American Family Farmer

American Family Farmer

A weekly look at trends in Family Farming and Healthy Eating.

Episodes

December 31, 2025 19 mins
American Family Farmer with Doug Stephan welcomes Kevin Channell, principal owner of Farm & Forest Business & Tax Services, for an insightful conversation about the financial realities facing today’s farmers, foresters, and rural business owners.

Kevin brings a rare dual perspective to his work—combining firsthand farming experience with deep expertise in business analysis, valuations, and farm-specific tax strategy. Before ...
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Host and American Family Farmer, Doug Stephan www.eastleighfarm.com shares the biggest news affecting family farmers, starting with a focus of the COOL (Country of Origin Labelling) standards.

Plus, the American Agriculture Alliance released and updated version of the impact report, highlighting progress made to enhance animal welfare practices, reduce environmental impact, and contribute to America’s healthy balanced diet. 

Next up,...
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This week on American Family Farmer, host Doug Stephan heads to the heart of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Peninsula, Ohio, to visit with George Haramis, fifth-generation owners of Heritage Farms.

Founded in 1848, Heritage Farms has evolved alongside American agriculture—transforming over the generations from canal boat building to potatoes, dairy, beef cattle, and today, one of Northeast Ohio’s most beloved Christmas tree fa...
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December 24, 2025 18 mins
Host and American Family Farmer, Doug Stephan www.eastleighfarm.com shares the biggest news affecting family farmers, starting with the latest information on tariffs and how family farmers are being affected, government assistance set aside for farmers to be distributed between now and the end of February, and questioning why there is more money being made available to bail out farmers in Argentina than farmers in our own country.

N...
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Host and American Family Farmer, Doug Stephan www.eastleighfarm.com shares the biggest news affecting family farmers, starting with word of $12 Billion in aide for farmers in our country, how tariffs are affecting small farmers, and management of taxes for farmers.

Then, Doug shares his opinions on the top news stories of the week in farming and agriculture and why the chaos of the trade policy is causing more questions than answers...
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What began as a childhood 4-H project has grown into a thriving value-added dairy business feeding families across New England.

This week on American Family Farmer, host Doug Stephan welcomes sisters Beth and Courtney Hodge, co-owners of Echo Farm Puddings in Hinsdale, New Hampshire. Raised on a small farm, the Hodge sisters turned their love for cows—and their reluctance to part with them—into a creative solution that helped sustai...
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December 10, 2025 20 mins
This week on American Family Farmer, Doug Stephan introduces listeners to one of the most unique farms in America, Westmeister Farm in Shelby, Ohio, where exotic animals, agritourism, and wellness come together in the most unexpected ways.

Owner and farmer Lynn Westmeister joins Doug to share how her private, appointment-only farm has become a peaceful haven for both animals and visitors. Westmeister Farm is home to a remarkable lin...
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Host and American Family Farmer, Doug Stephan www.eastleighfarm.com shares the biggest news affecting family farmers, starting with preparations for incoming bad weather. Doug has already put most of his equipment away for the season, with the exception of what he’s still using. Looking back at stats over recent years, farming operations have faced some significant weather with early frosts, extreme winter weather, droughts or heat...
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In this episode, we talk with Jennifer Whitney, who is the owner, farmer, and co-founder of Natural Nook Farm in West Salem, Ohio. For nearly 20 years, Jennifer and her husband, Adam, have built a vibrant, faith-rooted homestead dedicated to natural living, self-sufficiency, and community.

Jennifer shares how Natural Nook Farm has grown from a simple family property into a thriving small farm that produces handcrafted goat-milk soap...
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December 3, 2025 19 mins
Host and American Family Farmer, Doug Stephan www.eastleighfarm.com shares the biggest news affecting family farmers, starting with news the EPA approved a new forever chemical in pesticides that is being used on food. Read that sentence again. The big food processors want the food grown for them to last longer, and the big conglomerate farms want the food to grow bigger and faster. What does that mean for the health of consumers? 

...
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November 26, 2025 19 mins
This week on American Family Farmer, host Doug Stephan welcomes Dave and Barb Zerbe of Esbenshade Turkey Farm—America’s oldest operating turkey farm, proudly rooted in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Esbenshade Turkey Farm has been a Lancaster County original since 1858, spanning seven generations of tradition, craftsmanship, and family pride. Barb Zerbe represents the fifth generation of the Esbenshade lineage, and together she and...
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November 26, 2025 18 mins
Host and American Family Farmer, Doug Stephan www.eastleighfarm.com shares the biggest news affecting family farmers, starting off with an extension of the Farm Bill, part of what President Trump signed into law to end the government shutdown. The bill extended the Farm Bill from 2018 for another year. The American Farm Bureau and the National Farmers Union are expressing hope that Congress will focus on policies and not politics. 

...
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Today on the American Family Farmer, we’re proud to bring you a stand-alone feature interview with Dawn Broeder, founder of Farm Fusion Cooking Classes and a lifelong champion of Colorado agriculture.

Dawn’s story begins on the family farm where she was raised—an environment that not only shaped her work ethic but also gave her a profound respect for the land and the animals in her care. As a young girl, she was responsible for feed...
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Host and American Family Farmer, Doug Stephan www.eastleighfarm.com shares the biggest news affecting family farmers, starting off with the question if the ongoing bird flu will cause any troubles for Thanksgiving dinners across the country. On the topic of the choice of poultry for Thanksgiving, states with the highest rate of turkey production are Minnesota (#1) and North Carolina (#2), there’s also a big export business for turk...
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November 5, 2025 18 mins
Host and American Family Farmer, Doug Stephan www.eastleighfarm.com shares the biggest news affecting family farmers, starting off with the latest from the Trump Administration’s promise of a a bailout for farmers, and now time is running out.  Crop prices continue to fall below the cost of production. Perhaps that doesn’t hold true for corn, but other crops, especially dairy.  In addition, the FSA offices reopened after 3.5 weeks ...
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This week on The American Family Farmer, we’re going beyond the “thank you” to explore what real, lasting support for America’s veterans looks like.

Host Doug Stephan welcomes Ken Fisher, Chairman and CEO of Fisher House Foundation, an organization that’s been a lifeline for military families for over three decades. Fisher House provides free “homes away from home” for the loved ones of service members and veterans receiving medical...
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This week, Doug Stephan welcomes Warren Shaw, President of the Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation (MFBF). The gentlemen cover a wide range of topics affecting family farmers in our country and the immediate economic problems. Warren, who is a farmer with his own Shaw Farm, discusses on his own farm hardships when the roof collapsed due to a snow storm, losing multiple cattle, shares how he’s rebuilding and moving forward with his...
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October 29, 2025 18 mins
Host and American Family Farmer, Doug Stephan www.eastleighfarm.com shares the biggest news affecting family farmers, starting off with good news that the Farm Tax changes have restored the full bonus depreciation, you can now deduct without spreading it out over a number of years.

Next up, the continued focus on the Monsanto Policy, why the price of farm-produced products are going up while farmers aren’t making any money from it, ...
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October 22, 2025 19 mins
This week, Doug Stephan welcomes Peter Durand, Chief Farm Officer of Snickers Run Garlic Farm in Bluemont, Virginia — a 63-acre gem nestled at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Peter shares how this small but mighty farm grows some of the most flavorful hard-neck garlic in the region using sustainable, soil-first methods and a lot of love. From their signature “Bluemont Music” variety to German Extra Hardy and Chesnok Red, each ...
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October 22, 2025 19 mins
Host and American Family Farmer, Doug Stephan www.eastleighfarm.com shares why he created the American Family Farmer program before jumping into the news affecting family farmers, beginning with the government shutdown with Secretary of Ag Brooke Rollins stating the Us Dept. of Ag would not be able to help farmers who are suffering from low commodity prices as long as the government is shut down.

Next, what’s going on with the screw...
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