Farm To Table Talk

The new ways of raising livestock and meat production are increasingly drawing from old ways when pastures were more prevalent than large metal confinement buildings. Brittany and Bill Sullivan own and operate Sullivan Farms, just outside of Fayette, MO. Their primary business is pork. All their pigs are raised and rotated on fresh regenerative pastures, and fed NON-GMO grain, along with organic milk. They believe a highly quality of life for animals insures terrific, nutritious food on our dinner tables. Selling to restaurants, butcher shops, at the farmers markets, and grocery stores.they have discovered there is a market for livestock produced on pasture an that you don't have to be a giant CAFO, concentrated animal feeding operation. www.sullivanfarmsmo.com

Although funding and knowledge is available to create better food systems, it is the active choice of doing nothing that is impeding progress. We keep educating the public on the problem and offer no solutions says Zack Wyatt, CEO and founder of the Carolina Farm Trust. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, he's now driving change to improve access to affordable, healthy foods. The first stage is to open a distribution and food production center in west Charlotte, an area known as a food desert. The project includes working with farmers to get food from the farm to the tables, partnering with local chefs in the community and helping to build urban farms. carolinafarm.org.

Cities keep growing but that doesn't mean we don't want to be around a farm. In fact when you can't live in the country then how about bringing the farm to the city? That's what Clayton Garrett shares is happening in Houston and other cities. It may be surprising to farmers who have experienced mixed results when city folks move to the country and become their neighbors. Clayton Garrett is a farmer and founding partner of Meristem Communities, a Houston based real estate development company exploring how healthy communities are developed and nourished, often with farming in its midst. indigocommons.com

Many Farm To Table Talk listeners somehow got a version of the Barons podcast that had the right intro but with a different podcast. We're sorry about that and just in case here is the real interview with Austin Frerick. Rodger Wasson

Local agriculture has become an extraction economy and to change there will have to be change in who has power. Food system power is largely in the hands of 'Barons' according to Austin Frerick, the author of "Barons - Money, Power, and The Corruption Of America's Food Industry." The case is made by examining powerful barons in grain, grocery, dairy, berry, coffee and meat industries. Domination is not a new story and it has been blunted in the past such as the reining in of the "Robber Barons" of the late 1800's. Solutions can be found again by actions such as resisting the 'southern model', institutions prioritizing local, resisting mergers and acquisitions and leadership from the USDA. @austinfrerick austinfrerick.com

Knowing what we're really hungry for depends on becoming the authority in our own body, empowering us to eat what we love . Kim Shapira, M.S., R.D. is a renowned celebrity dietitian, nutritional therapist, and author holding a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and a Master's degree in Human Metabolism and Clinical Nutrition. In her new book, This Is What You're Really Hungry For: Six Simple Rules to Transform Your Relationship with Food to Become Your Healthiest Self, Shapira has developed six rules to change our relationship with food - breaking down the science to get our brain and our body on board; replacing fad diets that do not last with a sustainable method that encourages us to eat what we love; and empower us to be our own champions.

Houses of faith are becoming powerful agents and actors of improving food security in their own community in ways that go beyond charity. It is organizing the hungry and not just feeding the needy.The largest institution in the Black community, the Black church, replete with offerings to fill multiple needs., from the physical grounds, to classrooms, kitchens, to church vans and buses, to the land, and the people. Pastor Heber Brown III, launched the Black Church Food Security Network (BCFSN) in 2014 with a garden at his own church, Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore, now they have 250 in the network. BCFN was founded after he noticed a pattern of hospitalizations related to diet and other issues and was determined to change health outcomes for his congregation. What began with encouraging churches to start gardens on church premises, has since grown to include encouraging congregations to make institutional purchases from Black farmers, host farmers markets, preferably on Sundays after church, and arrange tours of Black farms. www.BCFSN.org

Farmers have the support of customers who want to be a part of something sacred, noble, righteous and healing. Joel Salatin has experienced that first hand and has helped thousands of farmers all over the world discover it for themselves. Although it is daunting to start farming and encourage a more viable local food system, it is happening because of those connections. Joel Salatin hears all about it and shares the excitement he's discovered at his farm, on the road speaking and in his latest of 16 books, Homestead Tsunami. In 2006 Another author, Michael Pollan, featured Joel in a key chapter of Omnivore's Dilemna titled All Flesh Is Grass.. When critics of the modern American food system are challenged to offer a better way the answer is often Joel Saltin's family's Polyface Farm. www.polyface.com

What it takes to start farming the right way could be a trip to North Dakota to hear from GabelBrown. That was a key for Rachelle and Jordan Meyer who made the trip to a life changing field day. Back home in Minnesota they started applying what they learned and today with their seven chldren are making it work and sharing what they've learned with other aspiring farmers. They raise goats, custom graze, run stocker cattle, sell raw milk, grass fed beef, pastured pork and poultry. Beyond their own regenerative farm it is their goal to help farmers build their own dream farm and finally become profitable all while not having to sacrifice everything. Rachelle is also a business and mindset coach and founder of The Mindful Farmers focusing on teaching farmers how to build a profitable farm, stop overworking, and finally feel in control. info@wholesomefamilyfarms.com www.themindfulfarmers.com

Regenerative is a change in the food system that must be shown to mean more than just conventional farming systems with cover crops that are ultimately treated with chemicals. Organic rice grower, Lundberg Family Farms believes that true regenerative systems are often context-specific and will need certification rather than a one-size-fits all system. Representing an 85+ year old family farm brand responsible for growing, manufacturing and marketing, Bryce Lundberg and his daughter Brita Lundberg join Farm To Talk to explain their commitment to regenerative organic, soil health, multiple benefit water use and wildlife habitat. www.lundberg.com

Just when our public discourse seems hopelessly divided, we can find hope in the discovery of common ground. Josh and Rebecca Tickell are film-makers who bring us the story of regeneration that will repair the degeneration humans have caused the earth. That message is the documentary film, Common Ground, the highly anticipated sequel to Kiss the Ground which touched over 1 billion people globally and helped inspire the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to put $20 billion toward soil health. By fusing journalistic expose’ with deeply personal stories from people on the front lines of the food movement. The film Common Ground shows the power that farmers and eaters have to save a broken food system. Josh Tickell joins the Farm To Table Talk table to talk about alternative “regenerative” models of agriculture that will balance the climate, save our health and stabilize America’s economy – before it’s too late.

The cause of climate change is not animals or fossil fuel. It is how we manage all resources and we can start with grasslands of the world. Allan Savory, the founder of the Savory Institute, is a renowned ecologist and pioneer in holistic land management. His work focuses on regenerating degraded landscapes through innovative practices that integrate livestock grazing with sustainable land stewardship. His holistic approach aims to restore ecosystems, combat desertification, and address global challenges related to food production and climate change. Alan Savory joins Farm To Table Talk to explore groundbreaking contributions to sustainable agriculture, environmental conservation and attention to global policies that will make a difference. Savory.global

Earth needs friends who care about a more healthy and just world. Kendra Klein, the Deputy Director of Sciecne for Friends of the Earth understands that the challenges facing our planet call for more than half measures, not merely treforms that are politically easy. Sometimes, this involves speaking uncomfortable truths to power and demanding more than people think is possible. The pressures facing the Earth and its people are too important for compromise. www.foe.org

Since good food is good medicine, it makes sense for Hospitals to source protein and produce from healthy soils as close by as possible. At UC Davis Health the food landscape has been transitioning into a true farm-to-fork healthy food program . Visitors, patients, and employees are now able to enjoy locally sourced, tasty menu options from the inspired vision of Executive Chef Santana Diaz, Director of Culinary OperatIons and Innovation. Chef Santana oversees UC Davis Health’s production kitchen – one of the largest in the region – serving more than 6,500 meals a day at three locations on the Sacramento campus. Hospitals and other public institutions all over the country are watching and are more open to directly connect with the farms in their areas. https://health.ucdavis.edu/discovering-healthy/patient-stories/santana

Regeneration is what to do when just Sustaining is not enough. Regenerative agriculture embodies the idea that we must regenerate our degraded systems, rebuilding the resiliency that we need. When farmers transition in to a regenerative system there are a lot less input costs because the biology and diversity is providing the medicine sick soil requires--fixing nitrogen, retaining water in the soil and improving the bottom line for farmers. Regenerative agriculture can be the foundation for all the food label systems. Dr. Cindy Daly is the Executive Director of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture & Resilient Systems at California State University, Chico. Tim LaSalle is with Cindy at Eco Farm. www.csuchico.edu/regenerativeagriculture/

Successfully growing crops or livestock is a lonely enterprise without some help. In many industries that help in the form of research, education and promotion is funded by a state or federal checkoff. While everyone must financially support this work, too few people step up to volunteer their time and judgement to plan and oversee the work done for the benefit of all. One of those who has stepped up is Jimmy Taylor a cattle rancher from Oklahoma and a member of the Beef Promotion Operating Committee where he has been the Chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. Farmers and ranchers should take their turn at stepping up to give back to the industry that has done so much for them. It's time to lead on Ranch to Table Talk. www.beefboard.org

Putting farmers and marginalized communities first prioritizes ethical sourcing, economic development, responsible innovation, fair compensation and sustainability. Raffi Vartanian, CEO of Ziba Foods is shaping a business model that combines success with societal betterment in Aftghanistan. Working with small farms and Coops to process and export dried fruits and nuts with mostly women in the plant in Kabul is a challenge worth tackling. American farmers who sometimes complain about farming under USDA regulations might expect different chalenges if their government partner was the Taliban. www.zibafoods.com

Healthy farms, crops, livestock, families and communities are a priority beyond the farm gate to the tables. Tables are also where strategies are developed to make communities better. For over 100 years, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) advisors, specialists, faculty, and staff have been committed to the better health and well-being of communities. Amira Resnick is the California Director of Community Nutrition and Health, a statewide network of researchers and educators promoting healthy and equitable communities. The goal is to co-create public education and partner training, programming and collaboration with local organizations and community leaders to advance community health . Succesful collaborations create changes in individual behavior, leadership capacity building, organizations, public policy, and systems. www. EFNP.UCANR.edu

Power comes from the food we consume and the choices we make from farm to table for consumers, farmers and those in between. When it comes to power for transportation and cultivation, captured methane from farms can reduce a powerful green house gas from further polluting Earth's atmosphere. The methane from manure can be captured and ultimately provide another income stream for farmers beyond just meat and milk, but like so many things harnessing that benefit is more accessible to very large enterprises than small to medium size farming operations. According to Charles R. Toca of CowPowr, that's where a Cooperative can make difference, a BioGas cooperative. www.cowpowr.com

The only thing we should ask is: what is the right thing to do? That is what the Earth requires of us according to author/philosopher Wendell Berry. "We have the world to live in and the use of it to live from on the condition that we take care of it. And to take good care of it we have to know it and we have to know how to take care of it." We have to love it. Farm To Table Talk brings the wisdom of Wendell Berry back to us at the dawn of a New Year that seems to have more than enough challenges for us all. This podcast is of a conversation Wendell Berry had with Bill Moyers as expressed and recognized in the podcast. www.BerryCenter.org The interview was a production of the Schumann Media Center, Inc. and Mannes Productions, Inc.© 2013