Podcasts about agriculture network

Women have been invisible in agriculture for too long: not counted in the census, not taken seriously for their work and management achievements, excluded from access to capital and credit––and even farm equipment is not made for their bodies. We talk to Jules Salinas of Women Food and Agriculture Network, which is addressing these issues in ways ranging from political action to storytelling.  

This year's Farm Bill will determine whether US agriculture cuts its greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. Republicans want to divert $20 billion away from agricultural climate solutions. Farmers who've adopted these practices say they increase soil carbon and climate resilience. We hear stories from farmers about compost, cover crops, prescribed grazing, and more. Sustainable agriculture advocates Renata Brillinger of the California Climate and Agriculture Network and Erik Kamrath from the Union of Concerned Scientists advise us what to tell our Congresspeople. (It's simple). 

Cult Food Science CEO Lejjy Gafour joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share news the company has launched the Open Cell Ag. Gafour tells Proactive this is a cellular agriculture network of excellence and started in collaboration with New Harvest Corp and other partners. THE company is hoping to help advance foundational knowledge for the cellular agriculture industry. This will include cellular agriculture infrastructure, methods and knowledge.

LaVon Eblen visits with Juliann Salinas of the Women, Food & Agriculture Network.

Hello Interactors, There’s but a short window of time When the dirt is in its prime Not too cold or wet Or the seeds will not set Last week the fields were lakes This week the soil bakes Gone is the mud and grime So into the tractors they all climbIt’s time to get those seeds in the ground! If you have the space. The state of Iowa, where I grew up, has this as their slogan: ‘A Place to Grow’. But those places are being displaced by homes at a record pace.As interactors, you’re special individuals self-selected to be a part of an evolutionary journey. You’re also members of an attentive community so I welcome your participation.Please leave your comments below or email me directly.Now let’s go…GROW BABY GROWWe bought our first corn on the cob this week. It’s from California. Growing up in Iowa we didn’t see corn until late summer. To get corn stalks to be ‘knee high by the fourth of July’ meant getting the seeds in the ground by the end of May. That’s now. Iowa farmers have been stressed out these last couple weeks. The planting window was closing fast and the state was getting unseasonable rain and cold temperatures. Ten days ago one farmer in northeast Iowa said he could ride his boat across his fields.Such is the life of a farmer. But the weather turned in their favor this week. They’ve been busy. On May 23rd the USDA reported 86% of Iowa’s corn crop had been planted and 47% of seeds planted earlier are already sprouting. But corn, soybeans, and oats are all behind schedule. Let’s hope the wacky weather patterns don’t wreak havoc on these weathered wonder-workers. I like my corn tortillas, tofu, and oat milk. Though, most Iowa grains and soybeans are fed to livestock, not people.And we know people like their burgers and bacon. Increased commodity prices are the number one reason some farmers give for why farmland value in Iowa is through the roof. Last year a farmer in Eastern Iowa’s Johnson County made headlines when he sold 40 acres of two 80-acre tracts for $26,000 per acre. That’s over $2,000,000 for 40 acres (the equivalent of 20 soccer fields).But that pricey southern most 40 acres is comprised of Klinger soil – a claylike sandy substrate formed by glacier tills. This soil is perfect for the native prairie grass but crops struggle. So this opportunistic farmer decided to plant a more profitable crop that has no agricultural value at all. Houses. He sold the worst soil for the most money to a developer who is expanding the sprawl of a nearby small town city called Swisher; population 914. It’s a 15 minute drive south of Iowa’s second largest city, Cedar Rapids.The conversion of farmland into housing developments is a common sight across Iowa. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) does an agricultural census every five years and the last one was done in 2017. The 2022 version is due later this year. From 2012 to 2017 Iowa lost 2,533 farms. That leaves 86,104 farms remaining. There were over 10,000 more farms in 1997 and nearly 20,000 more when I left Iowa in 1984. The amount of land dedicated to farming shrank by 59,000 acres.Much of this reduction is from consolidation. The number of large farms (>2000 acres) grew 15% to 1,892 over five years. By comparison, there were barely 300 large farms in 1987. From 2012 to 2017 large farms had gobbled 10% of up mid-sized farms (500-999 acres). Small farms (fewer than 9 acres) grew 36% to 9,120. That’s a big jump in five years, but only 1000 more than 30 years ago.These figures from the USDA tell the story of farmland consolidation across Iowa since the 1980s. But to get a picture of how farmland sold to developers contributes to the sprawl of urban areas, more and more researchers are turning to satellite imagery. In 2018 two researchers from Iowa State University were lead authors on a paper demonstrating novel image processing techniques for mapping the dynamics of urban growth. They took a series of satellite images from 1985 to 2015 of a region encompassing the Des Moines Metropolitan Area. They then trained software to differentiate between the natural and built environment by looking at the color of the pixels in the images. Pixels turning from looking ‘natural’ to looking ‘urban’ over time revealed a growing gray blob of concrete known as urban sprawl.They found, with 90% accuracy, that the Des Moines Metropolitan Area urban boundary more than doubled between 1985 and 2015. Over those thirty years the area grew linearly from 58 square miles in 1985 to just over 135 square miles in 2015. Most of which, of course, was farmland. At this growth rate, it will continue to double again every 30 years.Area growth like this is usually the result of an increasing population. The Des Moines Metropolitan Area is no exception. From 2010 to 2020, the population in this area grew 17% from 606,465 to 709,466. You might imagine the city of Des Moines being at the heart of this growth given it’s the center of the metropolitan area, but you’d be wrong. Of the top ten most populated cities in the area, Des Moines proper grew the least at 5.3% and has been relatively flat for decades. The fastest growing city from 2010 to 2020 was a town just north of Des Moines called Grimes. It grew a whopping 87%. Another town to the north, Ankeny, was second at 49% and my home town, Norwalk, just to the south, grew the third fastest at 43%.These are some of the fastest growing cities in the country. Impressive. Until you consider the overall population of the state of Iowa only grew 4.8% compared to the U.S. population rate of 7.4%.It's a curious fact that the Des Moines Metropolitan Area is growing in population at a rate far greater than the state is. This means Iowans are 1) moving to metropolitan areas from rural areas, 2) between cities within a metropolitan area, or 3) to another state all together. I reached out to a friend who recently moved from West Des Moines to Des Moines after they became empty nesters. He said they didn’t need as big a house and wanted to be closer to restaurants and entertainment. His wife added that they looked at surrounding suburbs but the house in Des Moines offered the best value.I then contacted another friend who sells real estate in the area. She told me people are obsessed with new construction. Her clients repeat the same refrain, “I want a new kitchen with granite countertops, white cabinets, and a tile floor.” My friend has an eye for houses with good bones and an affinity for mid-century classics. She tries to sell their vision to her clients by fixing up these older homes, but there’s little interest. She said, “It’s like so much else in their life. Out with the old, in with the new. Why fix it when a new one will due?” So she spends a lot of time driving to the fringes showing new construction in cities like Grimes, Ankeny, and Norwalk.THE RADICAL, THE DYNAMICAL, AND THE MEGLOMANIACAL The hollowing out of city centers as people move to the fringes, the ‘donuting’ of metropolitan areas, is common. Especially in the Midwest. Detroit gets all the attention, but the rust belt is filled with them. It occurs in cities around the world.In 1969, a professor from the MIT Sloan School of Management, Jay Wright Forrester, developed a theory and computer model for this phenomenon in a booked titled Urban Dynamics. If you’ve ever played the computer game SimCity then you have Forrester to thank. The game is built on his model. We have many things for which to thank Forrester. He helped to invent random access computer memory (RAM). He was also a pioneer in computer graphics before computers; he figured out how to get a ball to bounce on an oscilloscope screen. And the current reverberations of supply chain perturbations is called the Forrester Effect as described in his 1961 book called Industrial Dynamics. Forrester is thus the founder of the field of system dynamics – the study of nonlinear behavior of complex systems over time. And cities are indeed complex systems…mostly due to the complexities of human behavior.Forrester’s book was groundbreaking but also controversial. To validate the theory with an actual city, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – which was also five years old at the time – sponsored a two year study. Four cities were chosen as cites in 1971 and they were all within a 40 mile radius of MIT. The first experimental city was Lowell, Massachusetts.Louis Alfeld was the Director of the program. In 1994 – on the 25th anniversary of the publishing of Urban Dynamics – he reflected on the execution of the experiments and the lack of progress since. The effect of human behavior on complex systems is apparent even in the administration of the study. HUD assigned the harshest critics of the theory to be on the committee which complicated things from the start. Alfeld recalls,“Although we attempted to engage the committee in a constructive dialogue concerning the model’s utility, the members had neither the time nor the inclination to study system dynamics. Criticisms concerning data and validation techniques displaced issues of system structure and user needs. Neither side understood the other’s point of view.”Because HUD committee members were trained in traditional economics and only trusted well-cited existing academic literature, they continually dismissed and rejected every premise of systems theory. It prompted Forrester himself to respond with these words,“It is unfortunate that you have not found it possible to spend more time with us in order to better understand system dynamics and its application to the dynamic modeling of social systems. Many of the issues you raise seem to rest on assumptions that reflect practices in other kinds of modeling but which do not apply in the same way to system dynamics models. In fact, the strength of system dynamics arises from these differences.”In contrast to HUD’s skepticism, Forrester and Alfeld found the leadership at Lowell to be more open to these theories. Their city was in decay after falling ungracefully from a century of manufacturing success. Their buildings were crumbling and the city faced a persistent 12% unemployment rate. They were eager to try something new.One of the foundations of urban dynamics centers on available land as a resource. Defined as a nonlinear function, it says the rate of construction is constrained by the amount of land on which to build. New cities start out with abundant land, but being the first company to build comes with risk. Will employees follow? Will the resources be available to turn a profit? But one building can attract more buildings and if all goes well the competition for good land increases and growth, fueled by demand, explodes. This in turn inflates the price of attractive available land. Inflation then slows growth until all the land is consumed and new construction halts. Over time these buildings decay, businesses fold, and the city begins to decline economically and socially as people and customers leave. The only way a city constrained by space can maintain equilibrium in this closed system is to tear down old buildings and build anew on existing land. This was the fate Lowell faced.The city government enacted policies that reflected the theory of urban dynamics. They created incentives to local companies to remodel existing buildings and expand business. They took steps to curb further deterioration of existing housing left vacant by affluent residents who fled. This in turn made more housing accessible to lower income residents who rushed the city like a flood. These policies resulted in strict codes that forced a refurbishing and reinvestment in the city.After two years Lowell showed signs of improving. Alfeld and the city were encouraged to keep experimenting. But HUD had encouraged the city to set the parameters of the model to mimic metrics from Lowell’s previous historic economic boom the century prior. Falling short of these expectations in two years, the committee was not convinced Forrester’s theory of urban dynamics resulted in sufficient enough of an improvement to continue.Hard quantitative evidence these traditional economists demanded was indeed lacking, in part due to HUD’s inability to operate a mainframe. But in the end the committee seemed more interested in the numbers than in the positive qualitative effects evident in the city and its residents. As Alfeld grimly summarizes,“The interface gap between model and critic contributed to the communication gap. In the final accounting, neither our success in Lowell nor our outpouring of reports and papers could bridge that gap. HUD judged that we had nothing to offer and urban dynamics dropped out of academic sight, its potential contribution to resolving America’s urban crisis ignored for the past quarter-century.”THE AGING ARIAN AGRARIANThe Des Moines Metropolitan Area is not space constrained like Lowell, Massachusetts. And while the city of Des Moines has reinvigorated the downtown area, the seemingly unlimited surrounding land availability and patterns of sprawl reveal no intention to contain the sprawl, protect farmland (or natural grassland) and reinvest in what is already built. This will likely lead to each inner concentric ring of the donut hole to age and decline just as the city of Des Moines did. This will create a larger donut hole in the center as the outer perimeter of the donut continues to encroach on more and more prime farmland. Land that is owned by dying farmers.One Iowa State University study revealed that “in 2017, over half the farmland (60 percent) in Iowa was owned by people over the age of 65. This was five percentage points higher than in 2007, and twice the level in 1982. In addition, farmland owners who were 75 years or older owned a record 35 percent of all acres in Iowa as of July 2017.” A 2021 study showed that “Iowa farmland owners are older than the general population. On average, the full-time and part-time farmers in [the] study were 62 years old. The retired farmers were, on average, 77.7 years old, and the non-farmer owners were 68.7 years old.” Non-farmers can include surviving spouses who don’t farm or off-farm heirs to the land. Also, “Of the farmland [] analyzed, 29.5% was owned by full-time farmers, 12.9% by parttime farmers, 22.7% by retired farmers, and 34.9% by non-farming owners.” With 60% of farmland owned by soon-to-be retirees and a sizable portion of 35% owned by heirs who’d rather have the money than to farm, what does this say about the future of farming in Iowa?Iowa, and the country, has a farming succession problem. One study suggests that lack of knowledge transfer and co-creation of crop yields will be one of the biggest challenges facing the foodscape of the Midwest. But when it comes to succession strategies, the Iowa farmers in this study,“were on average motivated strongly by social factors—e.g., desires to maintain agrarian cultures, rural communities, and family farms. (It is worth mentioning that these sentiments could be colored by the fact that these were also established growers—e.g., those privileged by policies like the Farm Bill—who were well capitalized and could afford to focus on non-economic factors.)”That’s not to say these farmers haven’t suffered economic hardship. And the economics of farming are complicated and messy. But this researcher found new farmers to more interested in the sustainability of the land and in farming than those who inherited a farm. Those farmers are now looking to retire and their children typically aren’t interested in farming. The author continues,“Intergenerational knowledge transfer, from one generation to the next (though not necessarily within the same family), is a critical element in the creation of foodscapes populated with farms of all scales and commodity profiles and by farmers from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, including farm/nonfarm backgrounds, genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities, and religions.”This requires building communities that welcome this kind of diversity, which most do not. People from Myanmar is one of Des Moines fastest growing minority groups, but an ethnic minority advocacy group says, “It's very challenging. I talk to my friends on the coasts. People (without family here) don't want to move to Iowa…In Iowa, we don't have investments and resources for immigrants, for refugee-led, community-based groups."There are groups trying to help. For example, The Practical Farmers of Iowa have been working since 1985 to “equip farmers to build resilient farms and communities.”  Also, there’s the Women Food and Agriculture Network whose “mission is to engage women in building an ecological and just food and agricultural system through individual and community power.” Many of those fast growing small farms in Iowa fit the profile of these groups. It’s an encouraging sign for the health and diversity of small scale farming in Iowa.But there are only 600 minority farmers in Iowa. What are the odds these aging white male farmers of selling their property to a Myanmar farmer or an ambitious woman graduate from the Iowa State College of Agriculture? How likely is an aging retiree willing teach a black family from the south with farming experience how to grow soybeans in Iowa?  If a farmer isn’t willing to co-create or sell their farm to a first generation farmer who isn’t a Christian white heterosexual male who’s interested in perpetuating the ‘old-boys club’, then they’ll likely just sell it to another aging white male farmer like them. This will further consolidate Iowa farmland that will likely end up in a trust fund for their heirs. Many of whom will wait for the expanding urban gray blobs to reach their land and then they’ll likely cash in on a $2,000,000 offer from a real estate developer.And with 81% of Iowa being white, with an estimated 90% of them living in the suburban fringes away from what little diversity there is in Des Moines, you can bet the person buying that newly built white home with granite countertops will be as white as their kitchen cabinets. At the same time, it’s great these families found a good home. I grew up on fertile Iowa soil as part of Norwalk’s first round of sprawl and it benefitted me.Either way at least the seeds got in the ground on time. They can eat that yummy corn on the cob this summer with their hamburger made from Iowa beef. It will all take place on a grassy lawn that once grew the corn they’ll be eating…or the corn that fed the cow in their burger. Come to think of it, maybe their corn will come from California too…and the hamburger. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit interplace.io

Dana Jackson and Loni Kemp are women powerhouses in the sustainable ag industry. On this week's podcast, they talk with Ron about rural issues in general, water quality, soil health, climate, and food security. Dana and Loni both started their careers in the 1970s, and discuss the evolution of sustainable ag in the ‘80s, ‘90s, and ‘00s. Loni was a senior policy analyst at the Minnesota Project from 1979 to 2008, directing the agriculture and water program. She was a founding board member of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and the Midwest Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, now merged into the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. From 2002-2004, Loni was awarded a Food and Society Policy Fellowship from the Kellogg Foundation. She served as a board member of the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources. Loni created Kemp Consulting, an independent consulting firm that advises on agriculture, renewable energy, conservation and climate change. Clients have included National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Land Stewardship Project, McKnight Foundation, Energy Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, and the Pew Charitable Trusts, among others. Dana was employed in sustainable agriculture from 1976 until 2012. She co-founded The Land Institute in 1976 and served as co-director, then director of education until 1993. For one year, she was a program associate for The Minnesota Food Association, then was hired to be co-director of the Land Stewardship Project. After 12 years, she changed roles to work in Land Stewardship Project's Food Systems program, creating and coordinating the St. Croix Valley Buy Fresh Buy Local Chapter. Dana and her daughter Dr. Laura Jackson co-edited The Farm as Natural Habitat: Reconnecting Food Systems and Ecosystems. Dana served on the boards of directors of five sustainable agriculture organizations (including the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture), and still remains active in the field as an advisor to the Wild Farm Alliance, Our Community Food Projects, and the Pollinator Friendly Alliance. Dana's honors include a Pew Scholar's Award in Conservation and the Environment in 1990, designation as "Sustainable Woman of the Year" in 2007 by the Women, Food and Agriculture Network, and an award from the Rural Sociological Society in 2012. The interview was conducted on Oct. 21, 2015. Links this episode: National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive “The Farm as Natural Habitat: Reconnecting Food Systems and Ecosystems” National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Land Stewardship Project The Land Institute Women, Food and Agriculture Network -------- Liked this show? SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on Spotify, Audible, Apple, Google, and more. Catch past episodes, a transcript, and show notes at cfra.org/SustainbleAgPodcast.

In this episode of CPR's Connect the Dots, host Rob Verchick and his guests explore businesses industry sectors and jobs that are particularly vulnerable to climate change, as well as the potential for significant job creation in technology, infrastructure, adaptation, mitigation, and the just transition to a clean, carbon-free economy. Over the past year, we've watched millions of people lose their jobs, take pay cuts, even seek new career paths due to the cascading effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was — and still is — a tough time to make a living.  There are close parallels between this public health crisis and the climate crisis, and the job market sits directly in the center of the two. Certain business sectors are more vulnerable than others to climate disruption. On the other hand, there's a wide range of new jobs being established to support technology and infrastructure, and there's newfound interest in climate adaptation and mitigation. So, in the face of these dual global crises, the question is: Who is hiring? Guests in this episode include: Dr. Kimberley Miner, scientist and systems engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab in California Lowell Chandler, Montana renewable energy attorney Valerie Mueller, assistant professor in the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University Renata Brillinger, co-founder and executive director of the California Climate and Agriculture Network

Renata Brillinger is the co-founder and Executive Director of the California Climate and Agriculture Network (CalCAN). She has more than two decades of experience in sustainable agriculture policy and programs and 30 years' experience in non-profit administration. She serves on the steering committee of the Center for Sustainability at CalPoly University in San Luis Obispo and the advisory board of UC Davis Agricultural Sustainability Institute.Highlights of this episode include:1. The history and function of CalCAN2. Why the dominant culture in California legislator must shift3. Regenerative agriculture vs climate smart ag4. The 2020 Farmer Equity Report5. Why food from local farms and ranches not yet served at scale in schools, public institutions, throughout the CA prison system.6. The House Select Committees Climate Crisis report, Biden's Unity Taskforce, and why a methodology matters for carbon footprint accounting in these reports7. Why doing what you love is what you are here to do8. Why political leadership and campaign finance reform are paramount for regenerative ag to flourish

Craig is the owner/president of Sierra Orchards and the former president of California State Board of Food and Agriculture, advising multiple generations of state governors on farm related policies for the state that holds the title for 5th largest agriculture producer in the world. Craig is also the founder of the Center for Land Based Learning. This week on Agriculture Adapts: - Getting food to the people who need it: food waste, food scarcity, and "food apartheid" in the U.S. - A creative approach to pest/weed management for organic hazelnuts - Over-pumping groundwater has lead to irreversible subsidence in California - Ways to deal with extremely difficult water access issues in California - Taking steps to avoid a loss of multi-generational farming knowledge *** Resources mentioned in the episode: - Factories in the Field: The Story of Migratory Farm Labor in CA - California's Healthy Soils Initiative - CalCAN: California Climate and Agriculture Network

On this episode of Tractor Time, we’re presenting a double feature on farm activism. We caught up with Sherri Dugger and Judith McGeary at the Acres Eco-Ag Conference in Minneapolis back in December. Both of them were speakers at the multi-day event, which pulls in leaders in sustainable farming from all over North America and beyond. Sherri and Judith  are at the forefront of efforts to empower small farmers and to fight for better food policy. When we spoke with Sherri Dugger she was fresh off a trip to Washington D.C. It was there that Sherri and group of farmers and ranchers voiced their support of the Green New Deal. Sherri worked for years as a journalist, and she’s just as surprised as anyone that she’s evolved into a leading activist for farmers. Just recently, she was named as the executive director of the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project. Before that she was executive director of the Women, Food and Agriculture Network. She is the co-chair of the national Farmers and Ranchers for a Green New Deal coalition, which we talk about in this episode.   Judith McGeary is an attorney and activist. She’s a farmer in Cameron, Texas, and she’s the founder and executive director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance. She’s a passionate advocate for building durable local food systems and a fierce critic of government policies that don’t serve small farmers. She’s a force of nature who uses her expertise in law to empower her fellow farmers and to set lawmakers straight.

For years, there was one part of the climate puzzle that didn't get quite as much attention as, say, transportation or renewable energy — and that's food and agriculture. Recently, however, the climate-food intersection has been drawing more headlines, and that's good news: Scientists estimate that up to a third of greenhouse gas emissions can be linked to the food we eat in some way or another. That means that changes to our foo system can make a big difference in the fight to stem global warming. On the flip side of things, we're starting to see how climate change is impacting our food, and the people who grow it. Terra Verde host and Earth Island Journal Managing Editor Zoe Loftus-Farren talks with Karen Brown, Creative Director of the Center for Ecoliteracy, and Renata Brillinger, Executive Director of the California Climate and Agriculture Network , about the many ways that our food is impacting the climate and vice versa. The post Climate Change and the Food We Eat appeared first on KPFA.

Seasoned farmer, community volunteer, and founder of the Women, Food and Agriculture Network, Denise O’Brien, talks about how she and her husband have experienced positive and negative shifts around the idea of organic food—and agriculture in general—over the last forty years. She also talks about what led her to be among the many women running for public office in her home state of Iowa, and across the country, in the upcoming 2018 midterm elections. Tune in to hear about… How Denise and her husband have created a “bio-diverse oasis in a sea of industrial agribusiness” What prompted Denise to run for public office, and what the campaign trail has been like for her How she thinks things might be different if women had more decision-making power over the land they farm (and what Denise is doing to make that happen) How Denise turned her own frustration and despair into action—and you can too!

If our guest, Bridget Holcomb with the Women, Food and Agriculture Network, could change one thing for women in the sustainable ag community it would be to stop that nagging voice inside our heads that says we are not doing enough. Listen in to hear how lifting the veil on this and embracing our authenticity and vulnerabilities can help us achieve bigger goals. Bridget received a Master’s of Public Affairs with an emphasis on nonprofit management from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She has worked in sustainable agriculture advocacy at the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute and the Illinois Stewardship Alliance. A native of Northern Minnesota, Bridget has focused her work on clean water, soil conservation, and making a sustainable living from the land.

We’re continuing on the women’s leadership front today with Bridget Holcomb, executive director of the Women, Food and Agriculture Network. With a learning model based on empowerment and connections, WFAN and its partners like MOSES support women through social interaction. Bridget received a Master’s of Public Affairs with an emphasis on nonprofit management from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She has worked in sustainable agriculture advocacy at the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute and the Illinois Stewardship Alliance. A native of Northern Minnesota, Bridget has focused her work on clean water, soil conservation, and making a sustainable living from the land.

Ash Bruxvoort is a young adult active in a local Democratic Socialists of America party and the Iowa Women, Food, and Agriculture Network. PAYCE Fellow Majd Aburrub (Al Quds-Bard) considers what we can learn for ourselves by following Ash’s example of solidarity and helping others.  Ash’s superpower is her concern for the question: “How can I help bring out what makes that person special and draw their attention to it?”

Today we sit down with Bridget Holcomb, head of the Women, Food and Agriculture Network. Bridget shares her journey to her current role running a women-focused nonprofit, and how she took advantage of opportunities along the way. Bridget received a Master’s of Public Affairs with an emphasis on nonprofit management from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She has worked in sustainable agriculture advocacy at the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute and the Illinois Stewardship Alliance. A native of Northern Minnesota, Bridget has focused her work on clean water, soil conservation, and making a sustainable living from the land.

The urban-rural divide is more pronounced than ever. The 'last acceptable prejudice' - that against rural people and places - is not only real, it is destructive. As in our politics, the debates around food and sustainability are increasingly polarised. Conventional agriculture is pitted against organic agriculture, vegans face-off against carnivores, urban city-dwellers clash with countrymen and women. How do we bridge these divides? In this episode, we talk to Ash Bruxvoort about their story growing up as the daughter of a conventional farmer and a sustainable agriculture advocate. Ash Bruxvoort is a writer and program coordinator at Women, Food and Agriculture Network. They grew up on a family farm outside of Des Moines, Iowa, where their father produces corn and soybeans. Their writing and work focuses on empowering women and gender non-conforming people to tell their stories about the urban-rural divide.  We discuss: How the urban-rural divide shapes how we see politics and debates around sustainable agriculture Ash’s take, as a daughter of a conventional farmer, on sustainable agriculture How we address ‘the last acceptable prejudice’ : the prejudice against rural places and people (Wendell Berry) Links: Women, Food and Agriculture Network Wendell Berry: The Unsettling of America Letters to a Young Farmer – Stone Barns Cener for Food and Agriculture You may also like: FFS 025 – Breaking bread with Paleo FFS 021 – My Beef with Veganism FFS 018 – Talking Sustainability with Rob Greenfield

Donate to The Permaculture Podcast Online: via PayPal Venmo: @permaculturepodcast Karen Lanier shares what she learned while writing The Woman Hobby Farmer, a book that helps us look inside of ourselves and to decide whether we are ready to farm and to ask the question, “Why do I want to farm?” That core question arises from Karen's life experiences with an aunt who farmed, continuing through the interviews she conducted with women farmers, including some folks, to my delight and surprise, who I've spoken with over the years. Taking those stories and lived moments, Karen shows the importance of showing up, participating, and most importantly listening. Though we may come from a particular place regarding agriculture and farming, we have a lot to learn from our friends, neighbors, and family, who picked up the plow before us. Find out more about her and her work at kalacreative.net. There you can also purchase your own copy of The Woman Hobby Farmer and find more information about her upcoming documentary. Patreon Giveaway: The Woman Hobby Farmer What I love about this conversation with Karen is the reality of what it means to farm, and the need to make the right decision of whether or not we want to. There is a physical toll that comes from farming. A dear friend of mine in the community is facing that knowledge right now and considering how to pass their farm along to someone else to manage so they can “move to town” while continuing to teach the next generation of farmers. An interim space for many of us is a garden. With a little bit of land and a little bit of time we can provide food and security for ourselves, but that discussion and those numbers are a conversation for a different episode. Suffice to say, we should take a stark look at whether or not deciding to start a farm is our best path. Thankfully, as we discussed, Karen provides tools, worksheets, and stories, for helping to make that very serious choice. The other side, as mentioned, is that Yes, you can make a living at this and there is plenty of evidence for that possibility. Some of those include past interviews with Jean-Martin Fortier and Joel Salatin, or what I've personally witnessed from Susana Lein or Holly Brown, but there is a price that comes with it. Many people who farm, by the numbers, do not bring in a great deal of financial income, that is a reality of this, especially as things scale up and more money is spent on tools, equipment, and labor, but there are other possibilities that arise by shifting in this direction. Finally, my favorite insight into all of this is to show up and listen. Get yourself to farms. Find on-farm training sessions. Go and open your ears. Attend agricultural conferences if you can, and not just ones on organic or regenerative. See if your local extension office or land-grant university has meetings. Join The Grange, the full name of which, as I learned while writing this, is The National National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry. These folks are our allies. Many of them, especially ones like The Grange, want to promote the science of agriculture and community resilience, ideas that should seem common to any permaculture practitioner. We have a lot to learn from them and to share. Show up. Participate. Be a part of your local community. You, and all of us, benefit from working together for the future that we want to see. -- What did you think of this conversation with Karen? Does it give you a different perspective on what you do and don't know about farming and agriculture? Whether you have answers to those or just more questions, I'm here to listen to give more insight if I'm able. Email: The Permaculture Podcast Or Write: The Permaculture Podcast The Permaculture Podcast From here, the next episode is a conversation with Jill and Brad of Desert Harvesters to discuss their new bioregional cookbook, Eat Mesquite and More! Together we dig into developing a deep sense of place and connection to land and culture through our native and wild foods. Until then, spend each day creating the world you want to see, by listening to Earth, yourself, and your community. Resources KalaCreative - Karen's Website The Woman Hobby Farmer Wildlife in Your Garden Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service Pensylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture PA-Wagn Women, Food and Agriculture Network in Iowa National Ladies Homestead Gathering Past interviews related to this episode Holly Brown     Island Creek Farm with Holly Brown Susana Lein:     Community Building (Clear Creek Roundtable)     Making Mead, Natural Building, and Permaculture Farming     Community and Traditions

Bridget Holcomb, executive director of the Women, Food and Agriculture Network shares her steps to creating a network of support for women in farming.

I am so excited to have Sapna Thottahil join me today. Sapna has an amazing background. From her early days in food waste to her fullbright scholarship Indian Organic Farming, Sapna is very passionate on the current issues in food that are just starting to get our attention. With a  good heart, she now has a job as a Supply Chain Specialist at School Food Focus where she manages the supply chain for all ingredients that goes to feed schools in California. So not only do we discuss one of the most important (yet not well talked about) careers in the food industry, but we also get into a lot of other really cool things such as whether to buy local, or fair trade, the cool things happening in the school food space, and an excellent tip on how to make your own vanilla extract. hat’s the end of the show everyone, if you like what you heard, like us on facebook or set a review on itunes. It helps wonders. If you have any questions or suggestions on how to improve the podcast, don’t be afraid to email me at podcast@myfoodjobrocks.com Sponsor This episode is sponsored by FoodGrads, an interactive platform for the Food & Beverage Industry, which focuses on closing the gap between students and employers with a broader mission to attract and retain people to a meaningful career in food. From Food Scientists to Farmers, Chefs to Plant Managers, QA Technicians to Dieticians, or Marketing and Sales, no matter what your passion--there's something for everyone in Food—and they will help you find it. Join FoodGrads for support, mentorship and guidance to start your career. Just go to foodgrads.com About Sapna This excerpt was copied from her website Sapna E. Thottathil, PhD is a first generation Indian American and the author of India’s Organic Farming Revolution: What it Means for Our Global Food System. She is passionate about finding solutions to global health and environmental problems and has over 10 years of experience in international development, environmental resource management, and food and agriculture. Sapna is currently a Supply Chain Specialist at School Food Focus, where she develops opportunities with food companies interested in supplying better K-12 public school food. She has worked on environmental policy and climate change for multiple organizations, including the Environmental Protection Agency and Health Care Without Harm, and has contributed to several articles on sustainable meat procurement, featured in Civil Eats and the American Journal of Public Health. She earned her BA from the University of Chicago, where she was awarded the Udall Scholarship for environmental leadership, before going on to receive an MSc from Oxford University and a PhD in Geography from the University of California at Berkeley, where she was the recipient of a Fulbright fellowship. She currently sits on the Board of Pesticide Action Network, serves as a Council Member for Oakland Food Policy Council, is on the National Advisory Council for the Women, Food and Agriculture Network, and is a Health Equity Expert with the Center for Global Policy Solutions.  In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, gardening, hiking, identifying wildflowers and birds, and relearning how to play the piano. She is also working on another book. Sapna lives in Oakland, California with her husband and son. Key Takeaways What Supply Chain does Our discussion on buying local versus buying fair trade Why cafeterias are starting to cook raw chicken Sapna’s top 3 spices Question Summary What is your definition of Supply Chain?: Logistics between production and consumption Do you buy fair trade or local?: Farmers all around need our support Steps to get to where you are today: Office of Solid Waste to Oxford University in England, UC Berkeley PhD, Fullbright Scholarship to India, published a book, School food procurement What Claims do you look for on School Food Focus: Healthy ingredients, ingredient guide is posted on school food focus What should young people be doing for their job?: Never stop learning What unusual class did you take to help you at your job?: Science and Environmental Issues My Food Job Rocks: I work for a mission focused organization with people who want to change the world Food Trends and Technology: Cafeterias are buying raw chicken and cooking it in house. Transparency in food Challenges in the Food Industry: Food Waste and ironically people are hungry. Supply Chain is full of inefficiencies Who is doing a good job fixing this?: Plant based food companies How do you get on Non-Profit Boards?: It’s like applying for a job. Networking and know the right people Who Inspired You to get into food?: Consumers and my mother Favorite Kitchen Item: Spices. Spice Cabinet Top 3 Spices: Coriander, basil, vanilla Vanilla extract tip: Cheap vodka, great vanilla beans Any advice for anyone going into the food industry: Read on the sector, Check out these really cool podcasts (MFJR), Network, What’s next?: Sapna is making a new book Sapna kerala at wordpress.com Other Links School Food Focus Raw Materials Distributors Pesticide Action Network Food Miles Fair Trade Cal Poly Chocolates Value-added goods Kerala India Southern Indian Cuisine Civil Eats Comfood  

Steph Larsen lives in Lyons, Nebraska, where she works full time for the Center for Rural Affairs, a non-profit that seeks to engage farmers in advocating for the policies that will strengthen the future of their rural communities. Steph is also a “part-time farmer,” growing food for herself and her community. Steph holds a master’s degree in geography from her home state of Wisconsin and serves on the board of the Women, Food and Agriculture Network. This program has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch. “I used to work in D.C., and in D.C. there are two ways to get things done: one – you have to have a lot of money and hire a lot of lobbyists, and two – you need to have a lot of people.” “Contacting legislators is not like voting- you can do it early and you can do it often.” — Steph Larsen on Greenhorn Radio

Guest Leigh Adcock, Executive Director, Women, Food and Agriculture Network. Unique challenges and opportunities for women farmersWFAN

Crops, Cattle and Carbon Cynthia Cory, Director of Environmental Affairs, California Farm Bureau Federation Paul Martin, Director of Environmental Services, Western United Dairymen Jeanne Merrill, California Climate Action Network Karen Ross, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture Making California’s farms more energy efficient, and ensuring that farmers can adapt to a warmer planet, will be a decades-long challenge, agrees this panel of experts gathered by Climate One. That a serious conversation on the linkages between agriculture and climate change even exists in California is largely thanks to passage of the state’s landmark climate change law, AB32. Cynthia Cory, Director of Environmental Affairs, California Farm Bureau Federation, says the way to sell this new reality to her members, most of them family farmers, is to focus on the bottom line. “What they think makes sense, is energy efficiency,” she says. Jeanne Merrill, Policy Director, California Climate and Agriculture Network, elaborates on what AB32 could mean for farmers. The proposed carbon trading system, currently under development by the California Air Resources Board, would enable a farm, she says, “to reduce its own emissions, voluntarily, by being part of the carbon market.” Still other opportunities await farmers. A cap-and-trade system would generate revenue, a portion of which, her organization argues, “should go for the key things that we need to assist California agriculture to remain viable when temperatures rise and water become more constrained.” Paul Martin, Director of Environmental Services, Western United Dairymen, says farmers should be guided by a three-legged stool of sustainability: ethical production, scientific and environmental responsibility, and economic performance. His distilled message: “We need organic food because people want it. We need grass-fed because people want it. We need natural because people want it. And we need conventional because people want that kind of food.” California’s new Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary, Karen Ross, is encouraged that food had finally entered the policy debate, and expresses optimism that young people will carry it forward. “There’s a renewed interest in where our food comes from, how it’s produced, and who is producing it.” She highlights the role of cities in shaping a more sustainable food policy. “It’s the real intersection of agriculture, food, health, and nutrition,” she gushes. “Cities are saying, ‘We can do something about this.’ It’s about identifying open plots for community gardens. It’s about making sure access to nutritious, locally grown food is available. It’s about understanding what it takes to help those farmers on the urban edge, or right in our local communities.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on June 14, 2011