Latest Fields pod Podcast Episodes
The Farm Report Episode 4: What’s the Future of Urban Agriculture?
Fields - February 15, 2024 19:00 - 45 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsMelissa and Wythe were honored to join The Farm Report team for this special and important series on the Farm Bill and the politics of food. Please check out the interview, and follow The Farm Report for more critical news and analysis of what's happening across all of agriculture. Despite an i...
Vicki Sando on Green Roofs at Schools
Fields - February 08, 2024 20:00 - 49 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsWythe chats with NYC educator Vicki Sando about her years of research into green roofs—especially those on schools—and her creation of the illustrated book What is a Green Roof? Vicki created the book to help kids and adults understand the benefits of green roofs, including to urban farmers. We ...
Henry Obispo on the Resilience of the South Bronx
Fields - December 17, 2023 16:00 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsMelissa and Wythe host the inspiring food and urban agriculture entrepreneur Henry Obispo. Henry is founder of Born Juice, the United Business Cooperative, and ReBORN FARMS. We talk about Henry’s background, the importance of the South Bronx in inspiring him, why he started a juice company, and ...
Henry Gordon-Smith on the State of Indoor Farming
Fields - December 08, 2023 16:00 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsFollowing up on their review of recent bad news in the field of vertical farming, Melissa and Wythe catch up with an expert: Henry Gordon-Smith, founding CEO of the urban and controlled environment agriculture consultancy Agritecture. Henry relates his thoughts on recent shifts in commercial ind...
Catching Up with Wythe: The Recent Troubles in Vertical Farming
Fields - November 30, 2023 21:30 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsMelissa and Wythe catch up with each other regarding a recent trend in urban agriculture: the closure or financial restructuring of several high-profile indoor farms in urban areas. We look at recent news articles on this topic, theorize why the indoor ag-tech sector is struggling, and speculate...
Catching up with Melissa: Harvest Time at the NYU Urban Farm Lab
Fields - November 17, 2023 17:00 - 44 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsTo kick off a new season of Fields, Wythe and Melissa chat about Melissa's current work as both an instructor of urban agriculture at New York University and the manager of the school’s Urban Farm Lab on Houston Street. Recorded in October 2023, just before harvest time, this informal conversati...
Michael Treglia on Green Roofs, Birds, and Pollinators
Fields - August 17, 2023 20:30 - 55 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsTo round out Season 3, Melissa and Wythe talk about the concept of the “urban forest” in NYC with scientist Mike Treglia of The Nature Conservancy. Mike was trained as a herpetologist (reptile scientist), but he now focuses on the total ecological systems of cities, especially trees. The Nature ...
Joseph Charap on the Ecosystems of Cemeteries
Fields - August 10, 2023 20:30 - 53 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsIn what ways are cemeteries like parks? How tall should the grass in a cemetery be allowed to grow? Following up on some of the themes from our discussion with NYC Microseasons about urban plants, animals, and fungi not typically thought of as farms or gardens, Melissa talks with Joseph (Joe) Ch...
Allison C. Meier and Erin Chapman on NYC’s Microseasons
Fields - July 27, 2023 20:30 - 42 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratings(Note, this one was taped when it was still cold, and now it’s hot!) As author Allison C. Meier states, “There are no seasons, only microseasons now.” What are microseasons? They’re a different way of viewing time as local, marked not by arbitrary flips of the calendar or the coming and going of...
Mary Wetherill of Green Food Solutions on Residential Agriculture
Fields - July 20, 2023 20:30 - 56 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsThe Fields team chats with domestic farming entrepreneur and nutritionist Mary Wetherill about her company, Green Food Solutions. They set up farms in urban buildings using Tower Gardens (hydroponic growing towers) and conduct farmer trainings. Mary’s urban-agriculture business grew out of the S...
Allie Wist on the Future of Taste and Smell
Fields - July 13, 2023 20:30 - 59 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsMelissa and Wythe catch up with their friend and former co-host, artist and scholar of food agriculture, Allie Wist. Allie is currently completing an interdisciplinary arts Ph.D. at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a focus on the senses, the Anthropocene, and environmental archives. We talk...
Yolanda Gonzalez on Cooperative Extension in New York City
Fields - July 06, 2023 20:30 - 41 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsIn late 2022, we caught up with friend-of-the-show Yolanda Gonzalez, a Cornell Cooperative Extension agent and urban agriculture expert, about all of her exciting work. We talk about Yolanda’s path into agriculture, the general purpose of Cooperative Extension, how Cornell came to set up a branc...
Zac Harrison of Fresh Harvest on Modern Food Hubs
Fields - June 29, 2023 20:30 - 58 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsWythe and Melissa chat with Zac Harrison, owner of the modern food hub Fresh Harvest based in southeast Atlanta (close to where Wythe grew up!). Fresh Harvest is a self-described modern CSA and ethical food hub that is committed to sourcing fresh food from farms local to Atlanta, and to making t...
Jeff Landau on Urban Ag Policy
Fields - June 22, 2023 20:30 - 47 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsMelissa and Wythe catch up with their friend and collaborator Jeffrey Landau, Director of Business Development at Agritecture Consulting. Jeffrey is an expert in controlled environment agriculture (CEA, or indoor farming), urban agriculture, and urban agriculture policy. He’s spent the last year...
Leigh Ollman on Learning and Teaching Mycology
Fields - June 15, 2023 20:30 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsMelissa and Wythe are joined by their friend Leigh Ollman, a mushroom grower, educator, and food systems consultant. We talk about Leigh’s role in kickstarting the NYU Mycology Group, her work as a professional mushroom grower (she started with 150 logs, farming mushrooms commercially during the...
Annie Novak on Plant Education for Everyone
Fields - June 08, 2023 20:30 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsOn this week's episode of Fields, Melissa (Wythe was away on jury duty) speaks with the multi-talented Annie Novak. Annie is the co-founder of Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, the director of Growing Chefs, a nonprofit that provides food education in schools and the community, the manager of the Edib...
The USDA's Nina Bhattacharyya and Blake Glover on the People's Garden and Urban Conservation
Fields - June 01, 2023 20:30 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsWythe and Melissa are delighted to chat with not one but two experts on urban agriculture from two different parts of the United States Department of Agriculture: Nina Bhattacharyya, Urban Agriculture Specialist at the USDA Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (UAIP), and Blake ...
Jonas Günther on Falling in Love With Microalgae
Fields - May 25, 2023 20:30 - 47 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsMelissa and Wythe catch up with their friend Jonas Günther, co-founder of the Brooklyn-based food startup, We Are the New Farmers (WATNF). The New Farmers don’t grow lettuce and tomatoes, however: they grow a fresh superfood called Spirulina—a fast-growing microalgae (clump of tiny water-living ...
H3irloom Food Group on Cooking and Urban Agriculture
Fields - May 18, 2023 20:30 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsFor the first time in Fields history, Wythe and Melissa interview four urban growers at once! We speak to the principles of H3irloom Food Group—Linda and Floyd Taliaferro, and David and Tonya Thomas—about their simultaneously innovative and tradition-inspired approach to cooking and growing, as ...
Ben Flanner of Brooklyn Grange on Rooftop Farms
Fields - May 11, 2023 20:30 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsMelissa and Wythe sit down at the Heritage Radio Network studio in Roberta’s to chat with Ben Flanner, co-founder and CEO of Brooklyn Grange, to talk about the history and future of rooftop farming. Ben walks us through the decade-long history of Brooklyn Grange, which has led the field in turn...
Season Three Teaser!
Fields - May 04, 2023 13:00 - 6 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsIf you enjoyed Seasons 1 and 2 of Fields, get ready for some of our biggest, boldest episodes yet in Season 3! If you haven’t tuned in to Fields before, no worries. Check out our new episodes, dropping soon. Many thanks to all of our guests, from farmers and chefs to USDA and Extension agents.
A History of Farm Animals in NYC
Fields - April 07, 2022 20:18 - 45 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsWhen and why were large farm animals banned from NYC? What’s happening on the one working farm exempt from this ban? Did you know that thousands of pigs used to freely roam around New York City? Pre-COVID, Melissa and Wythe chatted with environmental historian Catherine McNeur and long-time anim...
Urban Greenhouses: A Conversation About Growing at Home
Fields - March 31, 2022 14:27 - 51 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsFollowing up on our various dives into mission-driven commercial vertical farming, greenhouse-growing at the Texas State Fair, indoor growing as a tool of food sovereignty in Brooklyn, and food-focused architecture, the Fields hosts discuss both the history of and recent innovations in greenhous...
Scott Kellogg, Educational Director of the Radix Ecological Sustainability Center
Fields - March 24, 2022 12:59 - 59 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsScott is a scientist, advocate, and educator working at the intersection of social justice and biodiversity conservation. He helps manage the amazing Radix Center in the South End of Albany, NY. Among many other amazing projects that we talk about with Scott, Radix is… growing trees without clon...
Post-Meat: A Conversation About Cellular Agriculture and Plant-Based Meat
Fields - March 17, 2022 20:52 - 45 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsWhat does “progress” in developing new kinds of environmentally friendly meats look like? What are the hidden costs of cell-based and plant-based meats? Following up on their interviews with Garrett Broad (Fordham University) and Meera Zassenhaus (New Harvest) regarding cellular agriculture, Mel...
Greg Peterson of The Urban Farm, Phoenix, AZ
Fields - March 10, 2022 17:53 - 53 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsThe Fields team speaks with Greg Peterson, founder of The Urban Farm in Phoenix, AZ, about his decades of working in urban agriculture. He’s developed an “urban to the max” old-growth food forest in the middle of a dry region. (At the same time, Greg is also the host of The Urban Farm Podcast, w...
Farms Unknown: Tenisio Seanima on the City of East Point’s First Ever Agriculture Plan
Fields - March 04, 2022 15:34 - 43 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsIn April 2021, the City of East Point, Georgia, adopted its first ever agriculture plan. Almost two years later, Tenisio Seanima is leading the charge as urban agriculture manager for East Point. Following up on his interview with J. Olu Baiyewu, Jeffrey Landau interviews Tenisio. Listen as Teni...
Farms Unknown: J. Olu Baiyewu on Urban Agriculture in Atlanta
Fields - February 24, 2022 16:19 - 42 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsWhat is the role of an urban ag director? And in the City of Atlanta, also known as the City in a Forest, how is urban agriculture impacting the City? In this episode, Jeffrey Landau interview’s Atlanta’s newest Urban Ag Director, J. Olu Baiyewu. Listen as Jeffrey and J. Olu stroll through the W...
Exploring Farms Unknown with Jeffrey Landau
Fields - February 17, 2022 20:44 - 46 minutes ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsThe Fields team chats with Jeffrey Landau, Director of Business Development at Agritecture Consulting. Jeffrey has been on an exciting road trip to document farming in the United States, both urban and rural, indoor and outdoor. He’s been conducting his own interviews of farmers and agricultural...
Sitopias: Visions of Urban Futures, Shaped by Farming
Fields - February 10, 2022 02:48 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsWhat is a sitopia, and why does it matter? The term was coined by Carolyn Steel in Hungry City, referencing a utopia which ideologically pivots around food in some way. How has farming been wielded by creatives’ in their visions of the future? How have architects and artists imagined sitopias wh...
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