Episodes
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In the final episode of our limited series podcast, our host Ron Kroese moderates a discussion on the 1980s farm crisis.
This is a continuation of the roundtable discussion from the last two episodes. Each individual played an important role in the work of National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) and its predecessor efforts.
During the first week, we focused on the formation, development, and accomplishments of NSAC over the past three decades, through 5 farm bills and 27 appropriation bills. Last week, we focused on successes, challenges, and took a deeper look at the organization. This week, participants also share stories about those who made an impact on sustainable agriculture policy along the way.
Discussion participants and their positions and locations at the time of the interview include:
Fred Kirschenmann: affiliated with the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, and also the Stone Barn Center for Food and Agriculture in New York. Lives in Ames, Iowa. Ann Robinson: Midwest regional office director for the National Center for Appropriate Technology. Located in Des Moines, Iowa. Michael Sligh: with the Rural Advancement Foundation International in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Chuck Hassebrook: Formerly with the Center for Rural Affairs in Nebraska. Mary Fund: with the Kansas Rural Center and also a certified organic farmer. Ferd Hoefner: policy director for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition in Washington, D.C. Margaret Krome: policy director for the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute in East Troy, Wisconsin. Frances Thicke: farmer from southeast Iowa. Owns and operates an organic dairy farm, processes milk on the farm and markets it all locally. Amy Little: policy director for the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group. Duane Sand: on the staff of Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, Des Moines, Iowa. Teresa Opheim: with Practical Farmers of Iowa. Located in Ames, Iowa. Duane Havorka: executive director of the Nebraska Wildlife Federation. Lives near Elmwood, Nebraska.The roundtable was conducted on Aug. 2, 2015.
Link this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
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This week, we focus on successes, challenges, and take a deeper look at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC). This is the second of three episodes of a roundtable discussion moderated by host Ron Kroese.
Next week, we’ll talk about the 1980s farm crisis and share stories about those who made an impact on sustainable agriculture policy along the way. Last week, we focused on the formation, development, and accomplishments of NSAC over the past three decades, through 5 farm bills and 27 appropriation bills.
Each individual played an important role in the work of NSAC and its predecessor efforts. Discussion participants and their positions and locations at the time of the interview include:
Fred Kirschenmann: affiliated with the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, and also the Stone Barn Center for Food and Agriculture in New York. Lives in Ames, Iowa. Ann Robinson: Midwest regional office director for the National Center for Appropriate Technology. Located in Des Moines, Iowa. Michael Sligh: with the Rural Advancement Foundation International in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Chuck Hassebrook: Formerly with the Center for Rural Affairs in Nebraska. Mary Fund: with the Kansas Rural Center and also a certified organic farmer. Ferd Hoefner: policy director for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition in Washington, D.C. Margaret Krome: policy director for the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute in East Troy, Wisconsin. Frances Thicke: farmer from southeast Iowa. Owns and operates an organic dairy farm, processes milk on the farm and markets it all locally. Amy Little: policy director for the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group. Duane Sand: on the staff of Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, Des Moines, Iowa. Teresa Opheim: with Practical Farmers of Iowa. Located in Ames, Iowa. Duane Havorka: executive director of the Nebraska Wildlife Federation. Lives near Elmwood, Nebraska.The roundtable was conducted on Aug. 2, 2015.
Link this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
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Missing episodes?
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In the final three episodes of our limited series podcast, our host Ron Kroese moderates a discussion. Each individual played an important role in the work of National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) and its predecessor efforts.
This week, we focus on the formation, development, and accomplishments of NSAC over the past three decades, through 5 farm bills and 27 appropriation bills. Next week, we’ll focus on successes, challenges, and take a deeper look at the organization. In the final week, we’ll talk about the 1980s farm crisis and share stories about those who made an impact on sustainable agriculture policy along the way.
Discussion participants and their positions and locations at the time of the interview include:
Fred Kirschenmann: affiliated with the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, and also the Stone Barn Center for Food and Agriculture in New York. Lives in Ames, Iowa. Ann Robinson: Midwest regional office director for the National Center for Appropriate Technology. Located in Des Moines, Iowa. Michael Sligh: with the Rural Advancement Foundation International in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Chuck Hassebrook: Formerly with the Center for Rural Affairs in Nebraska. Mary Fund: with the Kansas Rural Center and also a certified organic farmer. Ferd Hoefner: policy director for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition in Washington, D.C. Margaret Krome: policy director for the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute in East Troy, Wisconsin. Frances Thicke: farmer from southeast Iowa. Owns and operates an organic dairy farm, processes milk on the farm and markets it all locally. Amy Little: policy director for the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group. Duane Sand: on the staff of Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, Des Moines, Iowa. Teresa Opheim: with Practical Farmers of Iowa. Located in Ames, Iowa. Duane Havorka: executive director of the Nebraska Wildlife Federation. Lives near Elmwood, Nebraska.The roundtable was conducted on Aug. 2, 2015.
Links this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
“A Time to Choose: Summary Report on the Structure of Agriculture”
"Report and Recommendations on Organic Farming"
“The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture” by Wendell Berry
“Who Will Sit Up With the Corporate Sow?”
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Joyce E. Ford and Jim Riddle have worked tirelessly on organic agriculture policy in the state of Minnesota, nationally, and internationally.
This week, Ron Kroese talks with the long-time organic farmers and sustainable farming advocates from Winona, Minnesota, who share their numerous accomplishments, stories of colleagues they’ve worked with throughout the years, how they got started in the organic field, and what’s next for organics.
For more than 30 years, Jim has been an organic farmer, gardener, inspector, educator, policy analyst, author, and avid organic eater. Joyce started her career as an organic vegetable farmer in the 1970s.
The couple helped organize the Winona Farmers Market, where Jim was a founding chair of the Winona Farmers Market Association.
Joyce and Jim also helped start the International Organic Inspectors Association (IOIA). In that capacity, they co-authored the IOIA inspector curriculum manuals, and co-developed IOIA’s inspector training program and projects such as organic system plans and record keeping templates for organic certification. Joyce has trained organic inspectors for the IOIA and was the first inspector to monitor pipeline construction on organic farms, enforcing Minnesota Agricultural Impact Mitigation Plan’s Organic Appendix. She served as IOIA’s Ethics Committee chair for many years.
Jim served as chair of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Organic Advisory Task Force and was instrumental in passage of Minnesota’s landmark organic certification cost-share program, which now is a farm bill program that provides 75% reimbursement for organic certification costs nationwide.
In addition, Jim worked for the University of Minnesota as Organic Outreach Coordinator and as Organic Research Grants Coordinator for Ceres Trust. He served on the Leadership Team for eOrganic, the national Extension Community of Practice for organic agriculture and on the Citizens Board of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. He was the steering committee chair for the Organic Farmers Association when it was newly formed in 2016.
Jim is former chair of the USDA National Organic Standards Board and a leading voice for organic agriculture.
Joyce co-authored the Organic Trade Association Good Organic Retailing Practices (GORP), and the certification chapter in Organic Dairy Farming published by the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES). Joyce served on the MOSES board of directors for 6 years. More recently, she served 3 years on the Steering Committee to develop a Healthy Food Charter for Minnesota and volunteered to assist Winona County in developing a county Food Charter, a policy action plan to help get healthy foods accessible.
Joyce has worked for the International Organic Accreditation Service (IOAS) and has served on its Accreditation Committee that administers accreditation for organic certification and other sustainable labels.
In 2013, Joyce and Jim were awarded EcoFarm’s Stewards of Sustainable Agriculture. They currently operate Blue Fruit Farm, a certified organic perennial fruit farm, where they grow blueberries, black currants, elderberries, aronia berries, honeyberries, and more.
The interview was conducted on Feb. 14, 2018.
Additional links this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
Organic Farmers Association
International Organic Inspectors Association
Winona Farmers Market
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Bob Bergland’s vision and leadership led to the government’s first initiative in organic and sustainable agriculture.
This week, our host Ron talks with Bob about his several decades of public service, with the interview focusing primarily on four studies. This was recorded in 2017, one year before Bob passed away.
Robert (Bob) Bergland was born on July 22, 1928, on a farm near Roseau, Minnesota. He lived in the community until he passed away in December 2018 at the age of 90.
In 1963, he went to work for the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, first at the state level in Minnesota, and later in Washington, D.C.
In 1970, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving three terms from 1971 to 1977 as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. In Congress, he served on the House Committee on Agriculture's subcommittees for Conservation and Credit, and Livestock, Grains, Dairy, and Poultry.
In 1977, shortly after beginning a fourth term in the House, he was appointed Secretary of Agriculture by President Jimmy Carter and served in that role from Jan. 23, 1977, to Jan. 20, 1981. During his tenure, he commissioned a major report examining the structure of American agriculture, "A Time to Choose," and the first USDA study on organic farming, "Report and Recommendations on Organic Farming."
At the end of President Carter's administration, he was named vice president and general manager of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
After retiring in 1994, he was elected by the Minnesota State Legislature to a term on the University of Minnesota Board of Regents.
The interview was conducted on March 7, 2017.
Links this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
“A Time to Choose: Summary Report on the Structure of Agriculture”
"Report and Recommendations on Organic Farming"
“The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture” by Wendell Berry
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Elizabeth Henderson was raised by people concerned with peace and justice, which shaped her life path.
This week, Elizabeth sits down with our host, Ron, and talks about community-supported agriculture (CSAs), organic ag, and food justice.
She is a long-time activist for local and national policies and programs to advance socially and economically just sustainable agriculture—both in the US and abroad. She may be most known for helping shape the landmark organic food policy act of 1990, but tells us about much more.
Elizabeth farmed at Peacework Farm in Wayne County, New York, producing organically grown vegetables for the fresh market for more than 30 years.
She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY), co-chairs the Policy Committee, and represents the NOFA Interstate Council on the Board of the Agricultural Justice Project.
For 20 years, from 1993 to 2013, she chaired the Agricultural Development Board in Wayne County and took an active role in creating the Farming and Farmland Protection Plan for the county.
In 2001, the organic industry honored her with one of the first “Spirit of Organic” awards, in 2007, Abundance Co-op honored her with the “Cooperating for Communities” award, and in 2009, NOFA-NY honored her with a Lifetime Achievement Award and then a Golden Carrot in 2013. In 2014, Eco-Farm presented her with their Advocate of Social Justice Award, the “Justie.”
Her writings on organic agriculture appear in The Natural Farmer and other publications, she is the lead author of Sharing the Harvest: A Citizen’s Guide to Community Supported Agriculture (Chelsea Green, 2007), with a Spanish language e-book edition in 2017, and co-authored Whole Farm Planning: Ecological Imperatives, Personal Values and Economics with farmer Karl North (2004).
She also wrote A Food Book for a Sustainable Harvest for the members of Peacework Organic Community Supported Agriculture (aka GVOCSA) in its 29th year in 2017.
The interview was conducted on Dec. 14, 2017.
Links this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
“Sharing the Harvest: A Citizen’s Guide to Community Supported Agriculture”
“Whole Farm Planning: Ecological Imperatives, Personal Values and Economics”
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Mark Winne is a renowned lifelong advocate for policies to advance equitable and sustainable food systems in the U.S. and throughout the planet.
On this week’s episode, Mark speaks with host Ron Kroese about food policy councils, farmers markets, food banks, farm to school, youth nutrition, and farmland preservation.
Mark grew up in the Garden State, watching gardens disappear, and became sensitive to food production and commercial ag production. He carried that forward, along with a desire to “do something about hunger.”
From 1979 to 2003, Mark Winne was the executive director of the Hartford Food System, a Connecticut nonprofit food organization. Under his direction, the organization started one of the first farmers markets in the country. They also studied food security and food in relation to agriculture.
He is the co-founder of the Community Food Security Coalition where he also worked as the Food Policy Council Program Director from 2005 to 2012.
He was a Kellogg Foundation Food and Society Fellow, a Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Visiting Scholar, and a member of the U.S. Delegation to the 2000 Rome Conference on Food Security.
As a writer on food issues, Mark's work has appeared in the Washington Post, The Nation, Sierra, Orion, and Yes!, to name a few.
Mark is the author of Food Town, USA (Island Press, 2019), Stand Together or Starve Alone (Praeger Press 2018), Closing the Food Gap (Beacon Press 2008), and Food Rebels, Guerilla Gardeners, and Smart Cookin’ Mamas (Beacon Press, 2010).
Through his own firm, Mark Winne Associates, Mark speaks, trains, and writes on topics related to community food systems, food policy, and food security.
He also serves as Senior Advisor to the Center for a Livable Future at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health.
The interview was conducted on Feb. 21, 2017.
Links this episode:
“Doing Food Policy Councils Right: A Guide to Development and Action”
Mark’s website
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
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Bob Scowcroft’s story continues this week, and he is joined by Mark Lipson as well as host Ron Kroese.
Mark begins the conversation at the end of 1987, when Bob joined California Certified Organic Farmers as executive director. About 18 months into Bob’s tenure, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit the Santa Cruz area (right at the same time Mark set up a new computer and inserted a floppy disk), forcing the organization to relocate offices.
Then, both Mark and Bob were thrust into the state and national spotlight as two organic bills made their way through legislature in California and in Washington. They talk about teaming up with partners across the country on landmark legislation, and becoming spokespeople with the media on all things organic.
Bob chats about starting the Organic Farming Research Foundation, which Mark joins later, and what that meant to the organic industry.
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About Bob: He has successfully transitioned from a "retirement" state of mind into a more active composition of consultant, volunteer, and advocacy oriented activities. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Nell Newman Foundation and sits on 4 nonprofit advisory boards.
He previously served as executive director of the Organic Farming Research Foundation, based in Santa Cruz, California. It was co-founded by Bob and two certified organic farmers in 1990. In the nearly 20 years Bob directed OFRF, it awarded $2.4+ million in support of 320+ organic research and education projects. The results of which were shared with 15,000+ organic farmers and ranchers.
During Bob's tenure, OFRF had an active policy, research, and publishing program, and it disseminated information on all sectors of the organic product industry. Bob averaged 200 media interviews and over 15 conference presentations on organic annually.
He sat on 5 non-governmental organizations advisory boards. He resigned and retired from OFRF in 2010.
Prior to working for OFRF, he was the first full-time executive director of California Certified Organic Farmers (1987-1992); before that he served in the Friends of the Earth's San Francisco office as their national organizer with a primary focus on pesticide reduction and organic farming advocacy (1979-1985).
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About Mark: Mark is a 30-year pioneer and influential leader in the organic farming and food community in California and nationally. In 2016, he received the "Champion of Sustainable Agriculture Award" from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
He served a 4-year term as the Organic and Sustainable Agriculture Policy Advisor in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, from 2010 to 2014. At the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he led the department-wide Organic Working Group and co-led the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Task Force.
Since 1983, he has been a member in Molino Creek Farm, a cooperative multi-family organic farming community near Davenport, California, and the original home of the famed, dry-farmed tomatoes.
Mark currently serves as Director of Policy and Regulatory Engagement at the Heartland Health Research Alliance. He is a staff affiliate for Organic Agriculture Policy at the University of California at Santa Cruz, affiliated with the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.
The interview was conducted on Dec. 15, 2016.
Liked this show? SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on Spotify, Audible, Apple, Google, and more. Catch past episodes, a transcript, and the video at http://www.cfra.org/SustainableAgPodcast and https://misa.umn.edu/publications/national-sustainable-agriculture-oral-history-archive
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If you thought you heard sustainable ag history stories, make sure you listen to this one.
In this week’s episode, Bob Scowcroft talks with our host Ron Kroese about the beginning of his sustainable agriculture career. Then, next week, Bob will be joined by Mark Lipson to continue the conversation.
Bob begins by telling us about his early golf career. Then, while in college he was bit by the travel bug—on one trip, he and several others traveled in a VW van through Canada to California for a Grateful Dead concert—they were a day late and missed the show. He took trips to Africa, Alaska, and he ultimately worked in California, D.C., Alaska, and back to California.
He talks about the famous organic report that was smuggled out of the USDA by Garth Youngberg and others. He talks about his fight against pesticides. Then, his campaign for organics and the battles against not-so-honest producers.
But, that is not all. Bob circles back to the Grateful Dead at the end of this episode. Tune in to hear more. Then, make sure you download next week’s podcast for the rest of the story.
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About Bob Scowcroft: He has successfully transitioned from a "retirement" state of mind into a more active composition of consultant, volunteer, and advocacy oriented activities. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Nell Newman Foundation and sits on four nonprofit advisory boards.
He previously served as Executive Director of the Organic Farming Research Foundation, a national organization, based in Santa Cruz, California. It was co-founded by Bob and two certified organic farmers in 1990. In the nearly 20 years Bob directed OFRF, it awarded over $2,400,000 in support of over 320 organic research and education projects. The results of which were shared with over 15,000 organic farmers and ranchers throughout North America.
During Bob's tenure, OFRF had an active policy, research, and publishing program, and it disseminated information on all sectors of the organic product industry to the public at large. Bob averaged 200 media interviews and over 15 conference presentations on all subjects "organic" annually.
He sat on five non-governmental organizations (NGO) advisory boards. He resigned and retired from OFRF at the end of 2010.
Prior to working for OFRF, he was the first full time Executive Director of California Certified Organic Farmers (1987-1992); before that he served in the Friends of the Earth's San Francisco office as their national organizer with a primary focus on pesticide reduction and organic farming advocacy (1979-1985).
The interview was conducted on Dec. 15, 2016.
Links this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
Organic Farming Research Foundation
California Certified Organic Farmers
Friends of the Earth--------
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Jill Shore Auburn was a National Program Leader at the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture from January 1998 until her retirement in April 2017, managing grant programs for research and extension on sustainable agriculture, local/regional food systems, rural community development, and beginning farmers and ranchers.
In this week’s episode, she and our host Ron Kroese chat about how she got into this work and she walks us through ~30 years of working in sustainable ag. She talks about the origin and structure of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program; a special project on organic ag that she worked on at USDA; mentions her work on the Know your Farmer, Know Your Food Initiative; and more.
From 2009 to 2013, she spent four years on detail to the USDA Office of the Chief Scientist, where she was Acting Director for two years, and also Senior Advisor for agricultural systems and sustainability.
Prior to that detail she spent 10 years directing the SARE grant program for the USDA agency that is now the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Before joining USDA, she was associate director of the University of California’s statewide Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, where she developed the information program including one of the first university web sites on sustainable agriculture.
While at UC SAREP she led the national team that developed the information network for the SARE program (now SARE Outreach) and co-led the Professional Development Program of Western SARE.
Her academic background is in agricultural systems analysis and ecology, with a Ph.D. from the University of California at Davis and M.A. and B.A. from Miami University.
The interview was conducted on October 11, 2017.
Links this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE)
National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI)
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)--------
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The year was 2002. The idea was to get fresh fruit and vegetables in schools for snacks. Sen. Tom Harkin was chair of the Ag Committee during the farm bill, and pushed through a pilot program to 100 rural schools in four states.
“In all these years, with all these supports of programs, we never supported fruits and vegetables. They were never part of the farm bill.”
That is just one of Sen. Harkin’s stories in this week’s episode. He talks with our host Ron Kroese and guest Ferd Hoefner about his time working as a lawmaker in Washington, D.C. for 41 years.
In 1974, Tom Harkin was elected to Congress from Iowa's 5th Congressional District. His energetic, person-to-person campaign carried the day against an incumbent in a long- standing Republican district.
In 1984, after serving 10 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Sen. Harkin challenged an incumbent senator and won. Iowans returned him to the Senate in 1990, 1996, and again in 2002. In November 2008, he made history by becoming the first Iowa Democrat to win a fifth term in the U.S. Senate. He retired from the U.S. Senate in January 2015.
Throughout his lengthy tenure, Sen. Harkin served on the House and Senate Agriculture Committees and was a stalwart champion for policies and programs benefiting family-sized farms, conservation, and sustainable agriculture.
As a young senator, Tom was tapped by Sen. Ted Kennedy to craft legislation to protect the civil rights of millions of Americans with physical and mental disabilities. He knew firsthand about the challenges facing people with disabilities from his late brother, Frank, who was deaf from an early age. What emerged from that process would later become his signature legislative achievement—The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA has become known as the "Emancipation Proclamation for people with disabilities." The legislation changed the landscape of America by requiring buildings and transportation to be wheelchair accessible, and to provide workplace accommodations for people with disabilities.
To preserve the intent of the ADA after several court rulings weakened its standards, Sen. Harkin and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) introduced the ADA Amendments bill to ensure continuing protections from discrimination for all Americans with disabilities. It was signed into law in September 2008. In September 2009, Sen. Harkin became chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
Tom Harkin was born in Cumming, Iowa (pop. 150), on Nov. 19, 1939, the son of an Iowa coal miner father and a Slovenian immigrant mother. To this day, he still lives in the house in Cumming where he was born. In 1968, Tom married Ruth Raduenz, the daughter of a farmer and a school teacher from Minnesota. Tom and Ruth have two daughters, Amy and Jenny, and three grandchildren.
The interview was conducted on Oct. 11, 2017.
Links this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)--------
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Margaret Krome has spent 30 years developing state and local programs and policies supporting environmentally sound, profitable, and socially responsible agriculture.
On this week’s episode, Ron talks with Margaret about her life's work and the experiences that shaped her.
Her interest in ag began in childhood, as the grandchild of a Florida avocado and citrus farmer. She served in agroforestry in the Peace Corps in Cameroon. She then began graduate school and worked at the Wisconsin Rural Development Center during the 1980s farm crisis.
In 1995, Margaret joined the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute in East Troy, Wisconsin, where she serves as policy director today.
For years, she led the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's annual national grassroots campaign to fund federal programs prioritized each year by NSAC's member groups; she continues to assist NSAC with this campaign.
ln Wisconsin, Margaret has been instrumental in helping to create several significant programs, including the UW-Madison center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, the Pesticide Use and Risk Reduction program, the state's Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin program, the state's farm to School program, and others.
She conducts workshops and webinars nationwide on grant writing, using federal programs to support sustainable agriculture, and on new USDA crop insurance programs supporting diversified farms.
Margaret has invested a dozen years in building the next generation of sustainable agriculture leaders, including more leaders of color.
The interview was conducted on Feb. 16, 2016.
Links this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
Michael Fields Agricultural Institute--------
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Not satisfied with conventional farming practices, Ron Rosmann began to explore sustainable agricultural methods in the 1980s.
This week, our host Ron Kroese talks with Ron and Maria Vakulskas Rosmann who, along with their sons, are the owners and operators of Rosmann Family Farms, located four miles northwest of Harlan, Iowa. Ron has farmed this land where he was raised since receiving his biology degree from Iowa State University (ISU) in 1973.
Ron's goals when building the farm focused on building up the soil and not just the plant, using alternative tillage methods, and improving the genetics in the livestock. Ron’s late father had already taught him the value of crop rotations and diversity. His interest in sustainable agriculture helped Ron team up with like-minded individuals who formed Practical Farmers of Iowa.
Today, Rosmann Family Farms is 700 acres of corn, oats, soybeans, popcorn, small grains, pasture, and hay. It is certified organic by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. The cow-calf operation (100 cows – Red Angus) is an important part of the organic picture. They also have a 60-sow farrow-to-finish hog operation and raise organic chickens. The Rosmanns strongly support the use of rotational grazing practices. Over the past 30 years, their farm has conducted 40 randomized/replicated research plots in cooperation with PFI.
Ron and Maria have dedicated much of their efforts to the preservation of the small and medium-sized family farm. Over the years, Ron has been asked to address many audiences including university groups, members of Congress, business meetings and organizations. The family has hosted guests from all around the U.S. and six continents.
Ron has written and published many articles and essays on these issues. He has served as a board member and president of the Organic Farming Research Foundation and the National Catholic Rural Life Conference.
Maria Vakulskas Rosmann was raised in Sioux City and has a journalism degree from Creighton University. She has worked as a journalist and in television, and for Creighton University. She served as development director for Shelby County Catholic Schools. These days her efforts focus on the marketing of their beef, pork, and popcorn through their on-farm store, Farm Sweet Farm, and working with Ron.
They are the parents of three adult sons, David, Daniel, and Mark. All are graduates of Iowa State University with various degrees involving agriculture. David and Daniel joined in the farming operation after graduation. Mark works for the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service in Washington, DC.
The interview was conducted on Jan. 29, 2018.
Links this episode:
Rosmann Family Farms
Farm Sweet Farm
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
Center for Rural Affairs
Practical Farmers of Iowa--------
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“I like to tell people we still farm the same land our ancestors farmed 400 years ago, and we still use the same rituals and we still use the same tradition. We incorporate a little new technology that allows us to be economically viable.” -Don Bustos
This week, our host Ron Kroese sits down with Don on his farm in the village of Santa Cruz in northern New Mexico on land his family has owned for more than three centuries. Don talks about traditions, the importance of leaving the land for the next generations, and how he became a sustainable ag leader.
In the 1970s, Don began converting his farm from 100 acres of row crops to 3.5 acres of year-round organic production with more than 70 varieties of fruits and vegetables. For more than 20 years, he has used solar energy for year-round production, installing his first panels with the help of a Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant.
Over the past three decades, he has been involved in efforts to improve state and federal public policies to advance sustainable and organic farming. For many years he served as director of the American Friends Service Committee's New Mexico program and was a co-founder of the National Immigrant Farming Initiative.
In 2015, he was one of five people to receive the James Beard Foundation Leadership Award, which recognizes "who influence how, why and what we eat."
The interview was conducted on Feb. 21, 2017.
Additional links this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
Center for Rural Affairs--------
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“I don’t believe we can get to the shores of sustainability with environmental stewardship alone. We must marry justice into this conversation. And until we do, we really won’t get where we all believe we desperately need to get to.” -Michael Sligh
This week, Ron has a conversation with Michael about promotion of agro-biodiversity, organic, competitive markets, food justice, and more.
At the time of this interview, Michael was a program director for Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI-USA). He managed the above plus policy, research, and education regarding agricultural best practices, fair trade and other value-added food labeling, policy, and marketing issues. He also helped coordinate the Seeds and Breeds Coalition for the 21st Century aimed at reinvigorating public cultivars to meet the challenges of climate change and organic/sustainable market demands.
Michael has been involved in domestic and international agricultural policy development, organizing, food labeling, standards, certification and accreditation work for over 35 years including: founding chair of the USDA/ National Organic Standards Board; a founder of Domestic Fair Trade Association, National Organic Coalition, and Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group; founding members of National Family Farm Coalition and National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition; board member of the International Organic Accreditation Service; former NGO delegate to UN Codex/FAO/WHO Food Labeling Commission and WTO; founding partner of Agricultural Justice Project, which has developed domestic fair trade standards for North America.
He is a part-time family farmer and a trained anthropologist who lives, farms, and works from North Carolina.
The interview was conducted on Dec. 4, 2017.
Additional links this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
“The New Deal’s Impacts on Sharecropping and Tenant Farming in the US South: A History”--------
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Shirley Sherrod has been advocating for civil rights since 1965.
This week, our host Ron gets help from Michael Sligh, longtime friend and fellow farm advocate, in interviewing Shirley about discrimination in ag.
The second part of this episode features Shirley at the 2017 Domestic Fair Trade Conference. She discusses 52 years of work, including black land loss, the connection between civil rights and food justice, the importance of racial justice in creating fair and sustainable agricultural supply chains, and more.
Shirley was born in Baker County, Georgia, in 1947 to Grace and Hosea (Hosie) Miller. Her father was murdered by a white farmer reportedly over a livestock dispute. No charges were ever returned against the shooter by an all-white grand jury. The tragic murder of her father when she was 17 years old had a profound impact on her life and led to her decision to stay in the south to work for change.
She attended Fort Valley State College then transferred to Albany State College. There she studied sociology while working for civil rights with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). During this time, she married Reverend Charles Sherrod, one of the founding members of SNCC and the leader of SNCC’s work in southwest Georgia.
During the 1960s, Shirley and her husband helped form New Communities, Inc. The organization acquired 6,000 acres of land and became the first community land trust in the U.S. The project encountered difficulties in the opposition of area white farmers who accused participants of being communists, and also from Georgia’s segregationist governor, Lester Maddow, who prevented the federal government’s development funds from entering the state. A drought in the 1970s, fertilizer suppliers selling inferior products to the organization, and the inability to get timely government loans led to the project’s ultimate demise.
Shirley went on to work for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives in 1985 to help black farmers keep their land.
In July 2010, she was forced to resign her position at USDA after conservative blogger, Andrew Breitbart, posted video excerpts of an address she gave at a NAACP event. According to Breitbart, her comments showed how a federally appointed executive racially discriminated against a white farmer. The video set off a controversy and criticism of Shirley. Subsequent events showed the posted video was taken out of context and part of broader comments that conveyed a completely different meaning. The NAACP apologized for critical comments and her boss at USDA also apologized while offering her another job, which she later declined.
The interview was conducted on Dec. 15, 2017.
Links this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link) Pigford v. Glickman “Arc of Justice: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of a Beloved Community” film Rural Coalition/Coalición Rural Members and Allies Statements and Perspectives on the Resignation of Shirley Sherrod, July 20, 2010 Charles Sherrod Community Development Corporation--------
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Garth Youngberg’s work has had a large impact on the agricultural industry, leading farmers to reexamine conventional agricultural practices and explore alternative approaches.
This week, Ron interviews Garth, the founder and director of the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture located in Greenbelt, Maryland. He directed the Institute since its formation in 1983. The Institute joined Winrock International in 2000.
He received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Western Illinois University, and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois (1971) in political science, with an emphasis in agriculture policy and administration.
Garth began his career in education, which included teaching and research positions at Iowa State University and Southwest Missouri State University.
In 1979, he joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Science and Education Administration, where he served from 1980-82 as USDA's Organic Farming Coordinator.
The author of numerous publications on agricultural policy, he co-authored the landmark 1980 USDA study, "Report and Recommendations on Organic Farming." He was editor of the Wallace Institute's peer-reviewed American Journal of Alternative Agriculture from its inception in 1985 until 2000.
In 1988, Dr. Youngberg received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Award, the first awarded in agriculture. He retired in 2003.
In 2013, Garth co-authored (with Suzanne DeMuth) "Organic Agriculture in the United States: A 30-Year Retrospective," in Renewable Agriculture & Food Systems.
The interview was conducted on Dec. 6, 2016.
Additional links this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
Practical Farmers of Iowa
“A Time to Choose: Summary Report on the Structure of Agriculture,” 1981
Garth’s Wikipedia Page
Garth in the USDA National Agricultural Library--------
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“If you’re going to worry about the quality of the water in rivers, you have to pay attention to what’s going on with agriculture.” -Denny Caneff
In this week’s episode, our host Ron talks with Denny about his history with sustainable ag. Denny has worked in the realm of land and water conservation for nearly 30 years.
He encountered the controversy around the early sustainable agriculture movement in the mid 1980s in graduate school in Wisconsin. His thesis looked at "technology resistance" among dairy farmers refusing to use purchased inputs, a precursor to organic farming. An academic advisor dismissed sustainable agriculture (and his thesis) as "conceptually fuzzy."
From 1988 to 1995, Denny was executive director of a sustainable agriculture/family farm advocacy organization in Wisconsin, where he joined other sustainable agriculture and family farm advocacy groups around the Midwest to challenge land grant university research agendas and to advocate for a land- and farmer-friendlier federal farm bill.
Denny served as executive director of the River Alliance of Wisconsin from 2003 until 2016.
He then served as executive director of the Superior Hiking Trail Association in northern Minnesota for three years. During his time, he created the Trail Renewal Program, a plan for responsible, sustainable management of the trail as a resource, with concern for the environmental impact that increased use and lagging maintenance have caused.
The interview was conducted on Aug. 17, 2015.
Links this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
River Alliance of Wisconsin
Superior Hiking Trail Association--------
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Kathleen Merrigan authored the law establishing standards for organic food and the federal definition of sustainable agriculture.
On this week’s episode, she talks with Ron about her life’s work, including her time in USDA, where she led the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative to support local food systems, and was a key architect of Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign.
In 2010, Kathleen was celebrated by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2010.
Currently, she serves as the Kelly and Brian Swette Professor in the School of Sustainability and executive director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University. Before that, she was the Executive Director of Sustainability at the George Washington University.
From 2009 to 2013, Kathleen was deputy secretary and COO of the United States Department of Agriculture. And, was the first woman to chair the Ministerial Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Prior to USDA, she was a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Administrator of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, and served on the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.
Kathleen is a board member of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, and a Trustee of CIFOR and ICRAF. She is a partner in Astanor Ventures and an advisor to S2G Ventures, two firms investing in ag-tech innovation. Merrigan holds a PhD in Public Policy and Environmental Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MPA from University of Texas at Austin, and BA from Williams College.
The interview was conducted on Feb. 10, 2016.
Additional links this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
U.S. Department of Agriculture--------
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“We want to get continuous living cover, or perennial agriculture, more animals on the land. We have to really get that happening with farmers as much as possible. So that when the change in policy comes, they’re ready for it. They’re receptive to it, they’re ready to go, rather than fighting it.” -George Boody
This week, George talks with our host, Ron Kroese, about taking care of the land through conservation, diversifying the landscape, and water quality. Additionally, the conversation touches on organic agriculture, crop insurance reform, rotational grazing, and more.
George recently retired as Science and Special Projects Lead of the Land Stewardship Project, a nonprofit with headquarters in Minneapolis. Before 2016, he was the Executive Director for 23 years of the Land Stewardship Project.
While serving as Executive Director, George led the Land Stewardship Project through significant expansion of its work into three main areas: policy and organizing, beginning farmer training and community based food systems. The organization gained national attention for its work on sustainable agriculture and family farm issues during George’s tenure.
Prior to the Land Stewardship Project, George was an early leader in the organic farming movement. He has a master's of science degree in horticulture and human nutrition and a bachelor of science degree in biology from the University of Minnesota. George has deep roots in rural Minnesota, where his mother grew up on a farm and his father was a doctor.
The interview was conducted on Dec. 3, 2015.
Links this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
Land Stewardship Project--------
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