E49: Pitt Family Farm Story

September 26, 2019

More than 90% of farms in the US are small or family owned and operated businesses. These farms play a vital role in our economy and help to maintain rural populations. But small farms face many challenges, including encroaching urban development, dramatically changing weather patterns, young people moving to urban areas for work, low commodities pricing, and farm financing. What’s more, our farming core is aging. The average age of farmers in the US today is 58. Today we share the story of Bert and Gwen Pitt, seventh generation farmers in Edgecombe County, North Carolina.

Related podcasts: Agriculture & Tech | North Carolina | Voice of Farming |

 

E47: Hickory Nut Gap Farm’s Jamie Ager on Regenerative Grazing

September 22, 2019

Jamie and Amy Ager, and their extended family, co-own the Hickory Nut Gap Farm business, and the brand Hickory Nut Gap Meats. Both are graduates of Warren Wilson College, and the couple took over running the farm in 2006 with a vision to achieve environmental sustainability through regenerative grazing. What began as a dream is now a thriving business built on relationships, environmental stewardship, and no small amount of courage.

Related podcasts: Agriculture & Tech | North Carolina | Regenerative Agriculture | Voice of Farming |

 

E45: Celebrating Howarth Bouis’ Contributions to Biofortification

July 15, 2019

So imagine that you face a daunting challenge: addressing malnutrition and nutrient deficiencies that affect people all around the world. These are people who live in different countries; they have different diets; and different nutrient challenges. How would you devise a way to affect the health and wellbeing of billions of people, and do so in a way that can be permanent and sustainable? Today’s guest has done just that.

Related podcasts: Agriculture & Tech | Diet & Nutrition | Food Safety & Food Defense | International Food & Ag Policy |

 

E38: Diego Rose on Environmental Sustainability and our Food

June 6, 2019

When you make decisions about what to eat, what factors in? Most people think about taste, what food costs, what is available and in some cases the health consequences. But what about the environmental impact of food choices? Our guest Dr Diego Rose has done fascinating work on just this topic.

Related podcasts: Agriculture & Tech | Climate Change, Environment & Food | Food Safety & Food Defense | International Food & Ag Policy | Regenerative Agriculture |

 

E28: Nancy Ranney on Regenerative Grazing in New Mexico

April 26, 2019

If you’re like me, you’ve read or heard of reports and news accounts talking about the negative consequences of producing beef, with greenhouse gas emissions, heavy water use and the welfare of the animals leading the list of concerns. But just when it seems like producing and consuming less beef might be a health and environmental bonanza, along comes an alternative way of doing things. One that uses a fundamentally different approach to things.

Related podcasts: Agriculture & Tech | Climate Change, Environment & Food | Regenerative Agriculture | Voice of Farming |

 

E19: Martin Bloem – Embrace Complexity to Fix the Food System

March 21, 2019

One of the most important questions facing the world is how it will feed itself both now and in the future. Answering this question will require the brightest minds; people who will understand the complex interactions of trade, poverty, climate change, agriculture technology, and the ever-changing political landscape from country to country. And this is just a name, some of the factors. Few people are as capable of seeing how all these pieces fit together as our guest Dr. Martin Bloem, professor, and director of the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Related podcasts: Agriculture & Tech | Food Insecurity | International Food & Ag Policy |

 

E26: Aaron Gross on Factory Farming and New Ways to Support Farmers

March 9, 2019

What does it mean to be a conscientious consumer of food? Does it make a difference to the economy, the environment, or is it simply a personal decision? What do people of faith have to say about it? We’ll explore these issues today on the Leading Voices in Food Podcast with our guest, Dr Aaron Gross, an Associate Professor of theology and religious studies at the University of San Diego.

Related podcasts: Advocacy & Food | Agriculture & Tech | Climate Change, Environment & Food | Faith & Food | Food Policy | Food Safety & Food Defense |

 

E13: Mark Bittman on Eating Sustainably and Agroecology

February 14, 2019

Many people in the modern world have become distant from their food. They may not know where it’s grown, who grows it, who produces it, or who harvests it, what impact its production has on the environment, how it is processed, how to prepare it, and more. A champion of shrinking this distance and of understanding how all these pieces fit together is an activist, and an advocate, and a journalist. A person whose career has been devoted to making it easier for people to eat healthy food, and good food, Mark Bittman.

Related podcasts: Agriculture & Tech | Climate Change, Environment & Food | Regenerative Agriculture |

 

E11: Kornegay Farms’ Kim LeQuire on the Blessings of a Life in Agriculture

February 7, 2019

Has the buy local food movement helped farmers and open up new markets? Is organic farming really better than conventional farming? And what does it take to run a successful farming operation? We’ll discuss these topics and more with today’s guest Kim LeQuire. Kim runs Kornegay Family Farms along with her father Danny, mother Susie and brother Dan. Kornegay Family Farms is a 5,000 acre, fourth generation farm in Johnston County, North Carolina. The Kornegay’s grow sweet potatoes, tobacco, soybeans, cotton, wheat, and peanuts. The also run four swine finishing floors.

Related podcasts: Agriculture & Tech | Community & Economic Development | North Carolina | Voice of Farming |

 

E15: Hisham Moharram Talks Agripreneurship and The Good Tree

January 9, 2019

Hisham Moharram describes himself as an agripreneur and an environmental and social justice activist. His life’s goal is to establish a local food economy and to show people that we can produce food with environmental stewardship and faith-based agribusiness at the core.

Related podcasts: Advocacy & Food | Agriculture & Tech | Community & Economic Development | Faith & Food |