Farm To Table Talk

Is it best that our food is Local and Organic or Big and Conventional? Our view is “Both, and..” We don’t come to the table with a bias, except that good farming like good food comes in all shapes and sizes. Farm to Table Talk explores issues and the growing interest in the story of how and where the food on our tables is produced, processed and marketed. The host, Rodger Wasson is a food and agriculture veteran. Although he was the first of his family to leave the grain and livestock farm after five generations farming in America, he’s continually worked for and with farmers though-out America and around the world. From directly managing commodity boards and councils to presently building the strategic consultancy, Idea Farming Inc., the Farm to Table Talk podcast has been created to satisfy the curiosity of today’s engaged consumers.

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Episodes

Grain Changer – Jeff Van Pevenage

Many segments of Agriculture are experiencing changes to increased focus on regenerative, sustainable, more earth friendly farming practices. Although farmers usually prioritize doing what is best for their soil, today's changes are being hastened by major food companies such as Mars and WalMart requiring confirmation of the practices that their consumers are increasingly expecting. Jeff Van Pevenage is the President at CEO of Portland based Columbia Grain International where the mission is to n...

Dec 01, 2023•35 min

Farm To Freezer Fresh – Ruben Cortez & Wesley O’Brien

The peak of freshness is often best achieved by freezing. The advances in freezing technologies is allowing consumers to enjoy breeds, varieties, climate friendly production practices and geographical differences in food products both at their favorite store and direct to their door from farmers around the world. Ruben Cortez and Wesley O'Brien, co-founders of Frozen Logistics are empowering farmers, particularly small-scale and local producers, by offering them a direct channel to reach consume...

Nov 24, 2023•1 hr 3 min

Raising Pigs Today- Cheryl Walsh

Raising pigs for pork today is different than yesteryears. Pig farms are much larger and more specialized with "sow farms" artificially inseminating females, farrowing pigs and supplying 'wean to finish' pork producers with weaned 15 pound pigs to grow to market weights of about 280 pounds. On Cheryl Walsh's family's sow farm fresh boar semen is delivered twice a week to breed over 2,000 sows who produce close to 30 pigs each per year. A pig is is born about every minute of every day and Cheryl ...

Nov 17, 2023

Dream Delicious – Alec Jaffe

Yes a well raised vegetable can taste great, but it’s not ice cream. What if every time you dig into ice cream, you could be supporting the next movement of farming, positively changing our planet for a better future: removing harmful carbon from our air; creating water-retaining soil; building biodiverse and nutrient-rich topsoil. Alec Jaffe taught himself to make ice cream in elementary school for a school project and grew up exploring his relatives’ sustainable farmland. He didn’t realize how...

Nov 10, 2023•38 min

Ag Past to Ag Future – Dino Giacomazzi

Keeping family farms viable will require higher technology and diversification that goes beyond past experience. Tomorrow's farmers may need to learn robotics or global trend analysis and how to create non-traditional income streams, outside of agriculture. Dino Giacomazzi considers these options as he reflects on his experience that started on a Central Valley California Dairy to global music touring and Bay Area high tech before returning to the farm where it was necessary to shift from dairy ...

Nov 03, 2023•56 min

Farm In NYC – Jordan Settlage

If we can't bring the city to the farm, bring the farm to the city. That's what Organic farmers did during Climate Week. Right in Rockefeller Center a pop up farm was created complete with tractor, barn, cows (sort of) and real farmers, including Ohio dairy farmer Jordan Settlage. Since the US is losing 100,00 family farms each decade it's time to not just tell consumers where their food comes from but how we all need to protect where their food is coming from. www.organicvalley.com

Oct 26, 2023•35 min

QR Farm to Menu –

QR codes can add important farm and ranch stories to menus wherever increasingly curious customers are purchasing food. Coming out of the pandemic, consumers began seeing QR codes with menu selections that allowed them to order at the new outdoor sidewalk venues without handling traditional menus. Although restrictions have eased, QR codes have not gone away and in fact are becoming more prevalent -- sometimes allowing consumers to see precisely where their food purchase came from and how it was...

Oct 20, 2023•33 min

Environmental Progress – Sara Place

Nine per cent of all green house gas emissions in the US are from Agriculture and cattle are responsible for 2%. To identify the magnitude of the challenges, EPA does an annual inventory of the GHG contributions from each industry. In the effort to achieve carbon neutrality, Methane from cattle production has become a major target; however per capita consumption has already been declining for years while the population keeps growing, with corresponding demand for more meat in global diets. Fortu...

Oct 13, 2023•57 min

For Farmers – Dana DiPrima

Getting to know a farmer is how caring consumers should start and if you’re a farmer “get known” by being available to answer questions that explain how and why you do what you do. For this mission Dana DiPrima founded For Farmers, a movement designed to recognize and support small farmers by sharing their stories, dispelling myths, and providing them with grants and other resources. Dana shares farmer stories on the Talk Farm to Me podcast and social media (mainly Instagram @xoxofarmgirl), wher...

Oct 06, 2023•43 min

We’re The Ones – Chef Mollie Englehart

“We are the ones we have been waiting for” to improve the food system says Chef and farmer Mollie Englehart. Rather than wait for a government agency to fix what’s wrong, consumers make the vote that counts when they purchase food grown right from farms or restaurants they can trust. Raised on a small farm in New York state there was college, music, poetry and restaurant transitions before Mollie became a farmer closing the loop –recycling wasted food from the restaurant kitchens to their own LA...

Sep 29, 2023•31 min

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