Does it take a disaster for a community to find value in local agriculture and food sovereignty? In this episode, Jade Chihara of Maui discusses ‘the politics of home’ regarding indigenous water rights, post-fire disaster relief, and access to food for all. Show Notes Let's Connect! InstagramDi The Female Farmer Project™

At the tender age of 16, Xinlan Tanner’s journey is one of determination, passion, and a love for her flock of sheep. Xinlan's story begins in Kenai, Alaska. Mentored by her mother in STEM and Abby Ala in farming, she is committed to learning, and growing and has become a local success story. Her efforts caught the attention of local food advocates…

In this episode, Audra welcomes Judy Sanchez, an experienced communicator with a deep connection to agriculture. Judy shares her childhood experiences on her family farms, highlighting the magical and educational moments spent helping her grandparents. The conversation explores Judy's path to agricultural communications, her endeavors in advocating…

In conversation with Ku'uipo Garrido of Na Mea Kupono Farm and Learning Center on the north shore of O'ahu in Hawai'i. Our discussion centers on the preservation and nurturing of the unique culture, heritage, and legacy of growing Kalo and connecting with the land. Show Notes Let's Connect on Instagram!…

From Two Decades in the Military to First-Generation Farming in Rural Utah. Meet Annette Allan of Wild Red Clover Ranch and Fiber Mill, who now raises alpacas, wool sheep, and operates one of the nation's rare fiber mills. Explore the intriguing history of wool in the Americas and the journey of a beginning farmer with us. Show notes Let's Connect …

Farmer and U.S. Congresswoman Chellie Pingree joins us to provide the latest developments on the 2023 Farm Bill and shed light on the USDA Discrimination Financial Assistance Program, a vital initiative aimed at rectifying historical loan discrimination within the agricultural sector. Representative Pingree passionately advocates for gender equalit…

Can we balance the books of American Agriculture? Beth Hoffman an agricultural journalist, university professor, and Iowa farmer joins the podcast to discuss her new book, “Bet the Farm: The Dollars and Sense of Growing Food in America”. Our wide-ranging conversation centers around dispelling the myths about America’s farms and farmers, and the rea…

First-generation Farmer Lexi shares what her first year of farming looked like and how pumpkins, potatoes and pizza played a big role in her journey.SHOW NOTES:http://www.femalefarmerproject.org/the-podcast/2021/12/15/pumpkins-potatoes-and-pizza-with-lexi-westoverLETS CONNECT:www.twitter.com/femalefarmerswww.instagram.com/rootedinthevalley/www.face…

Why do we love the idea of small family farms? Our guest, Sarah K Mock says it’s because we’ve been told the stories about family farms from an early age through nursery rhymes and picture books. But does that bucolic ideal exist? Sarah provides an agriculture insider’s critique of the romantic agrarian ideal of the small family farm. She lays bare…

Have you ever wondered about how cranberries get harvested for your holiday table? Farmer Amber Bristow shares her journey as a 5th generation cranberry farmer and demystifies the cranberry growing and harvesting process for farmer-owned Ocean Spray. Spoiler - it's so cool!SHOW NOTES:http://www.femalefarmerproject.org/the-podcast/2021/10/13/eat-dri…

The common media representation of agriculture is one sentimentality — of bucolic green fields with grazing livestock or amber grain fields being harvested with synchronous combines. In our conversation with Cynthia Ryan we dig deeper. She is a woman who wears many hats; farmer, university professor, caregiver, wife, writer, mother, daughter. Cynth…

Farmer Katey Evans had a challenge - extra farm fresh produce that couldn’t be sold to her large grocery customer because of imperfections. She turned those misfit fruits into profits by turning them into sorbet, and frobert™. Her Frozen Farmer products can be found on shelves nationwide and her journey is as inspirational as it is aspirational.SHO…

Women in Ag and AgTech are creating solutions to agricultures’ biggest challenges. AgTech is an emerging category with potential to impact those challenges. Yet women founders remain underfunded and underrepresented. How do we challenge the status quo and the structural bias? Our guest Amy Wu tackles that issue by storytelling through her project, …

We welcome Dr Jennifer Wells, an agronomist with Land O'Lakes, Truterra to the podcast in honor of Soil Health Day. Together, we examine the impact of soil health on the way we produce food and how we can leverage technology to measure and improve soil health for a food system that is more resilient to climate change. We also discuss the gender gap…

Mary Mooney of Mooney Farms is the 3rd generation of a family and woman-owned farm. She is a powerhouse entrepreneur and pioneer who took the farm from near bankruptcy during the 1980s farming crisis to a $6million company in five years. Owner of the popular Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomato Brand — Mary has learned many lessons in business and life …

Female Farmers can suffer from isolation, hard physical labor, numerous things that are out of their control like markets, weather and a global pandemic. For many women – there is also the invisible unpaid labor that often comes in the shape of domestic duties and mothering. In this conversation with psychotherapist, licensed clinical social worker…

In this conversation with Karen Washington, we unpack the narrative of Africa’s descendants and their agricultural past. We also tackle the biggest misconceptions that the public has about food access in communities of color. We talk about the racial inequities in the food system, and how food apartheid is an economic and power issue. We also learn…

The Vegan turned Farmer, Butcher, Author, and Educator Meredith Leigh joins us to discuss her new book, Ethical Meat. As a deep systems thinker, Meredith shares her thoughts on morality, power, privilege, and race in the context of our food system. We also dig into the COVID accelerated change we saw in 2020 and making space for women’s voices.SHOW…

This is part two of our live recorded episodes from the AAAS where examine the impact of emerging technologies on the way we produce food and how we can leverage that technology to build a better and more resilient food system. Michelle Canfield is a farmer and an electrical engineer in the medical device industry by day and in her free time does e…

How do new and first-generation ranchers find the hands-on knowledge and mentors needed to become successful? We’re increasingly seeing first-generation farmers and ranchers turning to agriculture as their chosen career. But what do you do when you haven’t been raised on the ranch? The New Cowgirl Camp fills the gap! Beth Robinette is a fourth-gene…

Zerina Kapetanovic is at the intersection of technological innovation and food production. She’s working with Microsoft’s FarmBeats team to enable data-driven farming. Microsoft believes that data, coupled with the farmer’s knowledge and intuition about their own farm, can help increase farm productivity, and also help reduce costs. The team are bu…

Statistics don’t lie. The future of agriculture is increasingly female. In conversation with Dr Gabrielle McNally of American Farmland Trust’s new initiative - Women for the Land. We discuss the nearly one million women farm operators and over half-a-million additional women landowners who lease their land to farmers and the policies and programs t…

Ruramiso Mashumba farms in eastern Zimbabwe. She grows indigenous organic grains including maize, whole brown rice, sorghum, millet and gumtrees. She also grows peas for export and breeds cattle. Ruramiso holds an Agriculture Business Management degree from the University of West England and University of Iowa. She has 10 years’ experience in agric…

Madeline and Abbe Turner, a mother-daughter farming team from Lucky Penny Farm join us to discuss their new book that celebrates a community of women in dairy who as entrepreneurs are growing local businesses and cultivating the next generation of thriving family farms, meaningful livelihoods, and sustainable enterprises.Shownotes: www.femalefarmer…

A discussion with Dr. Ryanne Pilgeram about her decade long research about women in agriculture and the social, financial and other barriers they contend with including the acquisition of land. Historically women have been excluded from owning land and locked out of the successorship of generational farmland. Land ownership is the great tell of ine…

Queen Sugar author Natalie Baszile joins us on our Cultivating Culture series to discuss the writing of stories about the African American experience including land ownership, intergenerational wealth, inheritance, land loss, mass incarceration, police brutality and other systems of oppression.Find us onhttps://twitter.com/femalefarmershttps://www.…

An article recently declared that farmers are making more money online with YouTube videos than on their farm. WTFarmGirl, Suzanne Cook is one of those YouTubers – she's a first-generation farmer who shares her journey with her 41k subscribers. Get in touch: Twitter @ femalefarmers Instagram @ rootedinthevalleyFacebook /FemaleFarmerProjectwww.femal…

Kari Warberg-Block is a female farmer and mother that was once on food stamps. She now is among the most successful business women in the United States. She started her company with nothing more than a package of garden seeds and a vision. Her $20 million dollar company, EarthKind began from her kitchen table, she sold her first products at her loc…

Lylah built her farm and farm businesses in a really unique and special way – not around efficiency, or production but around tables. Grab a cup of coffee and join us at Lylah’s table. Get in touch: Twitter @femalefarmers Instagram @rootedinthevalleyFacebook /FemaleFarmerProjectwww.femalefarmerproject.orgShow notes: www.femalefarmerproject.org/the-…

In the 2017 Ag Census data it showed that 66% of the responding female farmer-operators had an off-farm job. Micha Ide joins us to talk about her off-farm jobs and side-hustles all while farming full-time.Get in touch: Twitter @femalefarmers Instagram @rootedinthevalleyFacebook /FemaleFarmerProjectwww.femalefarmerproject.orgShow notes: http://www.f…

In the first of our Cultivating Culture series, host Melony Edwards welcomes Chantel Johnson from Off Grid in Color. Chantel’s shares her experience being personally affected by gun violence and her journey to homesteading in the rural South. She talks about access to pastured meat production for disadvantaged communities and how land access is her…

Female farmers of color are the marginalized group within a marginalized group within agriculture. They live at the intersection of racism, sexism and classism.Melony Edwards, farmer and chef is joining the Female Farmer Project Podcast in her own series - Cultivating Culture where we are initiating the conversation with BIPOC farmers and those wit…

Acadia Tucker’s longtime love affair with perennial foods has produced an easy-to-understand guide to growing and harvesting them. A regenerative farmer deeply concerned about global warming. Tucker believes there may be no better time to plant these hardy crops. Tucker lays the groundwork for tending an organic, regenerative garden. For her, this …

Tools to help small food producers and processors grow and scale their business. We discussed solving the hard problems that foodpreneurs face, whether it is government regulations, customer expectations, or employee problems.Get in touch: Twitter @femalefarmers Instagram @rootedinthevalleywww.femalefarmerproject.orgShow notes that include the work…

Angie Provost, puts a lens to the racism and discrimination that still exists in the agriculture industry. While painting is a balm that helps Angie cope with the stress of losing their land and livelihood after decades of discriminatory practices, it’s also a canvas that enables her to speak the truth and to fight back.Get in touch: Twitter @femal…

Lora Lea Misterly of Quillisascut Farmstead Cheese and School of the Domestic Arts shares her unique business models that she attributes to the 36 year success of her farm and have turned out hundreds of butchers, bakers and goat cheese makers into the world.Get in touch: Twitter @femalefarmers Instagram @rootedinthevalleywww.femalefarmerproject.or…

Meagan Burns is an avid sketcher and the marketing director for the one of the only organic, grass-fed, grass-finished cattle ranches in Mexico.Di The Female Farmer Project™

Kate Hill is a published author and professional cook of 30 years, in 1991 she founded Camont as a cooking school and retreat in the Gascony region of France. Kate is also the founder of GRRLS Meat Camp and an expert in the tradition of French charcuterieDi The Female Farmer Project™

Dr Jessica Gigot is a Skagit Valley farmer, musician, scientist, educator and poet. Her exploration of culture, tilth and territory is captured in her most recent book of poetry, Flood Patterns.Get in touch: Twitter @femalefarmers Instagram @rootedinthevalleywww.femalefarmerproject.orgDi The Female Farmer Project™

Women - especially women of color and rural women are historically underrepresented in leadership roles. An unprecedented number of women are running for political office in 2018, counted among them are many women farmers. These women, if elected, will bring diversity and provide a much-needed voice for these marginalized communities.Get in touch: …

Breanna Holbert, the 2017-2018 National FFA President is wrapping up her year of serving as an ambassador - traveling all over the United States to help encourage young people to pursue their path in agriculture. She shares her journey and the things she’s learned along the way.Get in touch: Twitter @femalefarmers Instagram @rootedinthevalleywww.fe…

We first learned of Eleni, a chicken farmer in Central Washington State when she was 10-years old, now at 11 she is wise beyond her years. This episode will inspire young girls and the most seasoned of farmers!Di The Female Farmer Project™

This special Mother's Day episode focuses on childcare and how it influences decisions on farm business, division of labor for farm and home, productivity and the stress of the social and financial implications.Di The Female Farmer Project™

The making of a documentary film to honor women’s role in agriculture throughout history with historian Dr Rose Hayden-Smith and researcher Greta Hardin.Di The Female Farmer Project™

Carey Portell was severely injured in a head on accident with a drunk driver, her life forever changed. After two years in a wheelchair, Carey returned to farming with AgrAbility's help.Di The Female Farmer Project™

An announcement for International Women's Day!Di The Female Farmer Project™

Farming in Iowa is not all unusual, but urban farming is definitely in the minority. Jenny Quiner is a vegetable farmer in Des Moines, IA - in this episode she shares her 'speedbumps and hiccups' while navigating regulations, policies and the learning curve in bringing this type of agriculture to Iowa.…

Bridget Holcomb, executive director of the Women, Food and Agriculture Network shares her steps to creating a network of support for women in farming.Di The Female Farmer Project™

A Year in Review - Audra and Kate recap the past year's episodes and lessons learned, and give a peek into the episodes coming in 2018.Di The Female Farmer Project™

TOUGHER was founded in 2015 when founder and former Iowa farm kid, Stacey Gose reached her peak of frustration over how poorly women are served by the workwear industry. She was simply tired of shopping for menswear and she knew other women were too.Di The Female Farmer Project™