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The Thriving Farmer Podcast

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If you’re looking to build a profitable farm that works, The Thriving Farmer Podcast is for you. Learn the latest tricks and strategies from successful farmers, strategize with in-depth interviews with leaders in the industry, and connect with stories of farmers just like you. With over 15 years of farming background, your host Michael Kilpatrick has the experience and authority to bring you practical advice, ask the hard questions, tease out the gold nuggets, and help share what it’s really like to build a truly profitable, sustainable farm. In the interviews, we focus on building farms that last, setting up your systems, knowing your customers, building your team, and treading that ever-challenging work/family/life balance.

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Location:

United States

Description:

If you’re looking to build a profitable farm that works, The Thriving Farmer Podcast is for you. Learn the latest tricks and strategies from successful farmers, strategize with in-depth interviews with leaders in the industry, and connect with stories of farmers just like you. With over 15 years of farming background, your host Michael Kilpatrick has the experience and authority to bring you practical advice, ask the hard questions, tease out the gold nuggets, and help share what it’s really like to build a truly profitable, sustainable farm. In the interviews, we focus on building farms that last, setting up your systems, knowing your customers, building your team, and treading that ever-challenging work/family/life balance.

Language:

English

Episodes

215. Why Every Farmer Needs To Be Value-Adding

1/24/2023
In this podcast, we’re sharing one of our amazing guests from the Value-Added Summit, Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm, located in Swoope, Virginia. Joel talks to us about the benefits of and techniques involved with an effective, game-changing implementation of a value-added strategy on farms. Joel Salatin is an American farmer, lecturer, and author. Joel’s philosophy of farming emphasizes healthy grass on which animals can thrive in a symbiotic cycle of feeding. He has authored twelve books...

Duration:01:12:47

214. Liz Riffle on Holistic Bison Farming

1/17/2023
Do you farm with livestock? There may be a more humane way to harvest these animals. Tune in to hear about Riffle Farms’ holistic approach to managing and processing their bison. Today on the Thriving Farmer Podcast we’re joined by Liz Riffle, Owner and Operator of Riffle Farms, located in Terra Alta, West Virginia. Riffle Farms raises grass-fed and finished bison tucked in the hills of Preston County, where the grasses are cool and the snow is heavy. Liz is a U.S Navy Nurse Corps veteran....

Duration:00:49:56

213. Matt McWilliams on Affiliate Marketing

1/10/2023
Are you looking to increase your income and take your business to the next level? If so, you will want to listen in to today’s guest, who is an expert in affiliate marketing and a successful coach for small business owners. Today on the Thriving Farmer Podcast, we’re taking a bit of a different approach with Matt the Affiliate Guy (Matt McWilliams), author of Internet Business Insights: Lessons Learned and Strategies Used by 101 Successful Internet-Based Entrepreneurs, and his new book,...

Duration:00:42:44

212. Rob Dube on The 10 Disciplines for Entrepreneurs

12/27/2022
Do you feel burned out? Could you benefit from having more balance and less stress and overwhelm in your life? If so, you will want to listen to this episode to learn the tools to have a more meaningful life, with more time and energy. In this week’s Thriving Farmer Podcast, Michael is hosting Rob Dube, Co-founder and Co-CEO of imageOne, an award-winning, people-focused company whose purpose is to provide genuine care to everyone, every day, every time. imageOne specializes in managed...

Duration:00:57:00

211. Crystal Stevens on Herbalism and Education

12/20/2022
Do you grow medicinal herbs? Which ones, and what do you create with them? On this week’s podcast, we’re proud to host Crystal Stevens: author, herbalist, educator, and co-owner of Flourish Farmstead and Flourish Folk School, from Godfrey, Illinois. Crystal was born in Colorado, partly raised in California, and then transplanted to St. Louis, Missouri, where she spent her formative years as an activist and gardener in her community. She is the author of three successful books: Grow,...

Duration:00:43:20

210. Darcie and Darbie Zirkle on Their Conventional, Multigenerational Family Farm

12/13/2022
Are you open to new ideas and technology when it comes to the younger generations on your family farm? What do you keep from the older generation and incorporate from the newer one? Today’s guests on the Thriving Farmer Podcast are Darcie and Darbie Zirkle, the twins of Zirkle Farms, located in Champaign County, Ohio. Zirkle Farms became a Century Farm in 2005. The family has multiple generations, all working together to make the farm evolve and thrive. Join us to hear all about the...

Duration:00:38:59

209. Michael Torbett on Farming Microgreens and More!

12/6/2022
What can you learn from a biologist about microgreens? In this episode of the Thriving Farmer Podcast, we have Michael Torbett of Terra Vita Farm, located in Castle Hayne, NC. Terra Vita Farm is the only completely no-spray farm in Wilmington NC and practices no-till farming while building soils and ecosystems. Their nutrient dense produce includes: microgreens/shoots, edible flowers, herbs, seasonal produce, hemp, gourmet mushrooms, cut flowers, and honey. Join us to hear how Michael and...

Duration:01:02:43

208. Michael Kilpatrick on Adding Income by Adding Value

11/29/2022
What can you do on your land to add more income? What is value-added to you? In this episode of the Thriving Farmer Podcast, Michael dives into why you need to attend this weekend’s Thriving Farmer Summit! It combines everything he’s passionate about: farmers loving what they do, while spending time with their families, and being justly compensated. In this episode, you’ll hear… Why innovation in products, not more production, is the biggest opportunity for farmers to work less and make...

Duration:00:30:46

207. Jeff Bragg on Potatoes and Organic Agriculture

11/22/2022
Do you want to learn how to properly grow potatoes and increase your yields with this superfood? In this week’s episode of the Thriving Farmer Podcast, we’re hosting Jeff Bragg, owner and sole proprietor of Superfood Consulting, operating out of New Mexico. Superfood Consulting is dedicated to taking the soils of Mother Earth to broaden the role of health worldwide, through food production. It is about soil health to gut health. Jeff enjoys perfecting processes and educating regarding...

Duration:01:14:21

206. Julie Guthman on The Strawberry Industry and California Agriculture

11/15/2022
In this week’s podcast, we are joined by Julie Guthman, geographer and professor of social sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has taken particular interest in California agriculture and in the evolving character of the alternative food movement as it confronts race, class, and bodily difference. More recently, she has explored the intersection of knowledge practices and political economy in the construction of healthy food and bodies, especially in light of emergent...

Duration:00:53:26

205. Andre Cantelmo on Biological Farming

11/8/2022
What measures are you taking to care for and improve your soil? In this podcast, we’re joined for a second time by Andre Cantelmo, Co-Founder of Heron Pond Farm, located in South Hampton, New Hampshire. At Heron Pond Farm, Andre and his partner, Greg, strive to be biological farmers. Heron Pond fertilizes almost all of their crops with composted chicken manure and just like many organic farms, they use biologically based pesticides. They use certified organic products, including...

Duration:01:08:03

204. Natasha McCrary on How a Family Project became a Value-added Farm

11/1/2022
Is your farm a family project? In this week’s Thriving Farmer Podcast we are joined by Natasha McCrary, Founder of 1818 Farms, located in Mooresville, Alabama. The idea for this family project originated with Natasha’s eight-year-old child who fell in love with the Babydoll Southdown Sheep that he met at a petting farm in October 2011. Owning a Babydoll was all he could talk about; so, thinking this would be fun and educational for her family to do together, Natasha began researching where...

Duration:01:01:08

203. DeAnna Lozensky on Regenerative Grain Farming

10/25/2022
What does regenerative mean to you? In this episode, we’re joined by regenerative farming aficionado DeAnna Lozensky of Guardian Grains, located in South Prairie, North Dakota. Guardian Grains is a husband and wife team working to help their fourth generation farm thrive. The health of the soil is at the heart of every decision they make on their regenerative farm. Their soil health is reliant upon a rich blend of biodiversity in their farming practices. DeAnna got into regenerative...

Duration:01:07:25

202. Brian Thomas on Starting a Thriving Mushroom Business

10/18/2022
Have you ever considered how all of your life experiences have led you to the point where you are at this very moment? For Brian Thomas, those experiences led to a thriving mushroom business. In this podcast, we are joined by mushroom farmer and mycologist Brian Thomas of MYCA Farms, located in Fort Langley, British Columbia. MYCA Farms is a Gourmet Mushroom Farm located in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia. You can find them at the Fort Langley farmers markets year round. In this...

Duration:01:09:30

201. Dave Munson on Building a Top Quality Brand and Team

10/11/2022
What are some things you can do to create the most efficient and highest quality products and team? In this episode, we’re hosting Dave Munson, Founder of Saddleback Leather Company, a premium leather product company run out of Azle, Texas. Dave got his inspiration to work in leather when he was an English teacher in Southern Mexico. He told the leather worker in a local leather shop that he wanted a bag so durable he could pass it down to his grandkids to fight over. He loved that bag,...

Duration:00:50:26

200. Dr. Tammy Gray-Steele on Increasing the Impact of Agriculture

10/4/2022
How can we make more and better farming resources available to everyone? In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Tammy Gray-Steele, Founder of the National Women in Agriculture Association and a fourth-generation black woman farmer. For over 13 years, Dr. Tammy Gray-Steele has been seeking to have legislation passed that will re-distribute the balance of power and funding to achieve substantive change in the agricultural sector. NWIAA’s mission is to engage minority youth and female farmers...

Duration:00:36:45

199. Rebecca Graff and Tom Ruggieri on Biological Farming and Fermentation

9/27/2022
In this episode, we’re hosting Tom Ruggieri & Rebecca Graff, founders of Fair Share Farm, an organic farm located in Clay County, Missouri. Both Rebecca and Tom left their white-collar jobs in 2000 to find a way to promote community, sustainable agriculture, and healthy eating habits as their livelihood. Fair Share Farm is now operating on land that has been in Rebecca's family for four generations. Organic farming methods replaced conventional agriculture in the Fall of 2002. Soil health...

Duration:01:04:28

198. Elliott Powell and Indira Patt on Empowering Family Farmers

9/20/2022
Have you considered the connection between environmental degradation and rural poverty? What can be done about it? Today on the show we’re hosting Elliott Powell, Executive Director and Indira Patt, Field Trainer of Sustainable Harvest International, an environmental nonprofit with 25 years of experience partnering with smallholder farmers to adopt regenerative practices that nourish people and the planet. As SHI’s Executive Director, Elliott Powell leads their operations and facilitates...

Duration:01:06:48

197. Will Staufer on Mechanical Weed Control

9/13/2022
What are the preferred tools you use on your farm? In this episode, Michael deep dives into discussion with Will Staufer on using Planet Jr. farm tools. Planet Jr. created tractors, seeding, fertilizing, and cultivating equipment for small farms from the 1870’s through the 1960’s. Although this company is no longer in business, people like Will Staufer appreciate the quality and craftsmanship of this equipment and are still using them today! Tune in to hear all about the Planet Jr. tools...

Duration:00:48:45

196. Who Owns the Organic Label? We All Do!

9/6/2022
Join Mark Kastel, nationally prominent industry watchdog with OrganicEye, with thoughts on what we can do to protect the organic farming movement. OrganicEye is an organic farming watchdog organization located in Lafarge, Washington. The organic movement started as a call to bring our food system back to focusing on healing communities and soil through regenerative growing practices. It was built on a collaborative relationship between family-scale farmers and shoppers willing to pay for...

Duration:01:13:07

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