Farmer to Farmer with Chris Blanchard
183 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 5 years ago - ★★★★★ - 327 ratingsThe organic and sustainable farming movement has its roots in sharing information about production techniques, marketing, and the rewards and challenges of the farming life. Join veteran farmer, consultant, and farm educator Chris Blanchard for down-to-earth conversations with experienced farmers - and the occasional non-farmer - about everything from soil fertility and record-keeping to getting your crops to market without making yourself crazy.
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Episodes
033: Nigel Walker on Building an Excellent Farm
September 24, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 113 MBEatwell Farm, in California’s Sacramento Valley just over an hour from San Francisco, is 105 acres of deep, flat, fertile ground. There, Nigel Walker conducts a symphony of employees, cover crops, lavender chickens, vegetables, fruits, and herbs, to provide for a CSA of 550 shares a week as well as the Ferry Plaza farmer’s market. Nigel describes his systems for training and delegating to employees to create pride in their work and profits for the business, and we dig deep on the cover crop ...
032: Rebecca Thistlethwaite on Making a Livestock Farm Work
September 17, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 106 MBRebecca Thistlethwaite, author of The New Livestock Farmer, currently lives and raises livestock near Hood River, Oregon. She and her husband ran TLC Ranch near Watsonville, California, where they raised ten thousand broiler chickens, five thousand laying hens, and 300 hogs each year on twenty acres of irrigated pasture for many years. We discuss ways farmers who are focused on livestock and farmers who have livestock as a secondary enterprise can make the most of their critter-based efforts...
031: Collin Thompson on Incubating Farmers in the Northwoods
September 10, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 119 MBCollin Thompson manages Michigan State University’s North Farm near the village of Chatham in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The North Farm hosts a two-year residential incubator program in the extremely short season of the Northwoods, with their last frost in the first week of June, and the first frost right about now, in the second week of September. We talk about the ins and outs of running a market farm as part of the University, practical successes for overwintering crops in high and low t...
030: Tradd Cotter on Thinking Like a Mushroom
September 03, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 118 MBFor more than twenty years, Mushroom Mountain’s Tradd Cotter has been working to think like a mushroom as he worked to build a business based on his mycological adventures. Since 1996, South Carolina’s Mushroom Mountain has produced edible mushrooms and served as a laboratory for Tradd’s explorations into the use of mushrooms for everything from mycoremediation to personalized antibiotics. Tradd and Chris explore Tradd’s low-tech and no-tech strategies for growing mushrooms, including the fu...
029: Anton Burkett on Strategically Managing Dramatic Growth
August 27, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 105 MBAnton Burkett started Early Morning Farm in 1999 with three acres, three friends, and a rototiller. Since that time, this farm in the Finger Lake region of upstate New York has grown to 100 acres and 1,500 CSA shares. Anton and Chris talk about how he has managed this rapid growth year over year. Anton has a thoughtful approach to issues of scale, and we talk about how he’s leveraged his CSA to solve the land-access problem, his approach to personnel management and hiring, and how he’s strat...
028: Adam and Mel Millsap on Four Season Urban Farming
August 20, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 128 MBAdam and Mel Millsap own Urban Roots Farm, a four season micro farm set in the West Central neighborhood of Springfield, Missouri. We talk about their family and neighborhood involvement as they grow about a third of an acre of intensive produce, including three mobile high tunnels. Adam and Mel share their experiences managing the extremely wet weather in southern Missouri this summer, and how they care for the natural landscape in their urban environment. The Farmer to Farmer Podcast is g...
027: Vern Grubinger on Finding Solutions that Work on Your Farm
August 13, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 109 MBUniversity of Vermont Extension Professor Vern Grubinger does not fit the conventional extension agent mode. For twenty-five years, Vern has worked to develop a co-learning community among the professional vegetable- and berry-growers of Vermont. In this episode, we talk about the challenges facing Vermont vegetable farmers, from soil fertility basics and phytophthora to human resources, food safety certification, and costs of production – and about how a healthy food system, from marketing ...
026: Dan Kaplan on Shared Risk and Shared Loss at Brookfield Farm
August 06, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 112 MBDan Kaplan has managed Brookfield Farm in Amherst, Massachusetts, since 1994. Brookfield Farm was one of the first CSAs in the United States, and currently supports 525 shares of produce, plus an additional 200 winter shares. Our conversation reflected on the growth of CSA and local foods from Brookfield Farm’s founding in 1984 to now, including how Brookfield has embraced a contemporary way of looking at its CSA shares without losing the core of its CSA community. Dan reflects at length on ...
025: Dave Paulk on Farming as a Second Career
July 30, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 112 MBDave Paulk farms at Sassafras Farm on the western side of Chesapeake Bay, near Leonardtwon, Maryland. Sassafras Farm is based around its four acres of vegetables, although Dave has many more acres in cover crops and grains on his 46 total tillable acres. Dave and his wife, Jennifer, started the farm in 2011 after Dave retired from the Navy. Dave and I talk about how his career in the military – and just having a career before he started farming – has shaped the development of his farm and bu...
024: Jim Crawford on Growing New Morning Farm
July 23, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 123 MBJim Crawford raises thirty acres of vegetables at New Morning Farm in Hustontown, Pennsylvania. Jim started New Morning Farm in 1972, and has gained a reputation for an excellent operation with great employee engagement. In this episode, we talk about New Morning Farm’s marketing strategy (including the Tuscarora Organic Growers Cooperative, which Jim founded with neighboring organic farms), investment and debt, the H2A guest-worker program, irrigation, and controlling pests in sweet corn. T...
023: Alex Hitt on a Full-Time Living for Three People on Four Acres for 34 Years
July 16, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 119 MBAlex Hitt and his wife, Betsy, started Peregrine Farm in 1982 in Graham, North Carolina, near the booming “research triangle” of Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh. Today, they use four acres of tilled ground to raise produce and flowers for farmers market, restaurants, and grocers. Alex and Chris talk about how and why the farm went through some radical changes early on, how the Hitts financed the farm by selling shares in the farm (not CSA shares, but actual investments in the farm), practic...
022: Kat Becker on Diversity, Family, and Pizza
July 09, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 102 MBMy guest for this episode is Kat Becker, who farms with her husband, Tony Schultz, at Stoney Acres Farm. Stoney Acres is located on the edge of the north woods in Wisconsin, at the border between zones 3 and 4. Managing 150 acres, Kat and Tony raise ten acres of vegetables and fruit, rotationally grazed cows, pork, maple syrup, small grains, and mushrooms. And they host on-farm pizza night every Friday night during the warm season, featuring their own farm ingredients – including the whea...
021: Linda Chapman on Growing Flowers on a Small Acreage
July 02, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 102 MBLinda Chapman owns Harvest Moon Flower Farm in southern Indiana. Harvest Moon is a 2 - 1/2 flower farm run by Linda and a very small crew. They market flowers through farmers markets, a business subscription program, and weddings in the Bloomington and Indianapolis markets. In this episode, we talk through some great practical flower farming information, from weed control to bouquet construction, as well as Linda’s labor situation and plans for transitioning the farm to a new generation. Th...
020: Pete Johnson Talks Large-Scale Vegetables in Vermont
June 25, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 114 MBPete Johnson of Pete’s Greens farms ninety acres of vegetables – with three under cover, and an additional 130 acres in hay and cover crops, in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, with sales through a CSA and farm stores, as well as through wholesale markets. Pete shares his strategies for extending the season with roots and greens storage, in addition to winter growing. We also get into Pete’s efforts to develop new weed control strategies on his large-scale farm to help mitigate risk with a ...
019: Nick Olson on Starting a Farm as a Beginning Farmer Educator
June 18, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 97.2 MBNick Olson and his wife, Joan, own Prairie Drifter Farm in Litchfield, Minnesota – out on the edge of the prairie. They raise about six acres of vegetables 90 minutes west of the Twin Cities, selling most of them through a CSA and the rest to stores and restaurants. Nick has also coordinated the Farm Beginnings courses for the Land Stewardship Project for a number of years. We talked about how his experience with that program influenced the decisions that he and Joan have made on their farm ...
018: Annie Salafsky and Susan Ujcic on Building a Farm around Personal Needs
June 11, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 115 MBAnnie Salafsky and Susan Ujcic share the story of how two women – one from suburban Chicago and one from suburban New Jersey – started and grew Helsing Junction Farm in western Washington. Annie and Susan have raised produce for their CSA since 1992. Chris and Annie and Susan discuss improving nutrient density, farming in a business partnership, using online customer relationship management software to improve logistics, and how they’ve built Helsing Junction around their families and person...
017: Greg Garbos on Engineering Successful Farms
June 04, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 139 MBGreg Garbos brings his training and experience in conventional engineering to his work as a small farmer and with small farmers. He is the owner and cofounder of Four Season Tools, a greenhouse and horticulture supply company that also provides farm design consulting, as well as the owner and founder of City Bitty Farm, a grower of microgreens for Kansas City area restaurants. Greg and I dig into using intentional decision-making as a basis for developing a farm around sound principles.
016: Mike Kwasniewski on Starting a Whole Diet CSA
May 28, 2015 09:09 - 1 hour - 106 MBMike Kwasniewski runs a whole-diet CSA farm in rural West Virginia as part of a larger operation. He farms several hundred acres including beef cattle, hogs, chickens, and vegetables, with his mother and business partner, Pam. Mike reflects on the whole-diet CSA model in a relatively low income, rural environment, and how it fits into a beginning farmer’s diversified farm.
015: Amigo Cantisano on Observation and Planning in Organic Farming
May 21, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 109 MBAmigo Bob Cantisano is one of the most widely experienced and influential figures in California organic agriculture. Founder of Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, the Ecological Farming Conference, the first organic advisory business in the United States, and a number of farming operations around California. If you’ve never been on Amigo’s bus tour of Central Coast organic farms as part of the EcoFarm Conference, you’re missing out. In this episode, we talk about the basics of organization and pla...
014: John de Graaf on Nikolai Vavilov, John Niederhauser, and More
May 14, 2015 08:30 - 57 minutes - 78.5 MBJohn de Graaf is an environmental filmmaker and activist who has had a significant focus on agriculture for many years. 2015 is the 170th anniversary of the Irish potato famine, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to talk about the history of one of my personal heroes, John Niederhauser, who worked on the development of blight-resistant potatoes in Mexico, and his encounter with genetic giant Nikolai Vavilov in the 1930’s. In addition to potatoes and genetics, we get to talk a lit...
013: Bob Cannard on Natural Process Farming
May 07, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 107 MBBob Cannard is one of the farmers that I think of as a first-generation visionary in the world of organic farming. For over three decades, he has been at the forefront of the local farming movement in California. Farming just north of San Francisco Bay at Green String Farm, Bob has a farming process that flies in the face of a lot of what I, at least, “know” to be true. His natural process farming system relies on sharing time, space, and resources with the weeds, insects, and other organism...
012: Shannon Jones on Valuing Yourself to Mitigate Risk
April 30, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 94.3 MBShannon Jones, from Broadfork Farm on the New Brunswick – Nova Scotia Border, reflects on selling hope and other values with your produce, shares her experience with caterpillar tunnels, and talks about her political activism on the farm. Shannon and her partner, Bryan Dyck, raise two acres of vegetables and cut flowers on a 15-acre parcel, and sell to farmers markets, restaurants, and retail food stores.
011: Theresa Podoll on Making a Living Breeding and Growing Vegetable Seeds
April 23, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 124 MBTheresa Podoll owns and operates Prairie Road Organic Seed in Fullerton, North Dakota, with her husband and brother-in-law. Prairie Road Organic Seed is a small organic seeds company where Theresa and her family grow all of the seed they sell – the seed sales go to gardeners, farmers, and seed companies. We talk about the history of the farm and how the seed company came about, the importance of breeding and selecting seeds in an organic production environment, and how Prairie Road has creat...
010: Ellen Polishuk on Ego, Getting Adopted by a Farm, and Soil Fertility
April 16, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 109 MBEllen Polishuk manages one of two locations for Potomac Vegetable Farms – hers is the “west” location, in the exurbs of Washington, D.C. Potomac Vegetable Farms has been around for about 50 years now, but Ellen joined it in the late 1970’s, first as a farm worker, and later as a manager and co-owner of the farm. Potomac Vegetable Farms runs two farmstands, attends farmers markets in DC, and has a CSA. We cover a lot of ground in this episode, including how Ellen got adopted by the farm, the ...
009: Paul Arnold on Farming and Family
April 09, 2015 07:30 - 1 hour - 91.7 MBPaul Arnold and his wife, Sandy, own and operate Pleasant Valley Farm in Argyle, New York. Started in 1988, the 8 acres of vegetable production at Pleasant Valley Farm have provided Paul and Sandy Arnold a full-time living since 1992. Paul and Sandy market their produce to several farmers markets in upstate New York, including increasing amounts of winter growing and storage crops at year-round farmers markets every year. Paul and Chris talk about the farm’s history and development, decision...
008: Steve Pincus on Taking the Long View with Employees, Business, and Farm Management
April 02, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 106 MBSteve Pincus owns and operates Tipi Produce in Evansville, Wisconsin, with his wife, Beth Kazmar. Tipi Produce grows about 45 acres of certified organic produce, and markets to 500 CSA members and makes nearly year-round sales to stores in Madison and Milwaukee – in fact, the last carrots will be delivered the same week this episode goes live. Steve has incredible employee retention from year to year, with many employees having worked on the farm for nearly twenty years. Chris and Steve talk...
007: Richard Wiswall on Managing for Profits and Quality of Life
March 26, 2015 07:30 - 1 hour - 92.8 MBRichard Wiswall owns and operates Cate Farm with his wife, Sally Colman, in Plainfield, Vermont. Cate Farm has sold produce through a CSA, farmers markets, and wholesale accounts. The author of Organic Farmer's Business Handbook, Richard is known for his solid approach to the business of growing vegetables. Richard and Chris dig into business development, cost of production and marketing, and ways of thinking about your farm as a way of making a living.
006: Linda Halley Talks Transplant Sales and Getting Real Results from Your Employees
March 19, 2015 07:30 - 1 hour - 89.1 MBLinda Halley, Farm Manager at Gardens of Eagan in Northfield, Minnesota, talks about the logistics and management challenges of growing transplants for other farmers before digging in to the nuts and bolts of how Linda has learned to get real results from her employees, many of whom operate at a high level in the organization.
005: Patty Wright on Putting the Community in CSA
March 12, 2015 07:30 - 1 hour - 93.2 MBHow do we define “community” in Community Supported Agriculture? Patty Wright and her husband, Mike Racette, have owned and operated Spring Hill Community Farm in western Wisconsin since 1992. In this episode, Patty shares some very practical methods that she and Mike have used to foster member-to-member connections and effectively engage with a core group to improve the farm and its impact.
004: John Peterson Talks Farming Time and Controlling Weeds
March 05, 2015 08:30 - 1 hour - 99.6 MBFarmer John Peterson of Angelic Organics Farm in northern Illinois talks scale, farming time, and weed control with Chris. John is famous for his starring role in The Real Dirt on Farmer John, and this interview really reflects the unique but very practical and caring approach that John brings to his farming practice.
003 Allen Philo on the Foundations of Fertility
February 24, 2015 02:39 - 1 hour - 116 MBMidwestern Bio Ag soils consultant Allen Philo talks with Chris about his journey into organic soil fertility, from managing a monastery farm in West Virginia to pursuing a soil science degree at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Allen provides insights about soil nutrient balancing, simplifying your fertilizer needs on a diversified vegetable farm, and how vegetable plant physiology can tell you about how best to fertilizer your crop.
002: Lisa Kivirist on Running a Live-ness
February 22, 2015 17:00 - 1 hour - 90.9 MBWhat does it take to make a living farming? Ecopreneur Lisa Kivirist shares her experience creating a lively-ness from a diversified income stream on her rural homestead in southwest Wisconsin. Lisa and her husband, John Ivanko, made a change from their mainstream, white-bread, suburban, commute-to-a-job world in Chicago twenty years ago, and now make an intentionally modest living from their homestead, with income streams from their small market garden, a bed and breakfast, writing, and co...
001: Liz Graznak on the First Five Years
February 22, 2015 11:30 - 1 hour - 108 MBLiz Graznak of Happy Hollow Farm shares the story of her first five years raising organic vegetables in the heart of central Missouri’s conventional corn and soybean country. Liz and Chris talk about the rewards of getting to know your neighbors, geek out on organization and record-keeping, and discuss the ways a two-year-old changes a farmer’s life.