Shows
The Collaborative Farming PodcastLooking to Ecology to Build a Cooperative Farm Future with Andrew Adamski of Full Circle Community FarmAndrew Adamski, or walkie talkie callsign gopher, is one of the farmer owners of Full Circle Community Farm in Wisconsin, the land of coops in the US. He came back to his generations old family farm in 2017 after college, along with his now wife heather, to not only continue the family farming tradition, but diversify both its production and membership. He talks about his returning to the farm, their simplified and flexible business structure, using what he learned about ecology to develop the farms ownership/membership model, and that you don’t have to have it all figured out to...
2025-01-0143 minThe Collaborative Farming PodcastPractical Tools & Advice When Starting a Co-op w/ Kelly Maynard of UW Center for Co-op DevelopmentKelly Maynard is a cooperative development specialist at the university of Wisconsin center for cooperative development and we're going to get into some practical advice and tools you can use when thinking about going into cooperative farming, yourself, or yourselves, as it were. This is the second coop development person, or forth depending on how you define that role, I’ve had on this season to, if nothing else, drive the point home that there are people out there who’s life work it is support the development of your “working together” ideas. Not only do you not have to farm al...
2024-12-1159 minThe Collaborative Farming PodcastLooking to the past to move decentralized regional food systems forward with Lexi close of Appalachia regional cooperative developmentWelcome back to Collab Farm, the podcast where we talk about all the ways small- and mid-scale farmers can work together, even in big $10 million food system rebuilding kinds of ways. Like this conversation that I had with Lexi Close from Appalachia Regional Cooperative Development and the Appalachia Producers Co-op. Now, Lexi is involved with much of the work going on in a cooperative beef processing facility that's currently under construction in Washington County, Eastern Tennessee. We get into how the project got started from the initial idea to the feasibility studies to raising such a large amount of...
2024-11-2757 minThe Collaborative Farming PodcastA Simple Cooperative Farm Model & a Short History of Modern Co-ops w/ Chris Bodnar of Close to Home OrganicsI’m going to be real honest with you, I’ve been working hard lately. If you’re listening to this, I bet you’ve been working hard, too. Case in point, I JUST got our garlic in the ground in down here in zone 7, but better late than never I suppose. So, I thought I’d seize this opportunity to bring back an old episode, the very FIRST episode of collaborative farm, actually, a conversation I had with Chris bonder of Close to Home Organics and Glen Valley Farm. This one still comes to mind as one of the...
2024-11-131h 23The Collaborative Farming PodcastGrowing on Principles: Soil Health, Farmer Health, and Community Health... An OAK Field Day w/ Jackson Rolett In the spirit of collaboration, I'm gonna do something a little different. A couple weeks ago I did a field day with OAK--that's the Organic Association of Kentucky--If you're listening to this and live in Kentucky you should totally be a member. We and acouple of dozen other farmers and farm professionals walked through our gardens. We talked about the conservation practices we're currently using on our market garden along with some of the lessons learned and fielded some questions. Before the talk, last minute, I decided to put on a wireless mic and record it so that we could...
2024-10-2353 min
Growers DailyGrowing on Principles: Soil Health, Farmer Health & Community Health... An OAK Field Day w/ Jackson Rolett In the spirit of collaboration, I'm gonna do something a little different. A couple weeks ago I did a field day with OAK--that's the Organic Association of Kentucky--If you're listening to this and live in Kentucky you should totally be a member. We and acouple of dozen other farmers and farm professionals walked through our gardens. We talked about the conservation practices we're currently using on our market garden along with some of the lessons learned and fielded some questions. Before the talk, last minute, I decided to put on a wireless mic and record it so that we could...
2024-10-2353 minThe Collaborative Farming PodcastPerspectives on Starting Different Cooperative Business Models, Roundtable at the TN Local Food Summit (Live Recording) This roundtable with Jameson Parker of the Moonlight Collective, William Crenshaw of the Nashville Food Coop, Rhianna Michelle of the Waterbear cooperative land project, & Lexi Close of the Appalachian producers co-op offers different perspectives on starting a cooperative business and was recorded at the '23 TN Local Food Summit. A special thank you to Natalie Seevers for inviting us down and coordinating the live recording. Save the date for the '24 TN Local Food Summit coming December 6th through 8th HERE! Folks who support Collab Farm Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply is your one-stop shop for cover...
2024-10-091h 04The Collaborative Farming PodcastCoordinated Crop Planning with Emma Busby from Southeast Tennessee Young FarmersEmma Busby used to be the former Chapter Coordinator for the Southeast TN Young Farmers and has since moved on to be a board member of the Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network. We met back at the ’23 TN Local Food Summit whose focus that year was "cultivating cooperation" and she had some really interesting work and insights to share, particularly some work she facilitated with a group of small-scale farmers around coordinated crop planning (CCP) and building aggregation systems from the ground up rather than the top down. Folks who support Collab Farm Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply is...
2024-09-2556 minThe Collaborative Farming PodcastBig Team Farms w/ Sarah K. MockSarah K. Mock has written two books that I absolutely love and have had a profound effect on how I view my own farming outside of just growing better carrots, Farm and Other F Words and Big Team Farms, about how we can begin to chart a path forward by… you guessed it… working together. She has a substack, People Eat the Land, and a much better podcast than this one, The Only Thing That Lasts. Folks who support Collab Farm Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply is your one-stop shop for cover crops, soil amendments, tools, and more...
2024-09-111h 08The Collaborative Farming PodcastThe Modern Farm Commons with Ian & Kristina of The Farmers Land Trust Ian McSweeney & Kristina Villa, co-directors of The Farmers Land Trust, are responsible for creating and supporting farmland commons, a vehicle for preserving farmland and ensuring its dedication to regenerative agriculture in perpetuity while respecting both the farmers and the communities they feed. I mean, what's better than that? If you like what you hear, are a farmer or a landholder, and want to know more, you can reach out to them at the thefarmerslandtrust.org Folks who support Collab Farm Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply is your one-stop shop for cover crops, soil amendments, tools, and more. Save 20% on you...
2024-08-281h 16
Growers DailyThe Making of No-Till Growers and the Collab Farm Podcast with Jackson Rolett (Season Finale!)Folks who support the show... Harnois Greenhouses for controlled environment agriculture innovation, partnering with market gardeners and farmers across North America to deliver comprehensive, turnkey, commercial greenhouse solutions. Farmhand is the all-in-one software platform and virtual assistant built by and for independent farmers. Instantly offload admin tasks, automate your CSA, update your website, and sell more to your customers. Learn more at farmhand.partners/notill Local Line is the most comprehensive sales software built for farmers and food hubs. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions...
2024-05-271h 17
Growers DailyCandid Conversations About Starting New Gardens & Letting Go of Old Ones w/ Jackson Rolett & Seth Torkelson-ReganOn today's special episode of The No-Till Market Garden Podcast, Alex says goodbye to his old farm and embraces the change to running and setting up a brand new no-till site for Old City Acres. We chat with two special guests, co-founder Farmer Jackson, and first year farm partner Seth Torkelson-Regan, all about renting -vs- owning (can you afford it), setting up new beds, the emotional toll of owning your own land, and making hard business decisions on the farm with regard to your finances, time, and lifestyle. Folks who support The No-Till Market Garden Podcast...
2024-03-111h 39The Collaborative Farming PodcastMike & Armonda of Rose Hill Farm StopHey folks, it’s Jackson and today I’ve got a bonus episode of Collab Farm with Mike & Armonda of Rose Hill Farm Stop in Bloomington, Indiana. I attended a session with them at the Organic Association of Kentucky conference '23 and was really impressed. You’ll see why in a minute... Now, you may have heard the last episode of The No-Till Market Garden Podcast with the great Alex Ball speaking with the owners of the Argus Farm Stop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and thought, 'yeah, yeah, yeah... that’s great you can do that there, but prob...
2023-03-241h 28The Collaborative Farming PodcastBuilding a Relationship-Based Model, Tianna Kennedy of 607 CSATianna Kennedy is a founding member and 1/3 owner of Star Route Farm in New York and owner/coordinator of the 607 CSA. She talks about how Star Route Farm began as a partnership, how/why they incorporated a third owner and how it’s multiform CSA component split off to form a whole other organization which she now coordinates. Now, the 607 CSA includes dozens of producers, hundreds of members, and covers a not small region of New York State. She gets into how it grew from a simple two-farm-veg-CSA into a sprawling network of producers and eaters and the...
2022-06-301h 15The Collaborative Farming PodcastWhen a CSA Partnership Scales, Molly Flerlage of Full Plate Farm CollectiveThe Full Plate Farm Collective began in Ithaca NY nearly 20 years ago when Chaw Chang & Lucy Garrison-Clauson’ of Stick & Stone Farm and Nathaniel and Emily Thompson of Remembrance Farm came together to offer a joint veg CSA. Since, it has grown to about 700 members and is now a substantial part of their farm revenue, enough to have a full time coordinator (ie. Molly Flerlage), and brings in product from dozens of other farms and value added producers throughout the region. Molly and I talk about her role as the CSA manager, how full plate operates at-scale to af...
2022-06-091h 02The Collaborative Farming PodcastCommons Author & Podcaster, David BollierAuthor, academic, and podcaster David Bollier! David works with the Schumacher Center for a New Economics and has studied and written extensively on commoning for the last two decades. For those who aren’t familiar with that word, commoning is simply the act of managing shared resources like land or information. We talk about how he came to study the commons as an alternative for change after being disillusioned with the political system, can’t say it’s gotten any better, starting from where you are, however small, and examples of commoning in our everyday life that we simpl...
2022-05-2649 minThe Collaborative Farming PodcastBhutanese & Burmese Farmers Growing Together in Nashville, with Tally MayWhat does it look like to give Burmese and Bhutanese elders and families, and by extension immigrant and refugee peoples, meaningful growing opportunities? Today, I chat with Tallahassee May, the farm director of Growing Together Nashville. First, let’s just agree that Tallahassee May is one of the best names we’ve ever heard. Second, Growing Together Nashville is a part of the Nashville Food Project. It leases a couple of acres of church land in inner city Nashville to Bhutan and Burmese farmers, most of them elders, so they may grow produce both for their famalies and co...
2022-05-121h 24The Collaborative Farming PodcastWhen Marginalized Communities Organize & Lead Themselves, Liberation Farms"Liberation Farms is food justice in action. It is a demonstration of the success that is possible when marginalized communities have the opportunity to organize and lead themselves." Today, we hear from Lana and Muhidin, the farm manager and executive director respectively, of Liberation Farms in Lewiston, Maine. Liberation farms is a 200+ acre farm in the Little Jubba Agrarian Commons. Sound familiar? This was one of the first farms moved into the agrarian commons framework by the Agrarian Trust (listen to my conversation with them here). Lana and Muhidin tell us how the farm and com...
2022-04-2849 minThe Collaborative Farming PodcastA True Ag Cooperative Developer, Brent Lackey of KCARDA conversation I envisioned since the beginning of this podcast, I talk with Brent Lackey of the Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development about cooperative development, step by step. Mentioned in the show... Understanding the Capper Volstead Act KRS 272 on Cooperatives Cooperation Works! Development Network Thank y'all so much for listening. This podcast is brought to you by Certified Naturally Grown & Growing for Market Magazine. It's also brought to you by growers like you. If you got something from this podcast, or any of our podcasts, you can support our wo...
2022-04-141h 03The Collaborative Farming PodcastAgricola & The Farmers Perspective of The Aliments Farmhouse Food CooperativeAs a follow up to last week's Aliments Farmhouse Food conversation, Hannah and Natalie from Ferme Agricola share a bit about what it's like being a member of a producers cooperative from the perspective of the farmers. Thank y'all so much for listening. This podcast is brought to you by Certified Naturally Grown & Growing for Market Magazine. It's also brought to you by growers like you. If you got something from this podcast, or any of our podcasts, you can support our work for a few bucks a month at notillgrowers.com/support. Please rate/review, follow us...
2022-03-3133 minThe Collaborative Farming PodcastAliments Farmhouse Food, A Multi-Farm CSA Co-opAliments Farmhouse Food is a multifarm cooperative of seven farm members co-markting their produce, meat, dairy, and more through a home delivery CSA to some three to four hundred members throughout Ottawa, Canada. I talk to farmer member and general manager Leela Ramachandran about how it all began and has grown over the last few years, leveraging the low overhead of direct to consumer delivery to reach beyond traditional markets, the balance between standard boxes and efficiency vs customization and complexity, the roles and responsibilities of the farmer members and staff, logistics, and a whole lot else.
2022-03-171h 20The Collaborative Farming PodcastAggregating a Multi-Farm Full-Diet CSA with Boxcar AcresDo you grow enough diversity for a full-diet CSA? Or just stick to what you grow well? These are two extremes of the spectrum, but... what if you could do both? Mikey and Erin of Boxcar Acres provide a multi-farm, full-diet, full-choice CSA in Henry County, KY. They aggregate and distribute veg from their own farm and several others, along with protein, dairy, honey, and value-added goods, all full-choice at a flat rate. We get into how their entire farming career has been characterized by collaboration, how the full-diet CSA works, the challenges of the model, and w...
2022-03-031h 01The Collaborative Farming PodcastA Cooperative Compost Company with Michael & Nathan of Tilth Soil & Rust Belt RidersTalking cooperative compost company with Nathan and Michael from Tilth Soil, folks. Tilth Soil and Rust Belt Riders have been collecting and diverting food waste from landfills and, as a result, have been making some of the most amazing composts and soils around. When I heard they had officially organized as a worker cooperative, I had to get them on the line to learn more. Not only am I excited to learn more about a worker-owned compost business, I personally want to see more regional high-quality composters across the country. So, let’s do more of that? We talk abou...
2022-02-171h 14The Collaborative Farming PodcastA Shotgun Farm Wedding with Treehouse Farm CollectiveAnd we're BACK with the next and perinneal season of The Collaborative Farming Podcast. In this episode, Cody & Mel of Speedwell Farm & Gardens and Helen of Farmette Flowers, making up two thirds of The Treehouse Farm Collective, talk about their shotgun wedding farming collectively for land access and their model that respects both their pre-existing individual farm business autonomy while reaping many of the benefits of farming closely with others. Shout out to collective members Nelson and Matt who were present in spirit. Thank y'all so much for listening. This podcast is brought to you by Growing for Market...
2022-02-031h 07The Collaborative Farming PodcastTalking LANDED w/ Col Gordon BONUS EPISODE of The Collaborative Farming Podcast, a quick conversation with Col Gordon of Inchindown Farm and Farmerama's LANDED podcast series which explores the colonial roots of the small family farm and how understanding the past can change our farming future. It's some of the best three hours of farm podcasting out there and you can listen to it here. Cannot. Recommend. It enough. Also mentioned in the show... The Agrarian Trust Land In Our Names Soul Fire Farm Harris Tweed
2021-08-1832 minThe Collaborative Farming PodcastJill & Eric of Green Things Farm CollectiveToday, we revisit Eric & Jill of Green Things Farm Collective in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I couldn’t think of a better way to end it than with one of the first farm collectives we spoke with last year… If you remember, I talked with Jill, Hannah, & Michelle of Mega Beauty Farm—there’s and inside joke there you’re only going to get by going back and listening to that one… also check out Eric & Nate on The No-Till Market Garden Podcast. Go back and listen to them because they’ll give a lot of context to this conversat...
2021-08-0456 minThe Collaborative Farming PodcastIan McSweeney of Agrarian TrustWe’ve heard about land trusts, conservation easements, maybe community trusts before, but what if there was one modeled with the farm and the farmer in mind? The mission of Agrarian Land Trust is to build local agrarian commons to hold farmland to ensure its sustainable and productive stewardship for generations to come. Director Ian McSweeney is going to tell us how agrarian commons work, why they're an important model, and where to begin. Mentioned in the show... Guidebooks & Resources Agrarian Commons GuideFaithLands Toolkit Somali Bantu Maine Find Agrarian Commons in th...
2021-07-281h 30The Collaborative Farming PodcastRob Smith of Viva FarmsRob Smith is the director of Viva Farms in Burlington, Washington. Viva farms is an incubator farm and offers not just access to land and infrastructure that beginning farmers may struggle with, giving them time to build their market before investing in those decisions, but also opportunities for a real on-farm education and on-site aggregation/distribution. If you’re interested in incubator farms and want to learn more about the programs Viva offers, because we barely scratch the surface here, visit their farmsite. Also check out the Farmer to Farmer land link program. This podcast is...
2021-07-211h 10The Collaborative Farming PodcastIra Wallace & Mary from Acorn and Southern Exposure Seed ExchangeIra Wallace and Mary of the Acorn Community and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange in Mineral, Virginia, folks. In disclosure, they are sponsors of the show, but that’s not why they’re here. They’re also an intentional community growing not just food, but also seed crops for Southern Exposure and—on top of that—manage the seed business which contracts with over 70+ seed producers. We get into how the community began, shout out to Twin Oaks who Farmer Jesse interviewed for No-Till Market Garden, community life and decision making, and details about their awesome seed company. Also menti...
2021-07-141h 12The Collaborative Farming PodcastSarah Mock of Farm & Other F-WordsSarah Mock, author of Farm and Other F-Words, talks about some of the systemic failures in our present agricultural system, how our affinity for small family farms is actually counter-productive, and a vision for a path forward to producing Good food, Good jobs, and Good ecology: the Big Team Farm (f-yeah). Order her book RIGHT F-ING NOW and follow her awesome substack. This podcast is brought to you by Growing for Market Magazine, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, and Barn 2 Door. It's also brough to you by growers like you. If you got something from this podcast, or any of...
2021-07-071h 34The Collaborative Farming PodcastValley Spirit Farm & The [Wendell] Berry Center Double-header with Valley Spirit Farm and The Berry Center in Henry County, Kentucky #represent. Valley Spirit Farm is a two-family partnership farming together "over the fencerow" sharing resources and marketing across seperatly owned, but complimentary enterprises. The Berry Center, alongside a farming program and archive of Wendell Berry's work, is connecting farmers across Henry County with a program in the spirit of the Burley Tobbacco Growers, Our Home Place Meats, of which Valley Spirit is a part. A few of my favorite works by Wendell Berry... Think Little (essay) It All Turns on Affection (reading)
2021-06-301h 19The Collaborative Farming PodcastNarendra Varma of Our Table CooperativeNarendra Varma is the co-founder and executive director of Our Table Cooperative, a multi-stakeholder cooperative farm in Portland, Oregon. If you don't know what a multi-stakeholder coop is, neither did we. But, you're about to find out, as well as why it's an important model which addresses some of the structural, systemic, and cultural barriers small-scale farmers face outside of production. Check out their awesome website and follow them on Instagram. Mentioned in the show: Dynamic Governance w/ John Buck This podcast is brought to you by Growing for Market Magazine, Southern Exposure Seed...
2021-06-231h 32The Collaborative Farming PodcastHilary Martin of Digger's Mirth Collective FarmHilary Martin is a member of Digger's Mirth, a five member collective farm at the Intervale Center in Burlington VT, and talks about how the collective has evolved over its thirty year history from an informal to a somewhat more formal structure, how the Intervale has fostered collaboration between farms and markets, and the balancing act of staying conservative and comfortable or making changes and the potential conflict it might entail. Follow them on Instagram and check out this cool profile at the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems. This podcast is brought to you by Growing...
2021-06-161h 05The Collaborative Farming PodcastLane Selman of Culinary Breeding Network and NOVICLane Selman of the Culinary Breeding Network joins the podcast to talk about bringing the celebration of Sagra to the States, Wild Garden & Smarties Seeds, the power of open-pollinated peppers, her raddicio expedition (check out this rad zine), NOVIC!, and the Gusto Italiano Project from Uprising Seeds. If this woman has a super-power, it's bringing the right people to the table in the spirit of collaboration to solve specific problems in small-scale ag. Follow her on the 'gram and give it up for Lane Selman. This podcast is brought to you by Growing for Market Magazine, Southern...
2021-06-091h 32The Collaborative Farming PodcastChris Bodnar of Close to Home Organics & Glen Valley CooperativeIn our first episode of The Collaborative Farming Podcast, we talk with Chris Bodnar of Close to Home Organics, a part of the Glen Valley Organic Farm, in Abbotsford, BC in Canada. We get into their simple and adaptapable cooperative model, the history of modern cooperatives, and the long-term implications for family and finances... and rhubard pie. Follow them on the social. This podcast is brought to you by Growing for Market Magazine, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, and Barn 2 Door. It's also brough to you by growers like you. If you got something from this podcast, or...
2021-06-021h 22
Growers DailyJackson Rolett - Stonehouse Market FarmJackson Rolett of Stonehouse Market Farm is the co-creator of No-till growers and this podcast. We talk about his home farm and his journey from conventional farmer to regenerative. Site: www.stonehousemarketfarm.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stonehousemarketfarm/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Farm/StoneHouse-Market-Farm-782119352125272/ Follow us at www.notillgrowers.com support us at www.patreon.com/farmerjesse or at Venmo to @notillgrowers
2020-05-111h 10