Fresh Growth
Fresh Growth: Approaches to a More Sustainable Future from Western Ag Practitioners introduces you to farmers and ranchers from around the western United States who are finding innovative sustainable practices that enrich the natural resources we all care about. These successful multi-generational operations experiment with new ideas and are making it pay. Listen in as they tell their story and provide advice for young or beginning farmers.Western SARE, funded by USDA NIFA, provides grants and education to advance innovations in sustainable agriculture. Intro music credit: Organic Energy by Kensington Studios used under license from Shutterstock. Learn more about Western SARE at western.sare.org
Episodes
In this conversation, Maud Powell, Wolf Gulch Farm and Oregon State University shares her journey as a farmer and the challenges she faced due to a changing climate and lack of water. She and her husband Tom realized “we can’t really farm here anymore.”
The leaving of one piece of land and starting over on another led to her exploration of climate grief. She discusses the agrarian imperative (farmers compelled to cont...
Former Chicago science teacher, Rick Bieterman now farms in the Colorado High Desert, growing hay. Watershed Ranch has an annual precipitation of 11 inches and sits at 8,000 feet in elevation – providing about 90-100 frost free days per season. Add in poor soil quality, and farming becomes a challenge.
Rick got involved in Colorado’s STAR program which focuses on soil health practices. When prices of synthetic fertiliz...
In this episode of Fresh Growth podcast, we have a special guest host – owner of Dirtworks Wyoming, Caitlin Youngquist. Caitlin is also a Western SARE Administrative Council member.
She speaks with first-generation Wyoming ranchers Mary Mills and Kate Brewster about their unique journeys into ranching, the challenges of generational transitions, and the innovative practices they are implementing to create sustainable ...
Join us as we talk with Michael Lobato, Lobato Farms, and Holly Stanley, Mesa Conservation District on Colorado’s Western slope about their innovations with applying biochar in a no-till system.
Michael has worked to transform what was once part of a large sheep ranch into a thriving 5-acre farm. The 5 acres were split off from the sheep ranch with no infrastructure or irrigation and soil high in salts from manure. <...
Sarah Stallard is a 7th generation farmer who came to work with her uncles on a new farm near Las Vegas Nevada raising hogs. The farm is in partnership with the local waste and recycling company Republic Services. They lease the land from Republic Services and use food waste to feed the hogs.
She says the partnership was formed “to help find a solution to organic waste." The family had always fed food scraps as p...
Join us in this dynamic and wide-ranging conversation with Chris Eckhart about diversifying his farming operation, increasing organic matter, monitoring soil biology, and creating a work-family-life balance, all while remaining profitable. Eckhart Farms is a multi-generational family farm in the heart of Wild Rose Prairie in Washington that focuses on soil health and diversity. He is passionate about family farming an...
In this episode, we talk with Kirk Pumphrey, owner of Westwind Farms in Woodland CA, and Sat Darshan Khalsa, Assistant Professional Researcher at the University of CA Davis about their work integrating almond shells and hulls as organic matter in orchards. As Kirk says, “it’s a learning experience for all of us.”
It’s a learning curve, but they are finding great success and working toward finding the sweet spot of app...
In today’s episode we speak with Jonah Sloven, from Sweet Hollow Farm, a diversified organic farm in Victor, Idaho. Sweet Hollow Farm serves the neighboring Teton Valley community through their CSA, farm stand, and farmer’s market.
Jonah discusses how his travels from his environmental studies ultimately directed him to small-scale agriculture and its beneficial effect on communities. His ultimate goal is to connect pe...
In today’s episode, we talk with Sara Wood of Wyoming Heritage Grains and Wyoming High Desert Malt, near Ralston Wyoming. Sara is a fifth-generation regenerative farmer and the operator of the state’s only commercial flour mill.
Located in the dry high mountain desert east of Yellowstone, Sara’s and her family’s operation has the distinction of being in one of the first large water projects in the country, started...
Today’s guests are Tangy and Matt Bates who operate Blue Creek Livestock in Delta Junction Alaska. They aim to provide their community with fresh, natural meat – beef, lamb, and pork. Since the beginning, Blue Creek Cattle has been building soils and herds.
Tangy and Matt talk about the opportunities and challenges of farming in Alaska. The opportunities are plentiful, providing farmers and ranchers with room for cre...
Dan Macon is a University of California Farm Adviser and also the operator of Flying Mule Farm in Auburn California. Ryan Mahoney is a fifth-generation sheep and cattle rancher who operates Emigh Livestock, in Rio Vista California. Dan and Ryan are also participating in a Western SARE project demonstrating and evaluating how information from both electronic identification tags and better understanding of sheep genetic...
In Episode 4, we talk with Zach Thode and Elizabeth Black.
Zach manages a large cattle ranch in Livermore Colorado. Elizabeth is an artist in Colorado and manages a Christmas tree farm.
Elizabeth is also the project leader for The Citizen Science Soil Health Project, partially funded by a Western SARE grant and Zach is a producer participant in that project. The Citizen Science Soil Health Project is a grower-driven pr...
In this episode, we talk with Don McNamara and Donna Rae Faulkner from Oceanside Farms in Homer Alaska. They raise a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, berries, and chickens, ducks and turkeys. They grow all of their produce and nine varieties of Alaska Certified Seed Potatoes without the use of synthetically based chemicals, pesticides, fungicides, or fertilizers. The farm serves their local market.
Today’s episode features Bashira Muhammad, founder of Zoom Out Mycology as she talks about “Driving Sustainability with Fungi!” Zoom Out Mycology is a fungi farm based in Southern Oregon. Their mission is to apply mycology towards a sustainable future.
When asked “How does fungi save the planet,” Bashira lists “so many ways!” She and her team focus on medicinal mushroom teas for holistic health, small batch sawdust ...
Austin Allred, talking about his family's Royal Dairy in Washington, proudly states that rather than contributing to climate change, Royal Dairy shows that farms like his can be an impactful part of the solution — in part by preventing the formation of greenhouse gases and boosting the capacity of his soil to draw down and sequester atmospheric carbon.
In this episode, Austin shares his passion and kn...
Western SARE completed our second season of Fresh Growth. Thank you for listening! As we are working toward Season 3, we are sharing some special podcasts by Washington State University students.
In this episode, you'll hear from 5th generation farmer Allen Druffel, Bar Star Farm, as he talks about their use of no-till practices since the 1990s.
Student team: Kayleigh Brown, Mathew Morse, Mac...
Western SARE completed our second season of Fresh Growth. Thank you for listening! As we are working toward Season 3, we are sharing some special podcasts created by Washington State University students.
In this podcast, you'll hear from Shepherd's Grain COO and Director of R&D Jeremy Bunch. He discusses what makes Shepherd's Grain unique and how they work with no-till wheat farmers. The...
Western SARE completed our second season of Fresh Growth. Thank you for listening! As we are working toward Season 3, we are sharing some special podcasts. These podcasts were created by students in the Washington State University’s Systems Skills for Agriculture and Food Systems class. The students interviewed producers on topics such as regenerative agriculture, permaculture, marketing, economics, technology and mor...
Western SARE completed our second season of Fresh Growth. Thank you for listening! As we are working toward Season 3, we are sharing some special podcasts. These podcasts were created by students in the Washington State University’s Systems Skills for Agriculture and Food Systems class. The students interviewed producers on topics such as regenerative agriculture, permaculture, marketing, economics, technology and mor...
Western SARE completed our second season of Fresh Growth. Thank you for listening! As we are working toward Season 3, we are sharing some special podcasts. These podcasts were created by students in the Washington State University’s Systems Skills for Agriculture and Food Systems class. The students interviewed producers on topics such as regenerative agriculture, permaculture, marketing, economics, technology and mor...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.