GFP006: Farm Aid, National Young Farmers Coalition, Beginning Farmers, Managing Information and Quality Farmer Resources
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Show Summary:
There is a growing wealth of knowledge about farming on the internet. With more farmers becoming comfortable behind a computer, it takes a certain someone special to bring everyone together and keep things organized. While there are a couple of really great websites that successfully do this, I chose three that I have used many times in the past to interview and share with you. These three people are dedicated when it comes to getting the right information to the right people.
I have been spending a lot of time doing my own research for my own farm. I am not only researching, I am starting to do. I am making investments, plotting out where my beds of herbs and chicken tractors are going to go, and I am setting up the business while trying to put into action everything I have learned over the past few years. I am even doing some serious farm marketing as I do my best to sell 50 shares of my Chicken and Herb CSA.
In this farm podcast you will learn:
Three websites where you can go for great farming information.
The back-story to those websites to give you perspective.
Yet another reason to connect with farmers.
Interviews with:
Hilde Steffey from Farm Aid
Hilde Steffey is Farm Aid's Program Director and serves as the organization's principle issue analyst and program liaison. She joined Farm Aid after spending close to a decade gaining perspective and exposure at various levels of the food system from the halls of Congress to school cafeterias, even on the seat of a tractor. Hilde has a Masters degree in agricultural science and policy from Tufts Friedman School and spent a number of years teaching about agriculture, nutrition and environmental science. Some of Hilde's earliest memories are on Grandpa Pete's farm just outside Lincoln, Nebraska, and trawling for vine-ripened tomatoes in her mom's salsa garden back home in Salt Lake City, Utah both experiences inspiring a life-long passion for food, farms and the outdoors.
Wes Hannah from National Young Farmers Coalition
Wes Hannah is an organizer and communications coordinator for the National Young Farmers' Coalition, a grassroots coalition of beginning farmers and ranchers. He and his fiancée also operate an organic vegetable CSA in upstate NY.
Taylor Reid from BeginningFarmers.org
Taylor Reid is a Doctoral candidate in Community, Food, and Agriculture at Michigan State University. His dissertation focuses on the values and learning processes of first-generation farmers. His other research interests include agriculture standards, ag. history, ag. politics, and ag. social movements. Taylor is National Policy Coordinator for Michigan Organic Food and Farm Alliance, and sits on the ANSI Sustainable Agriculture Practice Standard Development Committee.
Items mentioned in this farm podcast include:
Take Aways:
Are you getting overwhelmed with the amount of information you can find online?
Do you have a specific topic you would like more information on, but you're not sure where to get it?
Are you looking for a place that aggregates this information for you to easily come back to it?
(It's funny, the "take aways" this week kind of sound like a commercial. Only, the product these people are selling through their free information is a better future!)
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My skills are ever-evolving as an interviewer. Thanks for taking the time to listen in, and let me know what you think. You can leave a comment below, send me an e-mail, reach me on Facebook or Twitter, or leave a rating in iTunes if you liked the show.