Conversation with Atina Diffley, Organic Farmer and Steward of the Land

Heartland Stories Radio

English - December 07, 2021 11:00 - 29 minutes - 39.9 MB
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Previous Episode: Beth Hoffman: "Bet the Farm: The Dollars and Sense of Growing Food in America"

Next Episode: Jose Oliva: Why We Fight For Food Workers

Atina Diffley is an organic farmer, public speaker and author of the 2013 Minnesota Book Award winner, "Turn Here Sweet Corn: Organic Farming Works", a memoir based on Atina’s life running the Gardens of Eagan organic vegetable farm. Her advocacy has addressed the pressures of suburban development, and she successfully led a legal and citizen campaign against the notorious polluters, Koch Industries, to create an Organic Mitigation Plan for organic farms in Minnesota. Tune in to learn more about:

- What is new on Atina's 100 acre farm and why she started planting perennial crops;

- Why monocropping is affecting the soil microbiome and insects;

- Ecosystems and their value for farming;

- Why organic can feed the world;

- How planting two different plants next to each other - like asparagus and soybeans - can benefit both and reduce the use of pesticides;

- Why knowledge is the best tool to share for growing plants without spraying;

- The relationship that we have with the food that feeds us and with the soil it grows in;

- The future of her farm and why she put her farm and the land into a conservation easement.

To learn more about Atina's work go to https://atinadiffley.com.