Global Network Coordinator, Abbey Smith we get the picture. The Savory Institute sets out to regenerate the world\’s grasslands and in that journey regenerates farms, ranches, regions, communi...

To cook, farm or eat in a different way requires taking that first step.  On Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Ben Glassen has taken first steps in regeneratively raising animals and providing them to consumers who are taking their own first steps, reaping the benefits of regenerative livestock production.  Ben\’s approach includes leasing (or borrowing) land, mobile infrastructure and d...

COVID-19 forced thousands of farmers, fishermen, butchers, and food suppliers to make incredible changes that they had  never imagined. Fortunately, in the emerging food chain, suppliers of all sizes can compete in the digital world at the intersection of technology and food. Joseph Lee, Co-Founder  and CPO of Freshline shares the story of how new ventures like theirs have stepped up to create the...

What does Social Science have to do with our food system?  Professor Silvia Secchi a Social Scientist at the Public Policy Center at the University of Iowa believes it has a key role to play as is clear by her favorite quote from  T. W Shultz, \”It is especially the social sciences -economics, sociology and political science -which, if prosecuted with vigor reveal answers which are unpalatab...

If food insecure populations can\’t make it to food markets,  bring it to them. With this idea and a grant from the California Department of Agriculture for a Farmers Market Food Truck, this is a dream come true in West Sacramento. Sara Bernal is the program manager for the West Sacramento Urban Farm Program and now with a vehicle the size of a traditional U Haul moving truck low income comm...

Food waste presents its own serious crisis. As awareness has risen about the impact of climate change on our environment, we are learning the significant role that food waste plays. In America, 40% of the food supply, from farm to table, is wasted. This excess food ends up in landfills where it creates methane gas, a major contributor to the warming of our planet. Vegetables, fruit, milk, and othe...

  Before he became the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson envisioned a country of \’citizen farmers\’ who would be engaged in government. Jefferson would have been pleased with citizens like Iowa farmer Francis Thicke and Vermont farmer Dave Chapman who climb off their tractors to Zoom with the Secretary of Agriculture about needed policy infrastructure repairs...

If more of us pledged our head to clearer thinking, our heart to greater loyalty, our hands to larger service and our health to better living it would be better for us, our clubs, our community, our country and our world.  That\’s been the 4-H pledge for generations, although our \”world\” is a welcome additional beneficiary. 4-H is not just for farm kids with animals.  In many s...

Louis Bromfield planted seeds of the food revolution and reminds us to \”Never forget that agriculture is the oldest of the honorable professions and that always the good farmer is the fundamental citizen of any community, state or nation.\” We are reintroduced to the wisdom and vision of Louis Bromfield in the recently published book, \”The Planter of Modern Life\” by  the...

On-farm agriculture operations have been excluded from federal labor law since 1935. California filled this gap by creating its own law in 1975, the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act (“ALRA”) that gave union organizers the right to physically access the farm property in order to solicit support for unionization. Growers challenged this regulation as a state-sponsored “taking” of their pr...

Will eating less meat save the planet? Some say so but science says no. of course if you\’re looking for a reason to eat less meat and tell others to do the same, climate change seems to add to your case.  However, if you\’re looking to make real impact on the climate, transportation and construction are still much more important than agriculture.  Dr. Frank Moetloehner, Director of th...

Except for the air we breathe, nothing is more important to life on earth than water.  Humans can live up to 60 days without food but only a few days without water.  So water is life and the worsening climate is severely impacting life as we know it.  In California alone it is estimated that nearly a million acres of previously productive farmland will be fallowed in 2021.  Inevitably the food sup...

  Not all farmers are old.. Millennials are coming back to family farms and ranches in impressive numbers.  After college and trying other adventures many are deciding that their passion and what seems best for their families is to be back in rural areas where they bring enthusiasm and a renewed commitment to grow livestock and crops in a way that is good for their family, community and the c...

  Connecting small farmers to new markets is a universal goal. In Fiji and Australia that is being accomplished due to the efforts of twin sisters, Lisa and Zoe Paisley who have  co-founded Aggie Global. They moved to Fiji  to  start a business and address poverty in rural communities. Farmers struggled with selling their produce while the tourism sector imported 70% of their food so Aggie Gl...

Billions of pounds of produce are going to waste while millions of Americans are going  hungry. Seeing food lines develop all over, some University students  decided to do something to change that. They created the Farmlink Project to connect farmers to food banks, delivering millions of pounds of farm fresh produce that would otherwise be wasted to feed families in need. The founder and CEO of Fa...

Consumers have never known more about nutrition and yet, have never been more overweight. For most Americans, maintaining a balanced diet is more difficult than doing their taxes. What are we doing wrong?  Jack Bobo has been engaged with the food system from farm to table and is the author of a new book \”Why Smart People Make Bad Food Choices\”. He is a food psychology expert with ove...

Nutrient density, biodynamic and regenerative are terms of relevance to the health of  our planet, our soil, our food and ourselves. It\’s tricky learning the connections but  Dr. Christopher Daugherty ties it all together. \”Biodynamic is the art and aspect\” of the essential principles of food. Nutrient density is the \”level of nutrients per unit\” of calorie.  Dr....

  Now is not the new normal. Consumers were forced to change their shopping and dining food practices by the pandemic.  As they return to stores and restaurants, they need to be the Hero of their lives.  From farmers to restaurants and food markets, helping consumers realize their need to be the Hero from these troubled times, is job One. Suzy Badaracco is the President of Culinary Tides Inc....

  Many people wish they could farm and new farmers are needed. Sounds like a match. It is a well established fact that the average age of farmers is around the age that people are thinking of retirement.  So who will be farming in the future, beyond just those who are fortunate enough to be born in to a sustainable family farm?  The Center for Land Based Learning is trying to answer that ques...

Families are spending more time cooking at home and local meat provides a better and more affordable alternative. According to Johnathan Hladk the Policy Director for the Center for Rural Affairs, local meat lockers simply do not have the space or equipment to keep up, leaving family farms in the growing direct sales industry without a crucial partner. State and Federal government should support s...