Young Farmers Podcast

Join us for a special series of The Farm Report in collaboration with Heritage Radio Network that's all about The Farm Bill. Tune in to hear from farmers, policymakers, organizers, and food advocates about all the ways the farm bill directly impacts our lives - whether we realize it or not. We’ll break down farm policy and talk to young farmers about what hangs in the balance for them as another Farm Bill gets made. Join our coalition to shift power and change policy for the next generation of growers and land stewards. The future of good food depends on it.

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Find episodes of the special series of The Farm Report as they air here.

This is the third episode of our 2023 Farm Bill series, digging into the farm policy that will affect the next generation of farmers and ranchers.

We’ve been asking how 1,000 pages of federal policy can provide tangible benefits and support to beginning and BIPOC farmers, our communities, and the environment. And in this episode, we're joined by Mario Holguin and Julieta Saucedo of La Semilla Food Center, and Ana Moran, Water Organizer at the National Young Farmers Coalition.

La Semilla Food Center, based in Anthony, New Mexico, has a mission “to foster a healthy, self-reliant, fair, and sustainable food system in the Paso del Norte region of southern New Mexico and El Paso, TX.” They do this work through a number of programs that Mario and Julieta discuss with Ana, including their Community Farm, farmer fellowships, policy and community development, and storytelling efforts.

Throughout their conversation Ana, Julieta, and Mario explore some of the ways that the 2023 Farm Bill can directly address the climate crisis, and what building climate resilience looks like across the Southwest. We know young farmers across the country are motivated by conservation and social justice. In our 2022 national survey 97% or respondents said their farm or ranch was using sustainable practices, and 86% identified their practices as being regenerative.

We end our episode today with a brief chat between Erin Foster-West, Policy Coordination and Management Director with the Coalition, and myself. Erin shares some exciting new bills recently introduced in Congress that would help small farms secure more accessible funding for conservation efforts and also support community support systems through farmer-to-farmer education opportunities.

Find the Young Farmers Action Center here.

Learn more about La Semilla Food Center here.

Learn more about the Farmer-to-Farmer Education Act here and take action and learn more about the Small Farm Conservation Act here.

Become a National Young Farmers Coalition member at youngfarmers.org/join for only $1/year.

Produced by Jessica Manly and Evan Flom.

Edited by Hannah Beal.

Original podcast art by SJ Brekosky.

Gratitude to Chipotle and 11th Hour for sponsoring our Young Farmers' land campaign and to the our many partner organizations for furthering this important work with us.

This is the second episode of a six-part series focused on the one thing everyone in our network – from farmers to policymakers, organizers to corporate partners – is laser-focused on right now: the 2023 Farm Bill.

In this episode, we're joined by Dãnia Davy, Director of Land Retention and Advocacy for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, and Alita Kelly, Land Organizing Director at the National Young Farmers Coalition. Throughout our conversation we’ll explore some of the ways that the 2023 Farm Bill can directly address the land access crisis happening right now in the US.

We end our episode with Holly Rippon-Butler, Young Farmers Land Policy Director. Holly tells us why each and every one of us should be a land advocate, how young farmers are building powerful solutions to the land access crisis across the country, and a bit about what's next for our land policy priorities in the 2023 Farm Bill.

Sign up for our One Million Acres for the Future campaign here and take action by asking your Members of Congress to support the Increasing Land Access, Security, and Opportunities Act.

Learn more about the Federation for Southern Cooperatives at www.federation.coop.

Learn more about the LASO Act here, and the Increasing Land, Capital, Market Access Program and its recent awardees here.

Become a National Young Farmers Coalition member at youngfarmers.org/join for only $1/year.

Produced by Jessica Manly and Evan Flom.

Edited by Hannah Beal.

Original podcast art by SJ Brekosky.

Gratitude to Chipotle and 11th Hour for sponsoring our Young Farmers' land campaign and to the our many partner organizations for furthering this important work with us.

This is the first episode of a new six-part series focused on the one thing everyone in our network – from farmers to policymakers, organizers to corporate partners – seems to be laser focused on right now: the 2023 Farm Bill.

We're joined by Billy Hackett, Policy Specialist for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), for a high-level overview of the farm bill. We know... 1,000 pages of federal policy, how exciting, right?! But we’re here to convince you that this bill is the most important piece of legislation shaping the future of food in this country, and that it affects all of us.

The farm bill influences what you eat every day, who grows your food and how they grow it, what food you can afford to buy, and even what you put in your gas tank. And we want you to know that you can help us make sure that this bill supports all of us–our families, our communities, and the next generation of farmers and ranchers. 

Find all the resources that Jessica and Billy mentioned during their conversation on Young Farmers' 2023 Farm Bill webpage and sign-up for NSAC's weekly newsletter here.

Sign up for our One Million Acres for the Future campaign today by texting LAND to 40649 or by visiting p2a.co/land.

Become a National Young Farmers Coalition member at youngfarmers.org/join for only $1/year.

Produced by Jessica Manly and Evan Flom.

Edited by Hannah Beal.

Original podcast art by SJ Brekosky.

Access to affordable, quality farmland is the top challenge young farmers face, particularly BIPOC farmers, who today make up only 2% of farmland owners. Young Farmer's Land Campaign Director Holly Rippon-Butler talks with New York Times reporter Elizabeth Dunn about her recent article, “How ‘Fairy Tale’ Farms Are Ruining Hudson Valley Agriculture,” about the land access crisis and how the National Young Farmers Coalition is working to transition one million acres of farmland to the next generation of farmers.

The article, “How ‘Fairy Tale’ Farms Are Ruining Hudson Valley Agriculture,” illustrates how “a rush of wealthy urbanites seeking fresh-air retreats in bucolic settings” has made land access for young and BIPOC farmers across the country even more challenging.  Read the article here.

You can hear Liz Dunn on her podcast Pressure Cooker with Liz Black here.

Join the National Young Farmers Coalition here.

Learn more about the One Million Acres Campaign here.

Today we're coming to you with a special episode from our Hoosier Young Farmers Chapter. The Hoosier chapter just released their own podcast series which shares the voices of farmers from across the state, farmers you might not think of when you picture the farmers of Indiana. This episode features stories about the challenge of acquiring affordable, quality land for farming, and some of the creative ways these farmers have managed to get on the land. You can listen to the rest of the Hoosier Young Farmer Podcast at hoosieryfc.org/stories.

Land access is the number 1 challenge young farmers across the country report in growing food for their communities and starting farm businesses. To address this barrier, Young Farmers just launched the One Million Acres for the Future Campaign. We are calling on Congress to invest $2.5 billion in the 2023 Farm Bill to facilitate equitable access to one million acres of land for the next generation of farmers. As part of the campaign, we created the Land Advocacy Fellowship, a two-year, paid advocacy and leadership fellowship that will resource 100 young farmers, growers, and land stewards to advocate for equitable land policy. Applications are open now through January 15th. To learn more about the campaign and to apply for our Land Advocacy Fellowship, visit youngfarmers.org/onemillionacres. And to join the National Young Farmers Coalition, visit youngfarmers.org/join.

*Brief correction to the land transition statistic Liz states in the introduction. She meant to cite this Civil Eats article which claims, "In the next decade, 400 million acres of U.S. farmland will change hands," instead of "400,000 acres." According to American Farmland Trust, “371 million acres of farmland will change hands over the next 20 years."

Jessica Manly talks with Equity and Organizational Change Director and Accountability Report author Michelle A. T. Hughes about what it means for the National Young Farmers Coalition to be accountable to its farmers, partners, and its racial equity commitments. 

Read the report at www.youngfarmers.org/2020accountabilityreport and join us for our first accountability report webinar on Wednesday June 23, 2021 at 4pm by registering here.

Young Farmers Racial Equity Toolkit: https://www.youngfarmers.org/resource/racialequitytoolkit/.

Edited by Hannah Beal.

Michelle A. T. Hughes is a former large-scale hog farmer from New Haven, Connecticut with lived experience navigating systemic inequity and an educational background in food and agriculture policy reform. Prior to her graduate studies at New York University’s Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, Michelle worked in swine reproduction at the University of Pennsylvania, with both non-profit and food and agriculture start-ups in NYC and the Hudson Valley, and served on a program evaluation team for the NYC Mayor’s Office of Food Policy. At the Coalition, Michelle has worked on the equity and organizational change team since January 2020. Over the course of 2020, Michelle helped align our organization-wide efforts to institutionalize racial equity by implementing a strategy for organizational transformation. Michelle now works with executive leadership as Equity and Organizational Change Director to develop short- and long-term strategy to continue our anti-racist transformation, regularly evaluate and uphold accountability measures with staff, and develop practical tools and financial resources to support the organization’s racial equity goals. 

Become a member of the National Young Farmers Coalition today at youngfarmers.org/join.

Ari de Leña is a farmer at Kamayan Farm is a vegetable, flower, medicinal herb, and education farm just east of Seattle on Snoqualmie People’s land. In this conversation we dive into what it looks like to deal with stress and anxiety while being ‘August tired’. Because Ari and Elizabeth really get into the heart of stress and anxiety we decided to split our conversation into two parts. If you haven't listened to Part 1, we encourage you to go back and do so now! In Part 2, Ari shares some real-life strategies on how to manage stress and anxiety. In this episode we discuss some embodied techniques that we both use on the farm.  Please take care of yourself and your needs before you listen, as you listen and as you process this conversation. 

Join the National Young Farmers Coalition today at youngfarmers.org/join and sign up for our advocacy network by texting FARMERS to 40649.

Learn more about WAYFC here: https://www.washingtonyoungfarmers.org/about

In this episode we bring the work of: 

Valerie Segrest: https://www.allmyrelationspodcast.com/podcast/episode/32c173eb/ep-2-food-sovereignty-a-growing-movem ent 

Generative Somatics: https://generativesomatics.org/ 

Music credit to Made By Finja by Sascha Ende. Intro and outro edited by Hannah Beal. 

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6171-made-by-finja // 

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Ari de Leña is a farmer at Kamayan Farm is a vegetable, flower, medicinal herb, and education farm just east of Seattle on Snoqualmie People’s land. In this conversation we dive into what it looks like to deal with stress and anxiety while being ‘August tired’. Because Ari and Elizabeth really get into the heart of stress and anxiety we decided to split our conversation into two parts. In the first episode we focus on the ‘big picture’ and make connections between current conditions for farmers and how it affects our mental wellness. Please take care of yourself and your needs before you listen, as you listen and as you process this conversation. 

Join the National Young Farmers Coalition today at youngfarmers.org/join and sign up for our advocacy network by texting FARMERS to 40649.

In Part 1 we mention: 

The Body Keeps the Score: https://www.besselvanderkolk.com/resources/the-body-keeps-the-score Leah Penniman’s Farming While Black: https://www.soulfirefarm.org/media/farming-while-black/ 

Leah Penniman on How to Survive the End of the World Podcast: https://www.endoftheworldshow.org/blog/2020/5/6/apocalypse-survival-skill-4-braiding-seeds In Part 

2 - Ari shares some real-life strategies on how to manage stress and anxiety. In this episode we discuss some embodied techniques that we both use on the farm. 

In this episode we bring the work of: 

Valerie Segrest: https://www.allmyrelationspodcast.com/podcast/episode/32c173eb/ep-2-food-sovereignty-a-growing-movem ent 

Generative Somatics: https://generativesomatics.org/ 

Music credit to Made By Finja by Sascha Ende 

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6171-made-by-finja // 

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Vero Vergara is a nonbinary, disabled, brown, queer farmer and food systems cultural worker based on Coast Salish territories. Vero is a founding worker-owner of Sweet Hollow Farm in Woodinville, WA. They work at the intersection of autonomous food systems building and liberatory community care. Learn more about Sweet Hollow Farm at their website: www.sweethollow.farm or their Instagram account: @sweethollowfarm. 

Some folks that are mentioned in this podcast are: Karen Washington: https://www.riseandrootfarm.com/karen-washington Leah Penniman: https://www.soulfirefarm.org/meet-the-farmers/ Mai Nguyen: http://farmermai.com/farmer/ Rowan White: https://sierraseeds.org/rowens-story/ Ashante M Reese: https://ges.umbc.edu/ashante-m-reese/ Ricardo Salvador https://www.ucsusa.org/about/people/ricardo-salvador Robin Wall Kimmerer: https://www.esf.edu/faculty/kimmerer/ Winona la Duke: http://www.honorearth.org/speaking_engagements Chris Newman: https://www.sylvanaqua.com/ Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha: http://brownstargirl.org/ Ejeris Dixon: https://www.visionchangewin.com/meet-the-consultants/ejeris/ Music credit to Made By Finja by Sascha Ende Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6171-made-by-finja License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Become a member of the National Young Farmers Coalition today at youngfarmers.org/join and join our advocacy network by texting FARMERS to 40649.

This episode was edited by Hannah Beal.