Episodes
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Access to affordable, quality farmland is the top challenge young farmers face, particularly BIPOC farmers, who today make up only 2% of farmland owners. Young Farmer's Land Campaign Director Holly Rippon-Butler talks with New York Times reporter Elizabeth Dunn about her recent article, “How ‘Fairy Tale’ Farms Are Ruining Hudson Valley Agriculture,” about the land access crisis and how the National Young Farmers Coalition is working to transition one million acres of farmland to the next generation of farmers.
The article, “How ‘Fairy Tale’ Farms Are Ruining Hudson Valley Agriculture,” illustrates how “a rush of wealthy urbanites seeking fresh-air retreats in bucolic settings” has made land access for young and BIPOC farmers across the country even more challenging. Read the article here.
You can hear Liz Dunn on her podcast Pressure Cooker with Liz Black here.
Join the National Young Farmers Coalition here.
Learn more about the One Million Acres Campaign here.
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Today we're coming to you with a special episode from our Hoosier Young Farmers Chapter. The Hoosier chapter just released their own podcast series which shares the voices of farmers from across the state, farmers you might not think of when you picture the farmers of Indiana. This episode features stories about the challenge of acquiring affordable, quality land for farming, and some of the creative ways these farmers have managed to get on the land. You can listen to the rest of the Hoosier Young Farmer Podcast at hoosieryfc.org/stories.
Land access is the number 1 challenge young farmers across the country report in growing food for their communities and starting farm businesses. To address this barrier, Young Farmers just launched the One Million Acres for the Future Campaign. We are calling on Congress to invest $2.5 billion in the 2023 Farm Bill to facilitate equitable access to one million acres of land for the next generation of farmers. As part of the campaign, we created the Land Advocacy Fellowship, a two-year, paid advocacy and leadership fellowship that will resource 100 young farmers, growers, and land stewards to advocate for equitable land policy. Applications are open now through January 15th. To learn more about the campaign and to apply for our Land Advocacy Fellowship, visit youngfarmers.org/onemillionacres. And to join the National Young Farmers Coalition, visit youngfarmers.org/join.
*Brief correction to the land transition statistic Liz states in the introduction. She meant to cite this Civil Eats article which claims, "In the next decade, 400 million acres of U.S. farmland will change hands," instead of "400,000 acres." According to American Farmland Trust, “371 million acres of farmland will change hands over the next 20 years."
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Jessica Manly talks with Equity and Organizational Change Director and Accountability Report author Michelle A. T. Hughes about what it means for the National Young Farmers Coalition to be accountable to its farmers, partners, and its racial equity commitments.
Read the report at www.youngfarmers.org/2020accountabilityreport and join us for our first accountability report webinar on Wednesday June 23, 2021 at 4pm by registering here.
Young Farmers Racial Equity Toolkit: https://www.youngfarmers.org/resource/racialequitytoolkit/.
Edited by Hannah Beal.
Michelle A. T. Hughes is a former large-scale hog farmer from New Haven, Connecticut with lived experience navigating systemic inequity and an educational background in food and agriculture policy reform. Prior to her graduate studies at New York University’s Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, Michelle worked in swine reproduction at the University of Pennsylvania, with both non-profit and food and agriculture start-ups in NYC and the Hudson Valley, and served on a program evaluation team for the NYC Mayor’s Office of Food Policy. At the Coalition, Michelle has worked on the equity and organizational change team since January 2020. Over the course of 2020, Michelle helped align our organization-wide efforts to institutionalize racial equity by implementing a strategy for organizational transformation. Michelle now works with executive leadership as Equity and Organizational Change Director to develop short- and long-term strategy to continue our anti-racist transformation, regularly evaluate and uphold accountability measures with staff, and develop practical tools and financial resources to support the organization’s racial equity goals.
Become a member of the National Young Farmers Coalition today at youngfarmers.org/join.
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Ari de Leña is a farmer at Kamayan Farm is a vegetable, flower, medicinal herb, and education farm just east of Seattle on Snoqualmie People’s land. In this conversation we dive into what it looks like to deal with stress and anxiety while being ‘August tired’. Because Ari and Elizabeth really get into the heart of stress and anxiety we decided to split our conversation into two parts. If you haven't listened to Part 1, we encourage you to go back and do so now! In Part 2, Ari shares some real-life strategies on how to manage stress and anxiety. In this episode we discuss some embodied techniques that we both use on the farm. Please take care of yourself and your needs before you listen, as you listen and as you process this conversation.
Join the National Young Farmers Coalition today at youngfarmers.org/join and sign up for our advocacy network by texting FARMERS to 40649.
Learn more about WAYFC here: https://www.washingtonyoungfarmers.org/about
In this episode we bring the work of:
Valerie Segrest: https://www.allmyrelationspodcast.com/podcast/episode/32c173eb/ep-2-food-sovereignty-a-growing-movem ent
Generative Somatics: https://generativesomatics.org/
Music credit to Made By Finja by Sascha Ende. Intro and outro edited by Hannah Beal.
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6171-made-by-finja //
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Ari de Leña is a farmer at Kamayan Farm is a vegetable, flower, medicinal herb, and education farm just east of Seattle on Snoqualmie People’s land. In this conversation we dive into what it looks like to deal with stress and anxiety while being ‘August tired’. Because Ari and Elizabeth really get into the heart of stress and anxiety we decided to split our conversation into two parts. In the first episode we focus on the ‘big picture’ and make connections between current conditions for farmers and how it affects our mental wellness. Please take care of yourself and your needs before you listen, as you listen and as you process this conversation.
Join the National Young Farmers Coalition today at youngfarmers.org/join and sign up for our advocacy network by texting FARMERS to 40649.
In Part 1 we mention:
The Body Keeps the Score: https://www.besselvanderkolk.com/resources/the-body-keeps-the-score Leah Penniman’s Farming While Black: https://www.soulfirefarm.org/media/farming-while-black/
Leah Penniman on How to Survive the End of the World Podcast: https://www.endoftheworldshow.org/blog/2020/5/6/apocalypse-survival-skill-4-braiding-seeds In Part
2 - Ari shares some real-life strategies on how to manage stress and anxiety. In this episode we discuss some embodied techniques that we both use on the farm.
In this episode we bring the work of:
Valerie Segrest: https://www.allmyrelationspodcast.com/podcast/episode/32c173eb/ep-2-food-sovereignty-a-growing-movem ent
Generative Somatics: https://generativesomatics.org/
Music credit to Made By Finja by Sascha Ende
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6171-made-by-finja //
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Vero Vergara is a nonbinary, disabled, brown, queer farmer and food systems cultural worker based on Coast Salish territories. Vero is a founding worker-owner of Sweet Hollow Farm in Woodinville, WA. They work at the intersection of autonomous food systems building and liberatory community care. Learn more about Sweet Hollow Farm at their website: www.sweethollow.farm or their Instagram account: @sweethollowfarm.
Some folks that are mentioned in this podcast are: Karen Washington: https://www.riseandrootfarm.com/karen-washington Leah Penniman: https://www.soulfirefarm.org/meet-the-farmers/ Mai Nguyen: http://farmermai.com/farmer/ Rowan White: https://sierraseeds.org/rowens-story/ Ashante M Reese: https://ges.umbc.edu/ashante-m-reese/ Ricardo Salvador https://www.ucsusa.org/about/people/ricardo-salvador Robin Wall Kimmerer: https://www.esf.edu/faculty/kimmerer/ Winona la Duke: http://www.honorearth.org/speaking_engagements Chris Newman: https://www.sylvanaqua.com/ Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha: http://brownstargirl.org/ Ejeris Dixon: https://www.visionchangewin.com/meet-the-consultants/ejeris/ Music credit to Made By Finja by Sascha Ende Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6171-made-by-finja License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Become a member of the National Young Farmers Coalition today at youngfarmers.org/join and join our advocacy network by texting FARMERS to 40649.
This episode was edited by Hannah Beal.
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In part 2 of our produce safety series, Young Farmers' Produce Safety Manager, Maggie Kaiser, talks with Ellen Polishuk about integrating Lean Farming principles into your farm's food safety plan.
Visit youngfarmers.org/foodsafety for our online produce safety resource library and all of our food safety workshop episodes.
Become a National Young Farmers Coalition member today for major discounts on produce safety supplies and gear! Join at youngfarmers.org/join for $35/year or $5/month.
Produced in partnership with the National Farmers Union.
https://www.planttoprofit.com/
The Lean Farm: https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/the-lean-farm/
Episode edited by Hannah Beal.
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This week and next we'll be talking about an often overlooked, and sometimes daunting, part of farming: *food safety*! Part 1 is a conversation with Scott Chang-Fleeman, owner of Shao Shan Farm in Marin County, who grows Asian heritage vegetables. It's interesting because it seems produce safety really clicks with Scott, as does farming in general, and he has a natural ability to assess risk. He has scaled his operation quickly and considers produce safety every step of the way. Plus he’s just really got his shit together... Enjoy!
Become a member of the National Young Farmers Coalition today! www.youngfarmers.org
Learn more about produce safety at our online resource library: https://www.youngfarmers.org/foodsafety/
Follow Scott on Instagram: @shaoshanfarm
Thanks to our partner National Farmers Union
Edited by Hannah Beal, recorded via Zoom from NY, VA, and LA.
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Miles Griffin and Amanda Doughty currently live on 20 acres in Twisp, Washington. Amanda is a
licensed therapist, who works off the farm full-time but loves a good Saturday weeding session. Miles is the owner and operator of Posterity Farm, producing pastured turkeys, wholesale organic garlic, and diversified vegetables. Miles and Amanda find deep interest in the intersection of their professions, especially the contrast between the risk factors that farmers face and the inherent therapeutic benefits of their practices. Miles and Amanda hope to one day use their experiences to develop a farm therapy
program that reduces stigma around mental health and addresses food insecurity, community-building, and job training. If you are interested in learning more about their farm you can visit posterityfarm.com or email them at [email protected].
A note: this episode discusses topics related to suicide and mental health. Please take care of yourself and your needs before you listen, as you listen and as you process this conversation.
At the end of the episode you will hear from Chandler Briggs, of Hayshaker Farm, who introduces you to Justin McClane. Justin was a farmer and an active member of the WA Young Farmers Coalition and died by suicide. His death was a wake-up call for the chapter and the community. Justin continues to impact the work of WA Young Farmers and his contribution inspired us to center care as one of our foundational values.
Amanda wanted to share the following resources with folks in the audience who want to access more resources for mental wellness:
National Suicide Hotline 1-800-273-8255 Crisis Text Line - text “help” to 741741
Telehealth platforms:
-Ginger.io
-Talkspace
-BetterHelp
For more on the WAYFC Farmer Mental Health Bill: https://www.washingtonyoungfarmers.org/hb2671 Music credit to Made By Finja by Sascha Ende Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6171-made-by-finja License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
To join the National Young Farmers Coalition, visit youngfarmers.org/join
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Nyema Clark is the Executive Director and Farm Queen at Nurturing Roots, a farm and community garden committed to addressing food justice issues in the Beacon Hill Neighborhood in Seattle. Nyema dives into their grow-your-own program Nurturing Your Roots at Home and we talk about how farmers and food-growers can prepare for the long haul in the midst of pandemic. In the episode we talk briefly about Living Well Kent, a group of Kent residents and community-based organizations united to achieve health equity through policy, systems, and environmental change. To learn more about Nyema and Nurturing Roots you check out their Facebook @NurturingRoots206 and Instagram @nurturingroots. If you want to support Nyema’s work you can send donations to cashapp $nurturingrootsfarm or through PayPal at [email protected].
Become a member of the National Young Farmers Coalition at youngfarmers.org/join and take action to support young farmers and ranchers through our advocacy network by texting FARMERS to 40649.
Music credit to Made By Finja by Sascha Ende Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6171-made-by-finja License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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The Washington Young Farmers Coalition (WAYFC) takes over the Young Farmers Podcast to talk about resilience and community building in the time of COVID-19. Become a member of the National Young Farmers Coalition at younfarmers.org/join and sign up for our advocacy network by texting FARMERS to 40649.
Tracy L. Stewart is a mindfulness based mental health therapist at the Nile’s Edge wellness collective and activist in Seattle, WA. She currently serves on the board of SURGE, a BIPOC centered reproductive justice organization, Buddhist Peace Fellowship (BPF) – Seattle, and has served on three Social Justice Fund (SJF) giving projects. Elizabeth was able to get Tracy on the phone to help connect the dots between food-growing, uprisings for racial justice, and our mental health. Our conversation sprawls between rage and love, trauma and healing and does include explicit references to police brutality, internalized oppression, and other forms of harm. We acknowledge that some of this conversation could be triggering, and we encourage all our listeners to please take care of your needs. Tracy sees her role in community as working to create supportive, safe space for BIPOC folx in discovering their gifts through mindfulness practice and social justice awareness. Her cup is filled by the outside places, silly friends with microphones, passion for life, and folx sharing their good medicine with each other. “My focus is learning to be a good elder in order to support those out in the community fighting for all us to BE. In my work, I see a lot of suffering of black and brown folx who are warn from fighting to be their full selves. With Gathering Roots, the intention is creating a place where that burden can be released, people can fill their cups with joyful learning and the beauty of the Earth, witnessed and empowered to be all that they are.”
You can learn more about Gathering Roots at their website: https://gatheringroots.org/
Throughout the episode we make reference to the work of:
Reverend Angel Kyodo Williams : https://angelkyodowilliams.com/
Michelle Lee, Author of Working the Roots : https://kpfa.org/episode/the-herbal-highway-may-9-2019/ Llama Rod Owens: https://www.lamarod.com/
Leah Penniman: https://www.endoftheworldshow.org/blog/2020/5/6/apocalypse-survival-skill-4-braiding-seeds
My Grandmother's Hands: https://www.resmaa.com/books
Music credit to Made By Finja by Sascha Ende Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6171-made-by-finja
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John Wesley is a curator, cultural ambassador, and community organizer. He is passionate about designing and producing experiences that connect diverse cultures and cultivate joy. JW is the founder and director of Seattle Bipoc Organic Food Bank; an organization dedicated to providing everyone with clean water and organic food. Their strategy is centered around outreach to the most vulnerable and underserved communities, beginning with the BIPOC community. Their goal is to help connect individuals and families to sustainable ecosystems, instead of merely focusing on short term solution. #foodcomesfromfarms
Emma Shorr, a WAYFC Board member, and John share a conversation about food access in Seattle, what it takes to start a community-driven food bank and the importance of feeding folks organic veggies. You can find more information about John’s project on Instagram @seattlebipocfoodbank and their GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/seattle-bipoc-organic-food-bank-fund In this show John talks about some of the great farm and food projects in the Seattle region led by and serving BIPOC folks.
Become a member of the National Young Farmers Coalition at youngfarmers.org/join and join our advocacy network by text FARMERS to 40649.
Danny Woo Garden: https://www.dannywoogarden.org/ Yes Farm: https://www.facebook.com/yesfarmofficial/ Nurturing Roots: https://www.facebook.com/pg/NurturingRoots206/posts/ Percussion Farms: https://percussionfarms.org/ Beacon Hill Food Forest: https://beaconfoodforest.org/ Music credit to Made By Finja by Sascha Ende Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6171-made-by-finja License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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We turn the mic on Lindsey this week for the finale episode of our first season of the Young Farmers Podcast. The National Young Farmers Coalition's Sophie Ackoff, VP of Policy and Campaigns, and Holly Rippon-Butler, Land Access Program Director, join Lindsey in the studio to talk about the early years of the Coalition, big wins, favorite memories, and what's next.
National Young Farmers Coalition website
www.youngfarmers.orgBecome a member of the National Young Farmers Coalition
youngfarmers.org/joinFarm Generations Cooperative
https://www.farmgenerations.coop/Lindsey on her transition from Young Farmers
https://www.youngfarmers.org/2019/01/edsearch/Recorded at the studios of Radio Kingston. Edited by Hannah Beal and produced by Jessica Manly.
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Today we dive into the heady world of industrial hemp. Hemp is no longer just for Canadian cereal companies and scratchy beige t-shirts. This low-THC strain of cannabis, think of it as the well behaved fraternal twin to marijuana, is, as of the 2018 Farm Bill, a legal crop in all 50 states. And the hemp hype is real, mostly because of CBD, a hemp extract that's popping up in everything from $8 cans of seltzer, to medicinal tinctures, and even Carl's Jr hamburgers. But if there's such huge consumer demand for hemp, and it doesn't even get you high, why was the crop criminalized in the first place? And now that it's legal, what does this mean for farmers across the country who want to start growing it? We talk with Michael "Mr. Hemp" Bowman and Ben Banks-Dobson of Hudson Hemp and Old Mud Creek Farm.
Special thanks to our podcast editor, Hannah Beal, producer, Jessica Manly, Ben Banks-Dobson, and Michael "Mr. Hemp" Bowman.
More on industrial hemp and CBD:
https://nifa.usda.gov/industrial-hemp
https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrebourque/2018/12/17/how-hemp-and-the-farm-bill-may-change-life-as-you-know-it/#1bfcbe2e694c
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/us/cbd-cannabis-marijuana-hemp.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/14/magazine/cbd-cannabis-cure.htmlHudson Hemp:
http://www.hudsonhemp.com/Michael Bowman:
https://www.agprofessional.com/article/how-serve-growing-hemp-market
https://www.agriculture.com/news/crops/what-farmers-need-to-know-about-growing-hemp
https://www.agweb.com/article/three-potential-paths-for-farming-hemp/Show art credit: Hudson Hemp @hudsonhemp
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Karen Washington is one of the most influential food and farming activists of our time. From starting the Garden of Happiness in the Bronx, Black Urban Growers, and now Rise and Root Farm, Karen is modeling a new food system based on equity, social capital, and health.
New York State has over 57,000 farmers, and less than 200 of them are people of color, and this disparity holds true in every state across the country. Karen challenges Governor Cuomo to meet with black and brown farmers to talk about the policies and programs needed to support their success in agriculture.
Black Urban Growers:
https://www.blackurbangrowers.org/Rise and Root Farm:
http://www.riseandrootfarm.com/karen-washingtonKaren in the press:
Bright Spots in the Food System, Annette Nielsen, Edible Bronx. April 29, 2016
Bronx Urban Farmer Receives Earth Day Award for her Years of Work, Advocacy, Metro. April 19, 2016.
Women in Food: Karen Washington Forges Path for Black Farmers, Laura Hurst, SeedStock. April 11, 2016
Ten Questions with Karen Washington, Co-Owner of Rise & Root Farm. FoodTank. April 9, 2016
Karen Washington, Queen of Urban Gardening, Adrien Schless-Meier, Civileats.com. August 20, 2014.
EBONY Reveals 2012 Power 100! Ebony Magazine. November 1, 2012.
Karen Washington at TEDxBarnardCollegeWomen
Food Hero: Karen Washington
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The biggest problem faced by farmers across the country is access to land. Who owns it, who rents it—it all has a big impact on the kind of food we grow and who has economic opportunity in rural communities.
Young Farmers' Land Access Program Director, Holly Rippon-Butler, sits down with Megan Horst, professor of urban studies and planning at Portland State University, to talk about who owns U.S. farmland, and whether or not this is shifting.
More research on land access and ownership:
https://civileats.com/2019/01/25/new-research-explores-the-ongoing-impact-of-racism-on-the-u-s-farming-landscape/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/30/america-black-farmers-louisiana-sugarcane
National Young Farmers Coalition land access programs:
https://www.youngfarmers.org/land-access/calculator/
https://www.youngfarmers.org/finding-farmland-course/
https://www.youngfarmers.org/land-access/workinggroup/Follow Holly's ice cream making on Instagram @farmersconecreamery!
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Lindsey speaks with Matt Russell, an Iowa farmer and executive director of Iowa Interfaith Power and Light, an organization that brings people of all faiths together in conversation about critical issues, like climate change and the future of rural America. Matt sees an opportunity for farmers to be on the forefront of climate innovation and mitigation, and being in Iowa, he's in a great place to influence policy and the 2020 presidential debates-he's already influencing them, in fact, as co-author of recent New York Times Opinion piece, "What Democrats Need to Know to Win in Rural America."
Recorded at the studios of Radio Kingston, edited by Hannah Beal, produced by Jessica Manly. Big thanks to our podcast intern Maia Banayan.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/17/opinion/democrats-iowa-caucus.html
https://iowaipl.org/
Photo: Jim Young/Reuters
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"We need to understand the challenges young farmers are facing regionally in order to create solutions." Lindsey checks in with Karen Gardner, National Young Farmers Coalition's Pennsylvania Policy Associate, about what she's hearing from beginning farmers in PA, and the upcoming Pennsylvania Young Farmers Report, "Growing Pennsylvania’s Future: Challenges Facing Young Farmers and Recommendations to Address Them." Join the #morefarmers movement at youngfarmes.org/join. The Pennsylvania Young Farmers Report hits the internet later this month!
Become a member and join the #morefarmers movement at youngfarmers.org/morefarmers
Recorded at the studios of Radio Kingston.
Thanks to our amazing editor, Hannah Beal, producer, Jessica Manly, comms manager, Bilal Sarwari, and podcast intern, Maia Banayan.
Special thanks to Margaret Schlass, a busy PA young farmer who took the time to chat with us for this episode, but whose audio we very unfortunately lost due to a major tech glitch!
Photo by Don Holtz Photography.
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Lindsey talks with Kate Greenberg, Colorado's new Commissioner of Agriculture, and former Western Program Director with the National Young Farmers Coalition. Lindsey and Kate check in about what it's been like to be the youngest person, and first woman, to hold this role in Colorado, as well as Colorado's plans to address climate change, land access barriers, and to support its next generation of farmers and ranchers.
Kate's advice to young people looking to move into roles of leadership in food and agriculture? "Just do it." Surround yourself with people that love and support you, and don't wait until you feel ready, because you probably never really will.
Follow Kate on instagram @coagcommish
https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/agmain/commissioner-kate-greenberg
https://civileats.com/2019/02/11/meet-kate-greenberg-colorados-new-commissioner-of-agriculture/
https://www.youngfarmers.org/2018/12/commissionergreenberg/
http://www.journal-advocate.com/sterling-local_news/ci_32351814/young-farmers-director-gets-top-post-nod
Kardie Equipment
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California produces more food than any other state in the nation. Over one-third of U.S. vegetables and two-thirds of U.S. fruits and nuts are grown in California. But drought, wildfire, and the impacts of climate change are increasing across the state. How are the farmers doing? And how are the young farmers doing? Lindsey talks with Mai Nguyen, Young Farmers' California Organizer, based in San Diego, who is also a heritage grain farmer, activist, and former climate researcher. Mai authored the 2019 California Young Farmers Report for the National Young Farmers Coalition which drops later this week.
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