American Family Farmer

Timothy Gertson is a farmer, on the Gulf Coast of Texas,with five generations of rice farming in his family. His 2,000 acres at G5 Farms are dictated by dollars, and in 2016, he 19s found a profit window in organic corn. Agriculture is in his blood. Yet even for a man with years of experience under his belt, the shift from conventional to organic agriculture was a veritable obstacle course. And he...

In August of 2010, Peter and Linley Dixon moved to Durango with their daughter Raina to start an organic farm, Adobe House Farm, with the mission of providing year-round, pesticide free fruits and vegetables. With help from friends and family, they built a four-season greenhouse, installed fencing, irrigation, and two hoop houses. They sold produce at the Durango Farmers Market, wholesale, and off...

Michael Harrison is the owner and publisher of Talkers Magazine, which was launched in Summer 1990. It 19 s headquarters is in Springfield, Massachusetts. He has been called a maverick in the world of radio broadcasting, in addition to being a weathered trade journalist, Michael has been at the center of many of radio 19s most exciting revolutions. Doug and Michael talk about creating the show tog...

Melissa Tashjain is an 1cOrganics Diversion Enthusiast. 1d When she was young, she would travel from Chicago to her parent 19s house in the suburbs, so that she could recycle cans and bottles. Today, with her diplomas from high school and 1cThe School of Hard Knocks, 1d she is the owner of Compost Crusader, LLC, in Milwaukee, WI She used funds from a planned kitchen rebuild to purchase a front-loa...

Brett Tolley is the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance 19s community organizer. He comes from a four-generation commercial fishing family out of Cape Cod, MA. He has worked in the fishing industry hanging nets, crewing boats of various gear-types, and commercially shellfishing. Bret says that 1cLocal fishermen and fishing communities are disproportionately left out of the policy decisions that imp...

Since 1972, Ken Dunn has run a nonprofit organization called the Resource Center, and for 17 years one branch of the center held the contract for removing manure from the stables used by the Chicago Police Department. Dunn kept the contract for so long not because it paid off particularly well but because it helped bolster another of the Resource Center 19s main activities, making compost. The cen...

Tom Driscoll is the National Farmer 19s Union 19s director of conservation policy and education. He started with NFU as a government relations representative in August 2014, and assumed the role of director of conservation policy and education in April 2016. He works to ensure family farmers, beginning farmers and youth involved in the organization have the educational resources they need to succe...

Renee Randall visited with us last year. She is a woman farmer (farmess is not a word). The earliest agriculturalists were women, and even now, in many parts of the world, women are the ones who plant, tend and harvest. She started out studying nutrition, and 1974, with three children in tow and help from her friends, she moved from the heart of Chicago and became Farmer Renee, farming organically...

Lindsey Lusher Shute is Executive Director of the National Young Farmers Coalition. She is a leading advocate for independent and sustainable farms. As a young farmer herself, she is acutely aware of the challenges that young and beginning farmers face. With a background in organizing and state policy, Lindsey co-founded NYFC. In its first five years, NYFC has engaged tens of thousands of farmers...

Terry Spence is the second-generation owner and operator of the 400 acre family farm where he was born, raised, and then raised his own family. Since its inception, this northeast Missouri farm has been involved in poultry, swine, sheep, cattle, and dairy cow operations. These days, Terry and his family concentrate solely on beef cattle, a cow- calf operation. For the past 20 years, Terry has dedi...

Daniel Teague is a farmer and works in Agribusiness Management with the Mississippi Association of Cooperatives. THE MISSISSIPPI ASSOCIATION OF COOPERATIVES is a non-profit agency that provides support for cooperative businesses, family farmers, and rural people, which enables them to improve their lives and communities; and to maintain and support training and educational programs to enhance the...

Marty Mesha is Executive Director of Florida Organic Growers. Florida Organic GRowers is a nonprofit corporation that was established in farmhouse kitchens and barns in1987. FOG operates two programs: Education & Outreach and Quality Certification Services. The Organic Food Production Act of 1990 required that the USDA develop national standards for organic products, and FOG was heavily involved i...

Ellen Moyer is a writer, speaker, engineer, and environmental advocate whose mission is to help restore the environment and promote a healthier way for us to inhabit the Earth. Moyer is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post and has authored two books. Her third, currently in progress, describes how our current environmental, health, and economic crises provide a grand opportunity for humans...

Betty Grotophorst grew up on her family's 212 acre, multi - generational family farm in Honey Creek, Sauk County WI. Now retired, she's active on the Green County board, South West Badger RC&D as treasurer, and Badger Kennel club. She lives in the country, grows and preserves most of her food , enjoys experimenting growing heirloom flowers and vegetables in her garden. GREEN COUNTY DEFENDING OUR F...

Kristina Ralph and her husband Robert started Lazy Daze Acres CSA in 2015. She was brought up on the farmstead and is a fifth generation farmer. Robert was completely green to farming, but passionate about learning more about the farming lifestyle. They raise over 40 different varities of USDA certified organic vegetables, including heirlooms and herbs. They also raise organic beef.

Chandler Goule began his career with NFU in November 2009 as the vice president of government relations. The World Trade Organization (WTO) has delivered a major setback to American consumers and producers earlier this year when it ruled against the U.S. Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) law, which requires muscle cuts of meat, and some fruits and vegetables, to be labeled with the country 19s nam...

Chris Prchal owns Trogg's Hollow Family Farm, located in Elgin, and Poplar Grove IL. Their mission is to provide people from the Chicago and Rockford area who want to know their farmer and be part of a farm family/community and are searching for natural and chemical-free food with naturally grown and raised, quality food and the opportunity to participate in a welcoming farm environment.

Renee Randall is a woman farmer. The earliest agriculturalists were women, and even now, in many parts of the world, women are the ones who plant, tend and harvest. She started out studying nutrition, and 1974, with three children in tow and help from her friends, she moved from the heart of Chicago and became Farmer Renee, farming organically for the past 41 years. Her children grew up on the far...

Beth Osmond and and her husband Jody are a second career family, that left the Chicago consultant world following the bursting of the 1ctech bubble 1d in the early 2000s. They created Illinoi 19s first meat CSA serving the Chicago area. They are activist farmers who speak out about policy issues and they have been involved in advocacy work. They helped form the Board of Farmers Chicagoland CSA Coa...

Wes King has worked on sustainability and food policy issues for the past 8 years. He staffs NSAC 19s Marketing, Food Systems and Rural Development Committee. He spent the past 6 years at NSAC member organization, Illinois Stewardship Alliance, working on food access, farmers markets and working-lands conservation policy; and leading efforts to create a more risk and scale appropriate regulatory e...

Joel Salatin is a third generation full-time family farmer in Virginia 19s Shenandoah Valley. The farm services more than 5,000 families, 10 retail outlets, and 50 restaurants through on-farm sales and metropolitan buying clubs with salad bar beef, pastured poultry, eggmobile eggs, pigaerator pork, forage-based rabbits, pastured turkey and forestry products using relationship marketing. He holds a...

Kendra Kimbirauskas is CEO of the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project. SRAP empowers rural communities to protect themselves from the devastating health, environmental, and economic impacts of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) or 1cfactory farms. 1d SRAP supports sustainable family farming 14not animal factories, which destroy family farms and rural communities. We help concerned...

Jim Kleinschmit is a Senior Adviser on Climate and Energy for the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, an international non-profit, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A main focus of his work has been the Rural Climate Network, which brings together national leaders, organizations and companies around rural climate education and solutions.

Tom Spaulding is the founding executive director of Angelic Organics Learning Center. He is inspired by farms as dynamic places of cultural, ecological, and economic revitalization. At the Learning Center, Tom focuses on strategic planning, building partnerships, and managing the staff, team and facilities. He keeps his hands in the dirt and his spirit renewed by managing the AOLC livestock and as...

BILL NIMAN is pioneering rancher in the good meat movement. He has been called 1cThe Guru of Happy Cows, 1d by the Los Angeles Times, 1cThe Master of Meat, 1d by Wine Spectator magazine, 1cThe Steve Jobs of Meat, 1d by Men 19s Journal, and 1cFood Artisan of the Year, 1d by Bon Appetit magazine. He and his wife argue that dispersed, grass-fed, small-scale farms can and should become the basis for A...