Podcasts about good food movement

Join Kelly Brownell in a conversation with Michael Dimock, Executive Director of Roots of Change, about transforming food systems through innovative policies. Discover how Roots of Change collaborates with various stakeholders to create nutrition incentive programs and support sustainable agriculture, focusing on community-first approaches. Learn about pioneering projects, insights into policy influence, and the future of agricultural practices. This episode provides an optimistic view of the evolving food system landscape and the potential for significant positive change. Interview Summary Why don't we begin by you explaining what Roots of Change does. What's the mission and role of the organization? Yes. We were originally founded by a group of philanthropic foundations that were very interested in food system change but had not seen much success in years. So we were really designed to be a catalyst to ignite the growth of what we would call the Good Food Movement. For 10 years, we were actually a philanthropic fund investing in different projects that built the power of the food movement. And then implemented projects that would catalyze change. That would show how you could scale change fairly rapidly by building collaboration. So that's really what we've been doing. And in 2013, the philanthropic fund ended, we'd spent down all the money. So we joined the Public Health Institute at that time because public health is such an incredibly important engine for food system change because the food system impacts public health so greatly. We've been since that time focused on policy change and implementing model demonstration projects. Thanks for that explanation. You talked about catalyzing change for transforming the food system. What sort of changes have you emphasized? We've been focused on a few key things. I would say that one of the most important for us has been healthy food access. And doing that through the creation of nutrition incentive programs. And the reason we're interested in that is, all the changes that we pursue are aimed to hit several different levers of change simultaneously. By building nutrition incentive programs, you help the small and midsize farmers who are supplying local grocery stores, the farmers markets, and at the same time, you're creating the funding for low-income families to actually purchase organic, regenerative, sustainable agriculture. From their local market. You get a lot of payoff for that kind of action. You mentioned incentives. How do incentives fit into this? There is a program, a federal program called the GUSNIP. Named after Gus Schumacher, who was Undersecretary at USDA during the Clinton years, and actually worked with us early on. And so that program is a pool of funding through the Farm Bill that is given as grants to either states or nonprofits that are creating these programs where a family comes in with their SNAP benefits, and their purchasing power is doubled. They're given matching dollars to buy fruits and vegetables from a farmer's market, a local store, grocery store. So it's an incentive to purchase fresh nutritious food. And so, we have worked on the original federal policy. We're one of the first demonstration projects to show how you do nutrition incentives working with folks in the upper Midwest and in the East. And then we created an analog. California also has a matching fund which helps us pull more money from the federal level. So, we can really get a big impact at the local level. And we built that California program as well. We've been really deep in nutrition incentives. But we also work on farmer farmworker protections from heat. It's a big problem out here in the West. Increasing temperatures. We're working with different scientists, epidemiologists, and farmers to figure out best management practices or technologies that keep farmers cool. And then we also work on programs to provide incentives for ranchers to produce regenerative meat, that is grass-finished meat. So, those are the three areas working in right now. But we're also just starting a project. I have a meeting today with the California Department of Food and Agriculture to develop a plan for mid and small-scale infrastructure for regional food systems in the state of California to be achieved by 2040. One thing I really like about your approach is the lining up of incentives to produce food in a way that's better for both human health and the environment. Because so many incentives are lined up the other way. Obviously, the food industry wants to make as much money as they can, and that comes from highly processed foods that aren't very good for health. And then the same sort of incentives lines up for agriculture to do industrial forms of agriculture where you maximize the yield per acre. To turn that around is really going to be a major effort. One thing I like about your approach is that you're trying different things that can become models for what could be used in a very broad scale in terms of public policy. I really admire that and like what you're doing. Do you have an overall strategy for helping bring about change? One of the things that we did in 2010-11 is we did a deep analysis of the food system and did a systems dynamic map of the entire food system. Working with leaders, Secretary of Agriculture for California, farmers - big size, small size, organic, conventional, with food justice folks. And we looked at where are the real intervention points. One of the things that we really realize is that, as you were pointing out, the current incentives are for industrialization, basically. And so, the question is, how do you actually change that? And policy is one important lever for doing that. So, we work a lot on trying to change the policy levers to create incentives for what we would call healthy and resilient agriculture. Tell me more about how you go about doing that. I'd love to hear when you're done with that, how you go about doing that with policymakers. Well, I'll jump right in on that. Let's look at what we did with nutrition incentives. So, working with Fair Food Network out of the upper Midwest, and Wholesome Wave out East, Roots of Change did a study. We created our own nutrition incentive programs using philanthropic dollars and some USDA kind of innovative dollars, and then we studied it for two years, what the impacts were. We wrote a report then, which went to Congress, to Debbie Stabenow in Minnesota, who was the Senator there who was on the ag committee. And she began writing a bill that would say, okay, let's provide incentives for people to buy healthy food that also helped the small farmers. So that switched the incentive from the big agricultural systems to the regional food system players. That was one way we did it. The other thing that we did in California was we organized all the farmers markets to go to the State of California and say, look, if you provide this nutrition incentive program in California and analog, we'll pull down more dollars from the federal government. The California legislature said that's a great idea. They got on board. Which then helped the farmers markets to provide more funding because farmers markets are often stressed. Too many markets, so there's problems. Competition between markets. So, to provide a new market, which is low-income families who are using nutrition incentives and their SNAP dollars, that was really important for the farmer's market. Those farmer's markets became another big piece of our strategy. Our way of making change was just to build collaborations, large collaborations of people. We work with many other nonprofits and farming groups in California to approach the legislature and over the last three years we've gotten $1.3 billion dollars in investments from the state of California into sustainable agriculture and food justice. Because we're able to build these large collaborations who convince the legislators who really care about votes that there's enough people out there want to see this happen. And we have just placed a billion-dollar request on the next bond, which will be in the next election, November. This November there's the climate bond. It's called a climate bond for the State of California. Ten billion dollars, one billion of that will be dedicated to nutrition, nutritional health, farm workers, and sustainable agriculture. So, in all ways, it's about getting enough voices. So, if you look at what we're really trying to do, we're trying to build the power of what we would call the Good Food Movement. Best of luck with that billion-dollar request. I really hope that goes through. You know, in the beginning of your response to my last question, you talked about a report that you did in concert with other organizations around the country and how that became influential in the policy process. Very often, some of the people in my orbit, scientists, wonder how they can help with this kind of thing and how they can do work that makes a difference. And I've often thought that speaking with people in the policy and advocacy world, like you, turns up some really interesting questions they could help address, if they knew what those questions were. But they often aren't having those conversations because they're mainly speaking to other scientists. That's one of the reasons why I so much like having people who approach things like you do on this podcast series. Scientists aren't our only listeners, but they're among them, and it's nice to give them ideas about how they can connect their work with what's going on out there on the ground in terms of policymaking. So, you emphasize putting people in communities first. What does that mean? And how does that play out in the work you do? It's a great segue from what you were just saying about the need to combine community voices with nonprofits and scientists, academics, and people who are good at research and who are good at analysis. Back to this idea of nutrition incentives that really grew out of what community groups were doing. The IRC (the International Rescue Committee) works with immigrants from Africa, primarily at that time who were coming into San Diego. And they were farmers, mostly. They were escaping violence, war, in their countries. And they came to San Diego and the IRC worked with them to create a farmer's market, and a farm - a community farm. And those folks were the ones that were saying, this program works. And this is a really good way to solve many problems at once. So, we were hearing from community members and the nonprofit that had created this model. So, it was a way of us understanding what was actually working on the ground. So that's one example. I can also say that in 2017, 2019 and 2020, we had terrible fires here in California. We also had all that followed with COVID in 2020. We were working with the University of California at Davis. Tom Tomich, who at that time was with the Ag Sustainability Institute at UC Davis. And we were doing research on how do you deal with climate change as small farmers? And what we realized is there was this moment in time when all of these things that have been piling up were impacting the ability to get meat. You'll remember that meat disappeared from shelves for a while because all the big plants that process meat in the Midwest were shut down due to COVID. So, what we did is then went out and we interviewed ranchers up and down the State of California, and we asked them, what do you need? And are you interested in finishing animals for grass-fed markets? Are you interested in building local markets? We got a lot of feedback that led to a white paper that Roots of Change published with the University of California at Davis and put out to the world. Which led to us getting a grant to actually take some of the suggestions and the recommendations we had gotten from the producers about what to do. What's that led to now? We have built a relationship with the University of California: ten campuses, five medical systems. They have committed to buy regenerative regional meat from the State of California. That grew out of a white paper, which was fed information by the ranchers on the ground, analyzed by academics and nonprofits, and delivered in a system that's now gotten the university to make a commitment. So, it's another example of just how you can mix all these great parties to get some sustainable change at a large scale? Now that leads me pretty nicely to what my next question. And it has to do with what's needed going forward and how do these things occur in more places in a bigger way than the places they are now. Now you mentioned, for example, the regenerative agriculture pledge that got made by the University of California system. That's a big enterprise. There are a lot of people that get touched by that system. So, that's a pretty impressive example of taking an idea that might've been smaller to begin with and then became bigger. Going forward, what kind of things are going to be needed to make that kind of thing happen more often? That's a really good question. Kelly, I think that one of it is communication. I mean, perhaps some somebody will hear this and reach out to us and say, how'd you do that? And then we'll say, well…and they'll tell us what they did and we'll learn from them. One of the things I'm really interested in, always been interested in, and one of the things that Roots of Change is focused on is trying to convene people to share information. Because you build partnerships when you share information. And those partnerships can become the engines for getting the policy makers or the corporations to change their modalities. How they're doing things. Because they realize, hey, the writing is on the wall. This has to happen. We need to figure out how to get there. And sometimes it's complex to get there because the food system is very complex. So, I would say that one of the things I'm really looking forward to is more cross collaboration. You know, we're living in the season of elections. We're hearing it on the news all the time. And the thing that drives the policy makers is whether or not they're going to be elected or reelected. And so, the more that we can convince them that there is a large majority of the public that wants to see these fundamental changes in the food system. We will have their support. We've seen it in California. We are getting incredible support from our Secretary of Agriculture, our governor, and our Secretary of Natural Resources. They work together to create things on the ground. I would say that the Tom Vilsack and Biden did a lot for regenerative agriculture, working on two big projects that have been funded by the USDA that will touch a thousand ranchers of bison and beef to get them to learn about, adapt, adopt, and then build new markets for their products. So that's an important piece. The other is the marketplace and companies want to sell their products. So, the more that consumers become discerning and what they're purchasing, the better off we're going to be. So, we have a podcast like you do. And what we're trying to do is just educate people about the connections between what they're doing and what the farmers and ranchers out there who are trying to do good work with the land and with health and with their workers. We just try to promote this idea of making good decisions about what they purchase. Tell us a little bit more about your podcast, which is called Flipping the Table. Tell us more about what you're trying to accomplish and the kind of people that you speak with. Well, it's similar to yours in a certain way, I would say. Because what I'm doing is interviewing the people that are doing the kinds of projects that we think are scaling change or could scale change. Or people who have a depth of understanding. So, the regenerative meat world, we've done a lot in the last few years. Talking to Nicolette Hahn Nyman, who wrote a couple of books about the meat system, with a great rancher up in Northern California, who advises other ranchers on how to finish their animals on grass in California in a dry environment. I just, today we dropped a podcast with Cole Mannix from the Old Salt Co op in Montana about the ranchers he's pulled together. The co op he's built that has a slaughter plant, restaurants, a meat shop, and has an online thing. And then they do a big, they do a big annual event in the summer during the solstice. So, you know, we're just trying to get voices who, like you are, who are, who are modeling and educating the public around what is happening. How much is actually happening. I've been in this world for 30 years almost, and I have to say, I have never been more optimistic about the scale of change, the accelerating speed of change, and the possibilities that lay ahead. BIO  Michael Dimock is an organizer and thought leader on food and farming systems and heads Roots of Change (ROC) a project of the Public Health Institute. ROC develops and campaigns for smart, incentive-based food and farm policies that position agriculture and food enterprises as solutions to critical challenges of the 21st century. Since 2006, Michael has been spawning and leading education and policy campaigns, community dialogues and creative engagements with government and corporate leaders to advance regenerative food and farm policies and practices that make agriculture and food enterprises solutions to critical public health challenges of the 21st century. His leadership has helped create one new law and funding program at the federal level and three new California laws that included two new funding programs and five successful budget requests. He began his career in 1989 as a sales executive in Europe for agribusiness and in 1992 founded Ag Innovations Network to provide strategic planning for companies and governments seeking healthier food and agriculture. In 1996, he founded Slow Food Russian River and, from 2002 to 2007, he was Chairman of Slow Food USA and a member of Slow Food International's board of directors. Michael's love for agriculture and food systems grew from experiences on a 13,000-acre cattle ranch in Santa Clara County in his youth and a development project with Himalayan subsistence farmers in Nepal in 1979. He is the host of the podcast Flipping the Table featuring honest conversations about food, farms and the future. 

For the 100th Episode of Flipping the Table, Michael shares his perception of the advances being made by those seeking a healthier, resilient and just food system. He makes the case for remaining optimistic about our future.

This week on North American Ag Spotlight Chrissy Wozniak talks to Caitlin Arnold Stephano, Hotline Program Manager at Farm Aid about their new Spanish-language hotline for Spanish producers and farm workers. In partnership with Migrant Clinicians Network (MCN), and with funding from the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network – Northeast (led by Cultivemos),  Farm Aid is providing Spanish-language hotline support through the organization's new Spanish-speaking hotline. Beginning and established farmers and farmworkers are encouraged to call the Farmer Hotline. Farm Aid's hotline operators are familiar with agriculture and with resources for farmers around the country; they work with hotline callers to find the best resources for their individual situation, whether they are looking for assistance with farm stress, financial issues, legal questions or business-related questions. The Farm Aid Hotline Staff has an existing database of Spanish resources and they are working to expand this database even further.Through the Farm Aid hotline and email service, Farm Aid's Hotline Staff refers farmers to an extensive network of family farm and rural support organizations across the country. All farmers can call the hotline at 1-800-FARM-AID (1-800-327-6243).It's well documented that the suicide rate has been higher for farmers than for the general population for decades.  And a December 2017 front page story in The Guardian brought to America's attention a harsh reality about its farmers: people working in agriculture in the U.S. — including farmers, farm laborers, ranchers, fishers and lumber harvesters — take their lives at a rate higher than any other occupation. Today, mental health support services — both professional and church- and community-based — are less available and accessible in rural areas than they were in the 1980s, due to factors such as fewer people attending church, fewer community-building events in which people can interact/establish relationships in rural areas, and a decrease in overall population among rural areas.Farm Aid's mission is to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America. Farm Aid artists and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Margo Price host an annual festival to raise funds to support Farm Aid's work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family farm food. For more than 35 years, Farm Aid, with the support of the artists who contribute their performances each year, has raised more than $64 million to support programs that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms. Caitlin Arnold Stephano grew up riding the tractor at her Grandfather's cherry and apple farm in Eastern Washington state, and has been working in agriculture, farmer organizing, and advocacy since 2006. Caitlin holds a Masters in Sustainable Food Systems with a focus on farmer mental health. She currently lives in Southern Maine with her family, and loves exploring the coastal nooks and crannies, walking in the woods, and growing her garden.Learn more at www.farmaid.org#farm #farming #agricultureNorth American Ag is devoted toThe ultimate destination for online farm equipment auctions!Visit https://agr.fyi/fastline-auctionsRegister for the July 13, 2023 webinar at https://NorthAmericanAg.com/fastline-webinar Why you should not miss FIRA USA 2023!Join the experts during 3 days of autonomous and robotics farming solutions in action!FIRA USA, the traveling AgTech event is back from September 19-21, 2023 at the Salinas Sports Complex, Home of the California Rodeo SalinasRegister at - https://fira-usa.com/Subscribe to North American Ag at https://northamericanag.com

1:00 – How did you end up writing about food and farming?9:15 - On food safety and it's larger implications in food systems.17:30 - On-farm food safety issues.23:00 - On the roots of inequity and colonialism in the food system.30:00 - On conventional food production and policy intersections.37:30 - On the development of rural demographics.48:15 - On Wendell Berry57:00 - Critiques of the Good Food Movement.1:05 - On farm viability.1:13 - Book Recommendations!The Dictator's HandbookTerror Management Theory

In 1972, I was part of a nationwide campaign that came close to getting the US Senate to reject Earl Butz, Richard Nixon's choice for secretary of agriculture. A coalition of grassroots farmers, consumers, and public interest organizations teamed up with progressive senators to undertake the almost impossible challenge of defeating the cabinet nominee. The 51 to 44 Senate vote was so close, because we were able to expose Butz as… well, as butt-ugly. We brought the abusive power of corporate agribusiness into the public consciousness for the first time. We had won a moral victory, but it turned out to be a curse and a blessing. First, the curse. Butz had risen to prominence in the world of agriculture by devoting himself to the corporate takeover of the global food economy. He openly promoted the preeminence of middleman food manufacturers over family farmers. “Agriculture is no longer a way of life,” he barked, “it's a business.” He instructed farmers to “Get big or get out” – and proceeded to shove tens of thousands of them out by promoting an export-based, corporate-run food economy. “Adapt,” he warned, “or die.” The ruination of farms and rural communities, Butz added, “releases people to do something useful in our society.” The curse of Butz, however, spun off a blessing. Small farmers and food artisans practically threw up at the resulting Twinkieization of America's food. They were sickened that nature's own contribution to human culture was being turned into another plasticized product of corporate profiteers. They threw themselves into creating and sustaining a viable alternative. Linking locally with consumers, environmentalists, community activists, marketers, and others, the Good Food rebellion has since sprouted, spread, and blossomed from coast to coast. To find farmers markets and other expressions of this movement right where you live, go to www.LocalHarvest.org.

Jordan Buckner, founder of Foodbevy, joins the Food & Beverage Insider podcast to discuss reducing obstacles and creating more opportunities for BIPOC and women-led entrepreneurs.

Learn how to level up your plastic activism with Doorae Shin from Surfrider Foundation Oahu. This young leader for environmental change in Hawaii talks about the importance of civic engagement and voting in fighting ocean plastic pollution, how to create systems change in small communities, how building long term relationships is the key to progress, and what surprising person she’d most like to surf with. Also, a big thanks to our friend Air at @5Gyres for this week’s Plastic Free July tip. If you'd like to send one in, please email oneocean@wslpure.org the audio file with your #plasticfreejuly tip! SHOW NOTES Thanks for listening and thanks again to Doorae for joining us!  For more on Doorae check out her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hiphipdoorae/  You can also find Surfrider Foundation, Oahu here: https://www.instagram.com/surfrideroahu/ And the Good Food Movement here: https://www.instagram.com/goodfoodmovement/ Be sure to subscribe to the WSL PURE newsletter. Around once a month we catch you up on our latest, as well as the top ocean and environment stories that float across our inbox. Subscribe here https://wsl.tv/JoinWSLPUREnewsletter.  Tune in to past One Ocean podcast episodes here: https://wsl.tv/wslpureoneoceanpodcast  Tell us the most creative way you're reducing your plastic use this month in a voice memo and email it to us at oneocean@wslpure.org for a chance to be featured in our next episode. Do you have a story you want to share with us? Email us at oneocean@wslpure.org For more visit: http://www.wslpure.org Like WSL PURE on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wslpure Follow WSL PURE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wslpure Follow WSL PURE on Instagram: http://instagram.com/wslpure // #WSL Subscribe to the WSL for more action: https://goo.gl/VllRuj Watch all the latest surfing action of the world's best surfers in the world's best waves. Heats on demand, event highlights and exclusive interviews, right here on the WSL's Youtube channel. For More Visit: http://www.worldsurfleague.com/ Like the WSL on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wsl Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wsl Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/wsl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 8 of At the Table is with Devita Davison, Executive Director of FoodLab Detroit, a nonprofit business support organization that helps to incubate and accelerate food businesses that want to be part of a good food movement.In this conversation, Devita speaks to the fundamental reasons why the restaurant industry is currently in crisis, including, and most importantly, the fact that the industry is propped up on the backs of our most vulnerable workers. According to Davison the Coronavirus has only exposed this "ugly underbelly".Devita also explains how class and race are both factors of whether or not a restaurant will succeed or fail during this time and hopeful ways in which the community has banded together in order to come back stronger and more sustainably.  Watch the online video version here: https://www.mofad.org/episode-8?_ga=2.51530412.484154044.1589123193-892082491.1570804996&fbclid=IwAR1k6F4_lz_fGyp_EvfiCHuvehu_mai4R5OdYFUEV_T3oAB-3pmImfmf8U8Food Without Borders is powered by Simplecast.

In Edible-Alpha® podcast #64, Tera catches up with Bryce and Jen Riemer of Riemer Family Farm in Brodhead, Wisconsin, which Bryce's grandfather started in 1927. The couple began taking over the midsize farm from Bryce's father about 10 years ago, transitioning from grain-fed beef to grass-fed beef and other pastured proteins while implementing regenerative agriculture practices. Even though Bryce grew up on the farm, he and Jen, who've been together since college, didn't initially plan on joining the family business. The couple lived in suburban Chicago, where Bryce was a high school guidance counselor and Jen worked part-time will raising their daughters. But once they started selling his dad's beef to friends, it lit a spark, and they began thinking seriously about how they could make farming work for their family. Finally, they decided to go for it and moved back to Bryce's childhood home. Although the couple had a deep respect for his father's farming career, as early adopters of the Good Food Movement, Bryce and Jen wanted to change things up to better align with their values and conscious consumer preferences. But they knew they needed to do so gradually. So, over the next several years, they worked with the resources at hand, started building a client base, and learned as much as they could about regenerative agriculture. When it made sense, they instilled changes such as establishing pastures, transitioning the cowherd, and adding chickens, turkeys, lambs, and pigs. Eventually, Bryce and Jen began farming full-time, with their three daughters pitching in and a dedicated, passionate team helping to keep it all running smoothly. His parents live across the street and provide instrumental support for their family and the business. Bryce and Jen are incredibly grateful for their generosity and marvel at how different their journey would be if they didn't have a multigenerational family farm. Nowadays, Riemer Family Farm's grass-fed and pasture-raised proteins business is booming. They do a strong direct-to-consumer business, which is especially advantageous given the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, building this model out to allow home delivery during COVID-19 has grown their business 200%+. And while Bryce and Jen still feel like students, both have become leaders in regenerative agriculture, often sharing their knowledge with other farmers and interested consumers. They encourage people to come visit their beautiful pastures, which provide habitat for butterflies and migrating birds, and see firsthand how this type of farming is so beneficial for animals, people, and the planet. Bryce and Jen's story provides inspiration for any entrepreneur who wants to start a food or farm business that personifies their core values while meeting a consumer need.

In Edible-Alpha® podcast #64, Tera catches up with Bryce and Jen Riemer of Riemer Family Farm in Brodhead, Wisconsin, which Bryce’s grandfather started in 1927. The couple began taking over the midsize farm from Bryce’s father about 10 years ago, transitioning from grain-fed beef to grass-fed beef and other pastured proteins while implementing regenerative agriculture practices. Even though Bryce grew up on the farm, he and Jen, who’ve been together since college, didn’t initially plan on joining the family business. The couple lived in suburban Chicago, where Bryce was a high school guidance counselor and Jen worked part-time will raising their daughters. But once they started selling his dad’s beef to friends, it lit a spark, and they began thinking seriously about how they could make farming work for their family. Finally, they decided to go for it and moved back to Bryce’s childhood home. Although the couple had a deep respect for his father’s farming career, as early adopters of the Good Food Movement, Bryce and Jen wanted to change things up to better align with their values and conscious consumer preferences. But they knew they needed to do so gradually. So, over the next several years, they worked with the resources at hand, started building a client base, and learned as much as they could about regenerative agriculture. When it made sense, they instilled changes such as establishing pastures, transitioning the cowherd, and adding chickens, turkeys, lambs, and pigs. Eventually, Bryce and Jen began farming full-time, with their three daughters pitching in and a dedicated, passionate team helping to keep it all running smoothly. His parents live across the street and provide instrumental support for their family and the business. Bryce and Jen are incredibly grateful for their generosity and marvel at how different their journey would be if they didn’t have a multigenerational family farm. Nowadays, Riemer Family Farm’s grass-fed and pasture-raised proteins business is booming. They do a strong direct-to-consumer business, which is especially advantageous given the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, building this model out to allow home delivery during COVID-19 has grown their business 200%+. And while Bryce and Jen still feel like students, both have become leaders in regenerative agriculture, often sharing their knowledge with other farmers and interested consumers. They encourage people to come visit their beautiful pastures, which provide habitat for butterflies and migrating birds, and see firsthand how this type of farming is so beneficial for animals, people, and the planet. Bryce and Jen’s story provides inspiration for any entrepreneur who wants to start a food or farm business that personifies their core values while meeting a consumer need.

We're excited to bring you a special episode which took place at the Georgia Organics Conference in Athens. It's an annual event that takes place in a different city throughout Georgia where farmers, members of Georgia Organics, partners of the organization, and many others meet for hands-on sessions, learning opportunities, and where friends gather to connect — all centered around the Good Food Movement. We stopped by to chat with a few attendees and listen to what this special has meant to them this year, the past decade, or longer…So, it's clear that this conference holds a special place for many and the relationships forged due to their attendance. The work of Georgia Organics touches all corners of our great state through multiple programs — one being Farm to School. The program started back in 2007 and the work has continued to impact over 90 school districts throughout the state of Georgia. So, here's Erin She started and ran the program for many years for Georgia Organics. We dropped by tho hear some of the it's origin.And that brings us to lunch, but not just any lunch. Lunch with Alice Waters, chef/owner of Chez Panisse in Berkley, California and founder of The Edible Schoolyard and Chef/Farmer, Matthew Raiford . They allowed us to take part in a meal that was made from produce and ingredients from Georgia farms where we all had to work together to gather all materials — plates, cups, drinks, prepared dishes, utensils, and everything without using words. All of this was modeled off of what is possible in a school lunchroom. Let me tell you — it was wonderful (and incredibly delicious).Immediately following, we had a chance to sit down with Alice Waters and hear more from her perspective on food, our education system, and the impact of Edible Schoolyard and Farm to School.So, who better to give us perspective on how the impact of growing and cooking local food, let alone working with local farms/farmers in our schools? Ladies and gentlemen, Ms. Alice Waters.

Like what you see? Please give generously. http://www.thinktechhawaii.com Connecting Hawaii’s People to the Power of their Food Choice. How food choices as individuals and communities are a great opportunity to make a positive impact in regenerating life and promoting balance in nature. The host for this episode is Lillian Cumic. The guest for this episode is Annalyssah Camacho.

Danielle talks with Good Food Markets visionary Phil Sambol about the intersection between environmental justice and the Good Food movement. They discuss everything from the environmental impacts of processed foods to the role of corner stores as community centers.

Danielle chats with Sarah Weiner, visionary founder of the Good Food Awards, about the economics of the Good Food movement: from shopping your values to the fallacy of economies of scale when it comes to thoughtfully crafted, small-batch foods. Sarah shares tips for eating well without expanding your food budget.

On this final episode of Rootstock Radio, we're talking to Dr. John Fagan of Earth Open Source Institute about an all-encompassing model of health, climate change, pesticides and science. It's been a great 4 years of doing this podcast, and we want to thank the thousands of listeners who have celebrated so many Good Food Movement changemakers with us every week. We hope you'll stay connected with us on our blog, Rootstock, at www.organicvalley.coop/blog. 

This week on Meat + Three, meet four of our Hall of Fame inductees. They’re chefs that have changed the way we see, taste, and experience food. We begin with Alice Waters, a counter culture chef who has planted a seed of deliciousness in schoolyards across the country. Todd Richards shares the impact that family has on his cookbooks, kitchens, and food philosophy. Julia Turshen inspires us with her work "Feeding the Resistance," and Tunde Wey tackles racial and wealth disparity with hot chicken pop ups and his powerful brand of activism. See our full Hall of Fame at heritageradionetwork.org/halloffame. Meat + Three is powered by Simplecast. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

Nick McCormick / CaJa Popcorn Nick McCormick is the Owner and Chief Popper at CaJa Popcorn, a “Foodpreneur”, perennial gourmand, and an advocate of the Good Food Movement. Nick is on a mission to engage and serve the culinary community, while fostering change and building a better food system for our future. Prior to becoming […]

Last weekend, we featured an encore presentation of the first two parts of our Special Report from Connecticut's first Farm Aid. Since 1985, Farm Aid has raised more than $53 million to help family farmers thrive all over the country while inspiring millions of people to take part in the Good Food Movement. Today, we'll wrap up with an encore replay of the third segment of our report straight from Farm Aid Hartford on the first day of autumn, where we talked with farmers, organizers, and artists, as well as attending an informative and inspiring pre-show press conference. Then we're going to catch up with Scarlett Lewis who lost her son Jesse in the Sandy Hook tragedy, and who is leading the 'Choose Love Movement' to expose schools, households, and entire communities to the nurturing, loving benefits of Social Emotional Learning. Stay tunes to learn how you can bring the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement into your home or community.

Did you go to Farm Aid up in Hartford last month - or did you want to?  And would you like to do more to keep your family healthy while helping the very folks who grow and raise your food?? Connecticut just hosted its first Farm Aid, and host John Voket and the Award-winning For the People were invited on site for the duration, covering the event from top to bottom.  Each year, Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young and Dave Matthews - who we'll hear from later - host Farm Aid with one mission: keeping family farmers on the land. Since 1985, Farm Aid raised more than $53 million to help family farmers thrive while inspiring millions to be part in the Good Food Movement.  So today we're bringing you the first and second segments of a three-part For the People straight from the Xfinity Theatre, where we talked with farmers, organizers, and artists, as well as attending an informative and inspiring pre-show press conference. So we'll kick things off from that press conference with some brief remarks from Farm Aid's senior board member and co-founder. Missed the broadcast? Check out and share the podcast!

Clare Fox, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Food Policy Council, joins us to talk about how we're a couple of catastrophes away from starving, how race and food are connected, and why the food justice movement is hitting amazing strides. Also, this episode includes a special intro for LURN's end-of-year donor drive. If you want to support our work, please visit: lurnetwork.org/lurn-donate/ Music for this segment, courtesy of: "Samba Isobel" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Food Tank focuses on stories of hope & success to help food system changemakers move from being stuck on the problems to finding the solutions. Today, we hear from Danielle Nierenberg, president and co-founder of Food Tahnk, about the organization's activities to keep the momentum going throughout the Good Food Movement over the last 4 years.

On this episode of The Barron Report, Sara Brito of the Good Food 100 chats with Foodable host Paul about the Good Food Movement and how it's making an impact on the industry. As a 20-year food and media industry veteran, Brito has a unique perspective on the evolution of "good food." She points out how the industry is evolving for the better and that changing consumer demands and the recent Amazon-Whole Foods acquisition mean good things for the industry.

Jim Slama remembers the food landscape in Chicago in the '90s and early 2000s as rather bleak. "Back then it was nearly an organic food desert," he says. Even access to non-organic fresh fruits and vegetables could be limited. But things slowly started shifting, and today, Jim and his nonprofit, FamilyFarmed, are making a difference in Chicago by building relationships between local, organic farmers and area distributors, restaurants and supermarkets to make the Good Food Movement accessible to more and more people every year.

Twenty Questions with Marion Nestle. We celebrate her ten years of Food Politics, consider the Farm Bill, discuss school food, imagine a food policy, visit probiotics and wind up with an optimistic view of individual states doing the right thing with soda tax, school food, and other promising developments that show that the food movement is unbowed by the Trumpsters, and forging ahead. Its always a joy with Dr. Nestle.

Twenty Questions with Marion Nestle. We celebrate her ten years of Food Politics, consider the Farm Bill, discuss school food, imagine a food policy, visit probiotics and wind up with an optimistic view of individual states doing the right thing with soda tax, school food, and other promising developments that show that the food movement is unbowed by the Trumpsters, and forging ahead. Its always a joy with Dr. Nestle.

In 1978 Joan Gussow wrote a ground-breaking book tying nutrition to the health of our planet. Today she discusses her journey through the Good Food Movement and her memoir, "Growing Older: A Chronicle of Death, Life and Vegetables."