The Farm Report

Erin Fairbanks is investigating cider as an agricultural product on this week’s episode of The Farm Report! Tune in to hear Erin talk with Eleanor Leger of Eden Ice Cider. Eleanor produces ice cider- a higher ABV beverage that is made through cold-concentration processes. Learn more about the processes involved with making ice cider, and why Eleanor and her husband decided to pour their life savin...

Welcome to a very special episode of The Farm Report. This week, Erin Fairbanks is recounting the events that led her to Heritage Foods USA and the Heritage Radio Network.org. Hear how Erin’s college job in Zingerman’s deli inspired her to pursue a career in food. Hear how Erin went from working in kitchens at Savoy and Gramercy Tavern to organizing a farm camp at Flying Pigs Farm. Later, Erin tal...

Meet Will Harris, the the owner/operator of White Oak Pastures, a multi-generational family farm that was established in 1866 in the small, southwest Georgia community of Bluffton. White Oak Pastures is the only farm in the United States that has both a beef and chicken abattoir on the property. Erin Fairbanks interviews Will on this week’s episode of The Farm Report. Mr. Harris explains what insp...

Welcome to the final installment of The Farm Report’s “Growing Beer” series. Today, Erin Fairbanks is talking local and regional ingredients with a wealth of New York state beer and agriculture guests. Carrie Blackmore from Good Nature Brewing calls in to talk about the locally-sourced grains and hops used in Good Nature’s brews. Hear why local and regional sourcing works for small-small scale bre...

This week, Erin Fairbanks is once again talking about beer and agriculture with guests David Katleski and Becca Jablonski. David is the president of New York’s own Empire Brewing Company and the New York State Brewers Association. Becca is Ph. D. candidate at Cornell University and an agricultural economist. Tune in to hear discussions regarding New York State’s Farm Brewery Bill. The bill’s aim i...

The Farm Report continues its “Growing Beer” series with Andrea Stanley of Valley Malt. Valley Malt, a husband and wife team, helps provide the Northeastern craft and home brewer with artisanal malt from locally grown grains. Learn about the life of a barley farmer and what challenges they are faced with in terms of seasons and harvesting. Andrea explains everything from how to make a batch of mal...

Welcome to the first installment of The Farm Report’s “Growing Beer” special. In this series, your host, Erin Fairbanks, is investigating beer as a value-added, agricultural product. On this episode, Erin is talking beer basics with Mary Izett, President of the New York City Homebrewers Guild and founder of the website, My Life on Craft. Erin and Mary list and explore all of the ingredients of bee...

This week’s episode of The Farm Report is a follow-up with Janisse Ray, author of the new book, The Seed Underground. Tune in to hear host Erin Fairbanks and Janisse discuss the need for a return to an ecozoic mindset in regards to food production and conservation. Learn why Janisse thinks that the term “conventional agriculture” should not be used to describe the processes used by large-scale ag....

This week’s episode of The Farm Report is all about gardening! Host Erin Fairbanks chats with Willi Galloway, a Portland-based gardener and author of Grow Cook Eat: A Food Lover’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening, Including 50 Recipes, Plus Harvesting and Storage Tips. Erin happens to be a novice gardener; tune in to hear Willi’s suggestions for good herbs and vegetables for those who are just startin...

On this week’s installment of The Farm Report, Erin Fairbanks is joined by Janisse Ray to talk about the importance our seed supply. Janisse is the author of the new book, The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food. Tune into this episode to learn about genetic diversity in seed stock, as well as different types of pollination. How has industrialization and urbanization affected the r...

This week on The Farm Report, host Erin Fairbanks chats with a group of talented chefs who have also authored two books, Matthew Weingarten and Raquel Pelzel, authors of “Preserving Wild Foods”, and Jackson Landers, author of “Eating Aliens”. Matthew and Raquel discuss the importance of foraging, utilizing what grows around you and re-imagining some of the wild foods that are often overlooked such...

This week on The Farm Report, host Erin Fairbanks checks in with Brian Shaad of Feeding Crane Farms in Sacramento. Brian talks about some of the challenges and benefits of being certified organic, including increased labor and improved quality of produce. Learn about the ins and outs of running a farm in Sacramento, CA including weather, irrigation and marketing. Find out what goes into deciding w...

On this week’s installment of The Farm Report, Erin Fairbanks is interviewing John and Dorothy Priske of Fountain Prairie Farms, located just outside of Madison, Wisconsin. Tune in to hear about the Priskes’ start in agriculture; John grew up on a subsistence farm, and later grew bushels of asparagus at his brother’s farm. Hear about John and Dorothy’s brief stint in industrial agriculture, and wh...

On the final installment of The Farm Report’s Fiber Series, Erin Fairbanks is checking in with Mary Jeanne Packer of Battenkill Fibers Carding and Spinning Mill. On this episode, Erin and Mary Jeanne are talking about all of the different processes involved with harvesting fiber from animals and turning them into value-added products, like yarn and textiles. Tune in to learn more about the growing...

This week on The Farm Report, Erin Fairbanks continues her exploration into the world of agricultural fiber. First on the show, Virginia Scholomiti of Yellow Farm describes the process of breeding and managing flock to produce fleeces of superior quality for hand-spinners and crafters. From artificial insemination to sheep coats, learn about everything it takes to produce high end fiber from sheep...

Welcome to the first episode of The Farm Report’s Fiber Series, hosted by Erin Fairbanks. Erin is talking with a couple of guests so that you can learn more about textiles in the context of agriculture and raising livestock! In the first half of the episode, Erin is talking with Mary Jeanne Packer of Battenkill Fibers Carding and Spinning Mill in Washington County, New York. Tune in to hear about...

Erin Fairbanks is back for another episode of The Farm Report! On this week’s installment, Erin is talking with Sandor Katz, author of the new book The Art of Fermentation. Fermentation is happening all around us: in our food products and in the life cycle! Tune in to hear Erin and Sandor talk about the differences between anaerobic and aerobic composting systems. Sandor also addresses ‘the war on...

On this episode of The Farm Report, Erin Fairbanks is talking with Morgan Weber and Ryan Pera of Revival Market, a free-standing market in Houston that provides fresh, local food to the community at a reasonable price. Tune in to hear about their backgrounds as chefs and farmers, the growing demand for quality domestic charcuterie, recent trends in butchering, and their decision to raise heritage...

On today’s episode of The Farm Report, Erin Fairbanks is chatting with Atina Diffley, farmer at Gardens of Eagan outside of Minneapolis/St. Paul, and author of the new book Turn Here Sweet Corn: Organic Farming Works. Tune in to hear Atina recount the experiences of being an organic farmer during a boom of big agriculture, the importance of organic certification, and trying to run and salvage a fa...

This week on The Farm Report, Erin Fairbanks interviews the father-daughter duo: Dan and Margot Brooks of Wayward Goose Farm and Consider Bardwell Farm. Dan used to work on a large-scale family dairy farm, and has moved to working with twenty head of cattle. Margot studied Conservation Biology at St. Lawrence University, and has taken this knowledge to work with goats at Consider Bardwell. Tune in...

This week on The Farm Report, Erin Fairbanks is talking with Mircha King of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives about the Pigford case- a class action lawsuit alleging racial discrimination on the part of the USDA concerning the distribution of loans and credits. Tune in to hear Mircha and Erin discuss the roots of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives in the Civil Rights Movement, the histo...

This week on The Farm Report, Erin Fairbanks is talking maple syrup with David Campbell of Mapleland Farms in Salem, New York. Tune in to hear Erin and David discuss how this year’s weird weather has affected maple sap yield in the Northeast. Also, hear about some of the new technologies involved with sap extraction, such as vacuum systems and reverse osmosis machines. Erin and David also talk abo...

This week on The Farm Report, Erin Fairbanks is joined by wealth of guests to discuss the issue of hydraulic fracturing, better known as hydrofracking. Erin talks with Heather Carlucci-Rodriguez and Alissa Westervelt of Chefs for the Marcellus, a group of New York City chefs and food purveyors raising awareness about the harmful health effects of fracking. Joining via the phone lines is Greg Swart...

Today on The Farm Report, Erin Fairbanks talks to Erin Grimley and Steve Blabac of the Root Down Farm. The Root Down Farm is located in western New York, serving the greater Buffalo area as a mixed-vegetable C.S.A. farm. Now in its second Year, the Root Down Farm has doubled its C.S.A. membership! Tune in to hear about how Erin and Steve met working on C.S.A. farms in the northeast, the some of th...

On this episode of The Farm Report, Erin Fairbanks talks with Jay Reville of Regional Access. Regional Access is a company dedicated to transporting and distributing local meat, dairy, produce, and wine all across New York state. Tune in to hear about the origins of Regional Access and its founder, Gary Redmond. Also, learn about the day-to-day workings of the company, including cold-chain conside...