Farm To Table Talk

Being successful at farming is hard enough without a Pandemic.  Now on top of the regular challenges of planning, planting, growing, watering, harvesting and marketing crops, farmers today have to take extra steps to keep their family and workforce safe from the Covid-19 virus.  Aaron Barcellos, partner in the family farm, A-Bar Ag Enterprise, knows that in addition to providing gloves, masks, staggered schedules and equipment modifications for protective barriers, the farm team still must  be safe both at the farm and in their time away from the farm so they don\'t catch and spread the virus. Cropping plans have also been disrupted as exports have dried up and food service has almost disappeared.  Through all of this it is more important than ever to acknowledge food security and to care about how and where are food is grown.

 What are we really hungry for? In Hungry, Eve Turow-Paul guides us through today’s global food and lifestyle culture and looks at the connections between top trends, how we find well-being, the impacts of the Digital Age and the  COVID-19 Pandemic. How isthe Digital Age redefining people’s needs and desires? How does “foodie” culture, along with other lifestyle trends, provide an answer to our rising rates of stress, loneliness, anxiety, and depression? Why do so many wish they were farmers? An author, mother and thought leader on the food system, Eve Turow-Paul explains these trends and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to food, people and culture in her new book, Hungry and with Farm To Table Talk. www.eveturowpaul.com  

\"Left a good job in the City\" is a familiar refrain to listeners of Farm To Table Talk. When a Pediatrician in Chicago moves to Vermont to start a grass fed beef farm, it\'s a new verse to that song. Dr. Sheila Patinkin, runs a Wagyu cattle farm in Vermont where she sells to Michelin star restaurants, local steakhouses, pubs and ski resorts and – increasingly due to the pandemic demolishing most of those businesses – directly to the consumer via her year old online platform. She is a former doctor with a background in genetics who has spent a decade plus dedicated to growing and bettering the Wagyu beef cattle breed in the US.  Her journey transcends medicine to running a 1790s Vermont Farm, focusing on genetics and the new frontier of high end marbling and selling Wagyu to breeders, restaurants and direct to consumers (with maple syrup on the side). Wagyu is an old breed of cattle and being raised by a new breed of E Farmers.  Max Patinkin in San Francisco joins his Mom, Dr. Sheila Pantinkin in  Vermont to

The pandemic of 2020 has led to the closing of most restaurants, except for carry out and delivery. We do what we have to do, but we miss our favorite restaurants. Like most other restaurants Farm To Fork Restauant, Mulvaneys B&L had to close their doors and lay off their staff. Unlike most restaurants they almost immediately started looking for ways they could get back to what they do best, supporting local farmers and making meals for the public— especially for the needy, senior shut ins and school age kids who were missing meals because their school closed. Along with other like-minded leading Chefs they decided to get back in the kitchen and prepare meals for those most in need -- creating \"Family Meal\", a chef-driven initiative to mobilize restaurants as micro-commissaries to create meals for people in need. In a depressed restaurant industry, their action is encouraging. To share how they are again making family meals and making a difference in their community, we have table talk with Chef Patrick Mul

          \'This aint normal\' is frequently said today and was the title of a 2011 book by the all-american farmer philosopher, Joel Salatin.  It has led to the most popular question in the world today \"when will we get back to normal?\'  When it comes to our food system the answer is \"maybe never\" and that could be best. Joel Salatin, his family and team at Polyface Farm in Virginia are creating a new normal for themselves and their farmer partners.  When their restaurant customers were forced to close in response to the Corona Virus pandemic, they created a local farm drive thru venture. Consumers place orders on line and then drive thru to pick up the locally produced animal protein and produce. Sales have skyrocketed as up to 300 cars line up to pick up customers\' prepaid orders. Joel Salatin sees this as a huge opportunity for farmers and consumers all over the country. It aint normal now but there can be better normals ahead. www.polfacefarms.com  

  Food trends continue, even as consumers respond to crises like a global pandemic by skipping meetings,  grocery delivery and carry out.  According to Suzy Badarucco, the President of global food forecaster, Culinary Tides, food and drink trends have been in a \"slide\" that began even before the Corona virus outbreak. Fires, mass shootings, floods, impeachment, trade wars, etc. have created a level of fear and anxiety that causes us to crave foods that calms and grounds us. Additionally the predictable economic recession dampens demand for premium products, until good times return.  Yet in these times, foods with a good farmer story calms and permits consumers to be a hero by rewarding responsible farming practices with their purchases. www.culinarytides.com

The real dirt to common ground is found \"Beyond Your Table\".  It\'s a new podcast launched at the 2020 World Ag Expo in Tulare CA. Leading voices in the agriculture and food space found common ground  on the future of agriculture from diverse perspectives. Podcasters and co-hosts, Michael R. Dimock of Flipping the Table and the advocacy group Roots of Change and Rodger Wasson of Farm to Table Talk  engaged two of California’s most important farmers in a roundtable dialogue. Don Cameron President of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture and VP and General Manager of TerraNova Ranch joined Judith Redmond, Co Owner and Co Founder of Capay Valley\'s Full Belly Farms. Don is a diversified large-scale grower, producing  25 conventional, organic and biotech field crops on over 9,000 acres in Fresno County.  Full Belly Farms produces over 80 crops on 400 organically certified acres. Since global and domestic challenges appear larger than ever to farmers and ranchers with battles over trade, falling pri

Today when many large food companies claim to be committed to sustainability and climate friendly regenerative agriculture, skeptics are quick to question. Is it real or is it \"greenwashing\"?  A little on-line research or even better, a strategic conversation with the person responsible for corporate sustainability programs can answer those questions.  Kelloggs has answers and their Senior Director of Global Sustainability Amy Senter explains the extensive range and progress of Kellogg\'s sustainability initiatives. Kellogg\'s\' Origins projects are helping more than 300,000 farmers implement sustainable agriculture practices, including more than 20,000 smallholders and 10,000 women farmers. \'Origins\' projects in the U.S. are advancing practices across 250,000 acres to protect soil health, including crop rotation and cover crops.  Table Talk guest Amy Senter serves as co-chair to the US Ag Systems focused Midwest Row Crop Collaborative and she also co-chairs the World Business Council for Sustainable Deve

Joel Salatin, calls himself a \"Christian libertarian environmentalist capitalist lunatic farmer. Others who like him call him the most famous farmer in the world, the high priest of the pasture, and the most eclectic thinker from Virginia since Thomas Jefferson.  Those who don’t like him call him a bio-terrorist, Typhoid Mary, charlatan, and starvation advocate. \"He is also one of the most popular guests on Farm to Table Talk where  wide-ranging conversations include nitty-gritty how-to for profitable regenerative farming as well as cultural philosophy like orthodoxy vs. heresy.  Weather, markets and politics have been somewhat depressing so it seemed a perfect time to reach in to our Farm To Table Talk archives to re-publish an up-lifting, common-sense conversation we had a few years ago with Joel Salatin. He co-owns, with his family, Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia.   \"When he’s not on the road speaking, he’s at home on the farm, keeping the callouses on his hands and dirt under his fingernails, mentor

What\'s new down on the farm? Hemp.  Farmers are trying to grow industrial hemp all over instead of food crops that have been providing insufficient returns.  Consumers are starting to notice this strange new crop as they drive down country roads. Industrial hemp is not recreational marijuana; it\'s the non-intoxicating low-THC, oilseed and fiber variety of Cannabis, with no use as a recreational drug. As of the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp is no longer a controlled substance, but growers must follow the regulations and processes required in their state. Kris Corter, the Managing Director of HempWave explains the phenomenal \'green rush\' to hemp production that is taking place on America\'s farms.  This Table Talk touches on what hemp means to farmers, consumers and this brand new industry. hempwave.com

There are some great tastes you just can\'t grow locally. Take coffee for example.  At the Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasting and Coffee shop in Sacramento, Coffee Farmer Juan Luis Barrios has come from his farm in Guatemala to see see what Edie and Andy\'s  customers think of his coffee.  The next stop on his trip will be Scandinavia the other major area their coffees are enjoyed.  (By the way, his coffee is delicious.) Juan Luis takes us through the steps to produce coffee in a sustainable fashion that works for the farmer, the workers, the roasters and those of us who just can\'t think of getting our caffeine in any other way. After listening to this podcast we recommend downloading the Audible Original audio book \"Caffeine\" by Michael Pollan for a full appreciation of the addiction we love and would have a hard time living without.\"  www.chocolatefishcoffee.com    

Farming progress can mean climate progress as processing tomato growers are proving in California. Since the tomato growers shifted almost totally to buried drip irrigation, water use  became more efficient,  yields increased, fertilizer was more precisely applied through the drip system, and, surprisingly the emission of one of the most potent green house gases, nitrous oxide, was virtually eliminated.  Of the three primary green house gases, carbon and methane are best known, but nitrous oxide will stay in the atmosphere for 300 years.  Agriculture  produces 7% of all green house gases but 70% of all nitrous oxide comes from agriculture.  To combat climate change green house gas emissions must be assessed, mitigated and reversed where possible.   To explain how progress is being made, Dr. Will Horwath, the Chairman and Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry of the Department of Land air and Waster Resources of UC Davis visits Farm To Table Talk.

  Where better to celebrate a Bacon Fest than at Mulvaney\'s B&L in Sacramento, the Farm to Fork Capital of America.  Delicious and innovative pork dishes are served as specials on menus all week, throughout the city, culminating in a competition to show what top chefs can do when provided half a hog to prepare their best pork dishes, and bacon. The 2020 BaconFest Champion is Matt Brown of The Golden Bear! with a winning serving of pork dim sum: a pork and mushroom shumai and a pork bao. The real winners were everyone that got to try all the wonderful dishes from outstanding Chefs. The pork was straight from the farm of Rancho Llano Seco near Chico.  Lindsay Barrett and Jamie Salyer of Yano Seco join Farm To Table Talk to tell what  today\'s consumer wants to know: beyond just tasting good, how the pigs are raised, fed and treated,  before they become the star attraction of a proud chef\'s menu. www.llanoseco.com  

  For forty years EcoFarm has convened leaders, researchers, farmers and fans of organic food and farming at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove California. At the  2020 Vision event over 1,000 attendees came to discuss the opportunities and challenges for the future of organic food and farming. Recent Farm To Table Talk  and keynote speaker Bob Quinn offered 5 big solutions to becoming \"chemical free in 43\". Two other keynote presentations that also earned standing ovations were by Dr. Jonathan Lundgren on transforming science for a regenerative agricultural revolution and Leah Penniman the author of Farming While Black. Both have agreed to be guests on Farm To Table Talk.  The workshop on mending broken parts of the Organic program featured Anne Ross, the Director of International Policy for the Cornucopia Institute.  At EcoFarm we speak with Anne about addressing dishonesty in global sourcing, when \"organic\" grain isn’t really organic.  www.cornucopia.org  www.eco-farm.org      

  It is becoming common to hear  celebrities tell the public that they must cut back on  meat and dairy consumption for the good of the planet.  Whether consumers believe the \"expert\" advice of their favorite performer, the majority of the public does believe that climate change is deadly serious, but are livestock raised for our meat and dairy products to blame?  While ruminant animals (beef, dairy, sheep, and goats) do produce green house gases, the amount produced varies greatly depending on production practices.  It\'s another reason to know where and how your food is produced. Dr. Frank Mitloehner is the Director of the AgAir Quality Center at the Department of Animal Science at UC Davis.  Farm to Table Talk returns to this previously published podcast with Dr. Mitloehner because he so clearly explains what we should consider in making diet choices based on climate impact assumptions.  Additionally Dr. Mitloehner reminds us that a very small fraction of the earth is suitable for Agriculture and only

Accompanied by occasional sounds of moos, oinks, clucks and baas , a big old barn in Ohio is the surprising base for cooking classes and state of the art learning experiences where chefs and other food and wellness educators make sustainability and mindfulness into a delicious and edifying experience. The Teaching Kitchen at Turner Farm was built in consultation with the Culinary Institute of American for cooking classes geared toward using fresh-grown ingredients in such a way that promotes bodily health and mental well-being.  The Barn kitchen also hosts the University of Cincinnati Center for Integrative Health and Wellness to teach medical students and other health professionals valuable nutrition information, culinary skills and self-care practices. Providing the link between those who want to learn about nutrition and stewardship of the land is  Stephanie White, Turner Farm\'s Chef and Culinary Manager. Stephanie grew up in Connecticut, experienced organic farming in Maine and graduated from the Culinar

Will we preserve the Agrarian way that Wendell Berry calls \"the given life\"?  Farms and non-profits throughout the Country are stepping up to that challenge.  In the Ohio River Valley, Turner Farm is all in to preserve the way of life of a certain kind of agriculture. Appropriately located on \"Given Road\" in Indian Hills on the outskirts of Cincinnati, Turner Farm teaches responsibility to the earth and to the land we have stewardship over--existing to take care of what we\'ve been given and to educate consumers and aspiring farmers. Their work assures that there will be a place for people to connect to their food and to the land for perpetuity.  Danny Losekamp started thinking about these needs while he was still a soldier serving in Iraq.  Abby Lundrigan was an art history major who decided her best future would be on a farm. Today Danny is Turner Farm\'s Manager of Livestock and Pastures and Abby is Crop Production Manager. They join us for Farm To Table Talk. www.turnerfarm.org

  Could goats provide solutions to challenges such as: extra income, a new livelihood, chores for the kids, lower carbon foot print, poison ivy, forrest fire risks and even climate remedies, a bite at a time?  In Central Iowa, Aaron Steele has become a believer and then a founder of a new business based on these beliefs. When Aaron and his family moved in to a new home with 3 and half acres, he had no experience with animal agriculture.  Facing noxious weeds on the perimeter of his property, he decided to try a few goats. Besides it would be good for his boys to have outside chores to do. Inspired by the their experience with goats the idea of a targeted goat grazing business took hold and soon Goats On The Go became a reality.  Aaron shares the journey from hobby, to supplemental income, to a new business with affiliates in 10 states. Along the way they have learned that there is hardly anywhere that goats wouldn\'t help.  www.GoatsOnTheGo.com

\"Cheap food comes at a high cost\" says Bob Quinn, a progressive leader in promoting organic and sustainable agriculture throughout the state of Montana, United States, and world.  He grew up on the family farm in Montana when no one thought twice about what he now calls \"chemical agriculture\". Today he challenges us to be \"Chemical Free by 2043\".  His journey and commitment to this goal is inspiring.  After finishing a PhD in plant biochemistry, Bob  Quinn took over his family\'s conventional grain and cattle farm in 1978, started experimenting with organic production in 1986, used the last chemical application on the farm in 1988, and was 100% certified organic by 1991. As demand for organics grew, Bob discovered that with time-tested practices like cover cropping and crop rotation, he can produce successful yields—without pesticides. With his company Montana Flour & Grains, he introduced the domestic natural food industry to an ancient Egyptian wheat called khorasan which is similar to durum wheat and