027 - Why On Farm Research Matters - Dean Baas and Alan Sundermeier

For this episode, our guests discuss the importance of on-farm research. Dean Baas works for Michigan State University Extension, serves as SARE Coordinator for the state of Michigan, and is on the Midwest Cover Crops Council. He’ll be speaking with Allen Sundermeier from Ohio State Extension. Allen also has a history with SARE as a former co-coordinator for the Ohio program.

For this episode, two aquaponic experts discuss growing food indoors while saving water and minimizing waste. JP Knobloch and Tim Hydar are co-owners of Straw Hat Aquaponics in Ferguson, Missouri. They talk about the trials and tribulations of starting their business, and explain exciting innovations in the aquaponics industry today.

For this episode, our guests discuss implementing shifts in our food system to value the family farmer. Don Teske is a 5th-generation farmer in Northeastern Kansas, and he has seen the livelihood of the average family farmer steadily decrease throughout his career. He's not immune to those industry-wide losses, and has had to reimagine his land-based enterprise throughout the years. Don will be speaking with Laura Lengnick, a soil scientist by trade and the founder of a consulting firm that offers ecosystem-based climate risk management and planning services. Don and Laura both offer creative ideas for farmers to claim their rights to making a living off their land.  

For this episode, our guests discuss the role of native pollinators in agriculture. Eric Lee-Mäder is the Pollinator Conservation Co-Director at The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation in Seattle, WA. He’ll be speaking with Rachel Coventry, beekeeper at Curtis Orchard and Pumpkin Patch in Champagne, IL.

For this episode, two women in agriculture discuss their projects to create more access and support for women-identified farmers in the U.S. Jen Filipiak is Midwest Director of the American Farmland Trust, a national organization that seeks to protect farmland and promote sound farming practices. She’ll be speaking with Maud Powell, veggie farmer, Oregon State University extension agent, and coordinator of a Southern-Oregon based growing cooperative. 

For this episode, our guests discuss the benefits of connecting farmers to diverse metropolitan markets. Becca Jablonski is an Assistant Professor and Food Systems Extension Economist at Colorado State University. She’ll be speaking with Charlie Jackson, Executive Director of the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, or ASAP, in North Carolina.

Our two guests on this episode are all about finding ways to connect to the land. From their perspective, that experience of connection is what keeps the sustainable agriculture movement alive.  Sami Tellatin is currently enrolled in an MBA program at Stanford and works part-time with SARE on soil health and cover crop research projects. Before Sami started grad school, she organized the Our Farms, Our Future conference and helped create this very podcast! She'll be speaking with Elizabeth Reaves, a Senior Program Director in the areas of agriculture and environment at The Sustainable Food Lab in Vermont. 

For this episode, two agriculture policy experts discuss the importance of local, grassroots organizing AND national lobbying when it comes to getting federal funding appropriated for sustainable agriculture programs.  Margaret Krome works as the Public Policy Program Director for the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute in East Troy, WI. She'll be speaking with Paul Wolfe, Policy Specialist at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC).   

For this week's show, our guests discuss the importance turning a profit in sustainable agriculture operations while also balancing efforts to give back to the land.  Wayne Martin is an Extension Agent at the University of Minnesota with a specialization in alternative livestock systems. He'll be speaking with Eric Klein of Hidden Stream Farm in Southeastern Minnesota. Eric raises grass-fed beef and deep bedded pork in addition to running a small local food distribution business in the Twin Cities. 

This time on the show, two farmers from different regions, one from Pennsylvania and the other from Wyoming, discuss how sustainable farming practices can impact small town environments and economies. Hannah Smith-Brubaker runs Village Acres Farm & Food Shed. She also serves as Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture, or PASA. She’ll be speaking with Jim Freeburne. He raises cattle on 200 acres and operates Triple Creek Hunts with his wife near Fort Laramie, WY .