Farm To Table Talk

A lot of people want to farm and some farmers want to change the way they farm.  Emily Newman is helping those folks in her role as Program Manager for Rodale Institute\’s Organic Crop Consulting Service. They provide  one-on-one mentorship and assistance to farmers looking to transition to organic. Consultants meet farmers where they are—each plan is individualized for best outcome for that...

  Sisters JoBeth Evans and Maggie Davidson have been farming since they were old enough to feed the cows but just recently  (officially) went in business with their parents to form Williams Angus Beef. The girls grew up, graduated from college, got jobs, married farmers, had two kids each and are now reconnecting with their parents. They are practicing a basic premise of  sustainability:  kee...

Food fraud and political tensions have heavily impacted Australian farmers exporting products to international markets. Traceability and provenance are essential to fighting food fraud and opening new export markets for  farmers, producers, processors and consumers who deserve to know they’re getting exactly what they purchased. Fourth generation Black Angus beef farmer, Rob Mackenzie , has been g...

  Consumers, Restaurants, Supermarkets and Farmers are finding common ground on animal production and marketing animal products. Here it can be argued that \”the egg came first.\” Josh Balk leads the Humane Society of the United States’ work in shifting the egg industry from predominantly cage production to cage-free housing instead. He’s successfully worked with virtually every m...

  Scientific advances are credited (or blamed) for food system progress (or problems) depending on food philosophies and perspectives.  Yet new knowledge  that comes from new scientific findings can lead to more sustainable systems that reduce waste, limit production of green house gases and feed more hungry people world wide.  Some of the necessary research for these advances will come from...

  From farms to citizens of the world of the world inflammation causes disease and makes health impossible. Global transformation will need recognition that farming is medicine for the health of all life and of earth itself.  That\’s a theme for a KeyNote presentation at EcoFarm by Dr. Rupa Marya: physician, writer, musician, mother, farmer\’s wife and Associate Professor of Medic...

Every five years the US Government develops and publishes \”Dietary Guidelines For Americans\”.  The Guidelines for 2020 – 20225 have now been  released by the two responsible agencies, USDA and HHS.  New approaches have been taken to identify diet patterns for various life stages.  The report follows the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines Committee of experts, except for...

\”To make a living is not to make a killing. It\’s to have enough.\” says Wendell Berry  in many ways, in scores of books over the years. As we consider the future of the world we need to reflect on the counsel of Wendell Berry who reminds us that the world will take care of us if we take care of it; knowing and loving it. If there was a poet laureate for agriculture, it should b...

  Covid pandemic demonstrated enormous problems in the food system with food being destroyed while people were going hungry.  If we want to revitalize the food system and rural America we have to bring people back. And to do that we need to have work that people can do.  @MarionNestle says it can be done and the new team taking shape at the USDA must take the lead in making it happen.

  Some of the world\’s largest protests are taking place in support of farmers in India.  Whether in Delhi, San Francisco or Paris people have gone to the streets to show solidarity with the small farmers in India who are losing essential government support. To generate global awareness of the farmers\’ fate,  Sikhs in California have brought tractors, trucks, friends and their vo...

  When once again safe to travel through farm country, the bounty of the food system  will be evident.  So are the perils resulting from misdirected political power.  Tom Philpott, author, podcaster and Mother Jones reporter wrote Perilous Bounty to draw attention to the promise and the peril of farm policy and practices that are often not good for farms or consumers. However an encouraging s...

  Masked or not, face to face marketing can\’t be beat; because  wherever you are in the food chain it is best to have direct contact with customers.  Erin Sastre and Tyler Towne are literally doing that for Planters Peanuts as they drive a giant peanut thousands of miles back and forth across the country. On a bright Fall morning we find them in front of the Zoo where families come to...

  The story of a place has to include the story of it\’s food: what was grown and what they ate. Taking that to heart, the owner Chef of Bulrush Restaurant in St. Louis, Rob Connoly, is finding a delicious way to share the story of a special place with special food traditions from the Ozarks.  Rob is establishing the Ozark foodway by resurrecting ingredients, practices and recipes of th...

  Climate change effects will go way beyond receding coasts and shrinking farm  regions to to include the quality of air that plants need to produce nutritious foods. When carbon levels in the air increase, the nutrition from foods will decline by up to 30%, severely impacting human health.  Dr. Kristie Ebi  is the Founding Director of CHanGe, the Center for Health and The Global Environment...

  Well educated young women who could do anything are choosing to farm, and to lead.  Equal gender opportunities do abound in agriculture, including the opportunity to give leadership to controversial issues like climate change. Krysten  Mensonides and Lynne Wheeler both graduated from universities and had career choices before they decided farming was their future. Now that future includes j...

For better or worse there has been substantial deregulation happening in the US Capitol, now including genetic engineering (GMO/GE).  Greg Jaffe is the Biotech Director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). They believe that GE products deemed safe through an independent science-based assessment have a place in our food system and have long advocated for USDA to revise its regu...

      Agriculture may be 10,000 years old but it\’s a new world. Farmers and Ranchers are facing the new challenges  with new technologies and new philosophies, enpowering the big and the small. This comes at a time when consumer interest in how their food is produced has never been higher–a fact not missed by food manufacturers, retailers and chefs. Deborah Wilson and K...

The North American food system has succeeded in producing an abundance of commodities at relatively low cost, but it is failing in other ways that matter. Showing how law and policy should make needed changes is the purpose of \”the Blueprint for a National Food Strategy\”.  This work in progress is a collaborative project between the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont...

  Seasons are the rhythm of nature, naturally restricting the availability of fruits and vegetables.  That is except when it\’s with a food such as tomatoes that are freshly preserved in diced, peeled or paste form to be part of  the worlds most popular dishes. Although some food products are just processed when quality is declining, processing tomato varieties, production and processin...

In every region farmers are finding ways to pivot from producing the same commodities that have always been produced on their land.  New farmers are also finding new ways to get started that includes trying different crops. In southern California coffee is being successfully grown on land formerly growing avocados and lemons.  Jay Ruskey planted a trial crop of coffee at his family-owned and opera...

There is a growing need for informational bridges between farmers markets, farm workers, shoppers, and farmers of every size shape and situation. Troy Rice established Farm Brigge to fill that need and create local food ecosystems.  Shoppers can go on line to find local farmers and farmers markets that have the food products they seek and the story behind the stories. Farmers can find farm workers...

If you’re not yet a believer that we can create a climate stable future, you probably will be a believer after listening to Josh Tickell. He and his wife Rebecca wrote the book and produced the most uplifting film to date about regenerative agriculture and what it means for farmers and consumers. Over a year ago I read his book “Kiss the Ground”, listened to the audio version that he narrates, vie...

For too many it is basically a no win situation if you\’re a farmer and so they ask \”How can I get off this treadmill?\” The dream of farming can become a nightmare in a broken system explains  Ricardo Salvador, the Director of Food and Environment for the Union of Concerned Scientists. Farm choice has traditionally been either playing the low value, high volume commodity game o...

The fact that the food system lacks resilience is apparent from the devastating effects of COVID on meat packing plant employees.  In a system that inspired Henry Ford\’s assembly plant, these dis-assembly plants have proven to be extremely dangerous for workers.  First plants closed, farmers euthanized hogs, workers were home sick or laid off, then politics intervened.  This is where we pic...

For many it would be a dream come true if their family could be supported from an 80 acre farm instead of the more typical 2,000 acres commodity farm.  In a recent article, Ricardo Salvador of the Union of Concerned Scientists says that dream may be becoming a reality: \”We all could use some good news. Here is some. This is a story about breaking free. There’s more than corn, beans and hogs...