Farm To Table Talk

Natalie Bogwalker, c0-author of The New Natural Food Garden, discuses her journey from living in a log cabin to selling her business Wild Abundance and focusing on gardening education. She shared insights about her new book, which features beautiful photography and practical gardening advice, and discussed her approach to cooking with homegrown ingredients. The conversation explored how gardening can provide both financial savings and mental health benefits, with Natalie emphasizing that growing food can lead to a more fulfilling lifestyle rather than necessarily generating income. Rodger and Natalie also discuss the importance of preserving food and creating recipes...

Getting enough iron from the food we eat is something most of us take for granted, but about 2 billion people worldwide have an iron deficiency, the Number 1 nutritional deficiency globally. An international research team led by scientists in Brazil have come up with a way to boost iron content in rice, which is one of the most consumed foods. Farm Table Talk talks with Dr. Felipe Ricachenevsky about research at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, where he is working to biofortify rice with higher iron and zinc content through genetic modification using CRISPR technology...

In May of 2014 The Noble South opened its doors and began crafting a restaurant based on a fresh farm-to-table approach. With a clear vision of incorporating the highest quality seasonal ingredients with style, The Noble South leans into relationships with local farms that use organic practices, culinary collegaues and consumers resulting in the rich tradition of Southern fare with a lighter and fresher appeal. Proximity and supporting local and surrounding communities are at the forefront of their philosophy. By minimizing the distance between the growers and our tables they ensure that only the freshest ingredients make it to the...

A new farm bill has passed out of the House Agriculture Committee to be considered by Congress. If successful it will be the first Farm Bill passed since 2018.  Commodity programs, crop insurance and foreign market development  are increased but nutrition programs are not. SNAP cuts from recent legislation were not recovered, yet. Nor have corn growers gotten the expansion in ethanol programs that they sought. California’s proposition 12, requiring specified space for animals if the meat is to be sold in Caliofornia would be ended, as would certain local or state limitations on application of pesticides near public buildings. CA C...

In this episode of Farm to Table Talk, Rodger interviewed Jeremy and Stacey Hill about their homesteading practices and food preservation techniques. The Hills, who operate Gooseberry Bridge Farm in Missouri, shared their journey from suburban gardening to homesteading a 12-acre farm with dairy cows, goats, pigs, and an extensive vegetable garden. They discussed their use of freeze-drying as a modern preservation method, explaining how it maintains food quality and allows for shelf-stable storage. The couple also described their agritourism business, which offers educational farm visits for families. Throughout the conversation, Jeremy and Stacey emphasized the importance of starting...

The United States Supreme Court by a vote of 6 to 3 has struck down President Trump’s tariffs, to the relief of most farmers who have experienced severe financial losses and rising costs of farm inputs. The 2025 tariffs, imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IIEPA) covered nearly all trading partners, but China faced rates exceeding 100 percent. In response, Beijing escalated retaliatory duties on key agricultural imports. Almonds were hit with a 45 percent tariff.  As a result American Agriculture has suffered, especially soybeans in the Corn Belt. In California alone agricultural exports to China collapsed with the total value of...

The future of agriculture will utilize the development and application of robotic technology.  Jaisimha Rao explains a robotic machine that uses AI and cameras to distinguish between crops and weeds, then sprays herbicides specifically on weeds. There is potential of humanoid robots in agricultureJ. Their AI system identifies weeds using visual recognition, contrasting it with text-based AI models like ChatGPT. The system involves collecting and annotating weed images by agronomists in India, which are then used to train the AI model. Once trained, the AI can recognize specific weed species and control the dual-tank system to apply the appropriate h...

At a time when America’s meat industry faces increasing consolidation, fragile supply chains, and the closure of rural processing facilities, Better For Butchery’s acquisition of the Princeton Kentucky plant represents a rare, forward-looking investment in independent meat infrastructure. Backed by USDA Rural Development financing, the facility will serve as a scalable, high-integrity co-packing and processing hub designed to help farmers, ranchers, and emerging meat brands reach market without sacrificing quality, transparency, or control.  USDA Rural Development played ia critical role n enabling the acquisition. The facility was financed through an MPILP loan backed by the USDA ...

2030 will be here before you know it with a new world for food. .Ozan Ozaskinli is a Food Futurist and manufacturing strategist who’s asking questions about the future of what we eat and how we’ll produce it. He’s led transformation projects across 17 industries, spent 20+ years at firms like BCG, and now runs Value Gene, where he helps U.S. manufacturers modernize before tech disruption makes them obsolete. Originally from Europe, a big part of Ozan’s POV is how far ahead Europe is when it comes to food systems and what the U.S. can (and should) borrow b...

For the first time in 30 years America’s top Agriculture state, California, finally has a member on the Agriculture Committee of the US Senate, Senator Adam Schiff. Speaking to over a thousand farmers at Eco Farm, Senator Schiff called on farmers and consumers to engage and to make their voices heard. Senator Schiff spoke with Farm To Table Talk and addressd over 1,000 farmers at Eco Farm.

Community action can transcend polarizing politics.  Encouraging and supporting communities taking matters into their own hands, we often find Extension agents working with “do gooders” that just want to do good.  Dr Brent Hales has worked a with extension all over America. In this episode of Farm to Table Talk we revisit a previous counversation with Brent who points out that extension is much more  than  just “kids, cows, sows and plows.”

There is something good about local farms supporting schools, distributingCSA (Community Supported Agriculture), hosting a market at the farm and selling organic produce at area Farmers Markets. A farming program that delivers goodness in all these ways is aptly named Something Good Organics. Carolyn Givens shares why they do what they do and why the school and local community they supply are glad they do.  Carolyn Givens says they take pride in supporting John Givens Farm’s commitment to cultivating Certified Organic Produce for their community.

Each year, about 32% of the food produced across the world is lost or wasted. Tackling food loss and waste has been on the global agenda for decades, with policymakers citing it as a contributing factor to issues like food insecurity and environmental degradation. Despite this attention, food loss and waste remain a challenge across the world.A new book from researchers at the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) provides an evidence-based framework for addressing food loss and waste as a means to improve access to healthy diets. In “Wasted Potential: Tackling Food Loss and Waste Across Transforming Fo...

Farmers across America are beginning to worry that 2026 is bringing a Farm Crisis comparable to the early 1980’s when Willie Nelson launched Farm Aid to draw attention and support to the plight of farmers.  Ray Yeung has been farming for over 40 years in northern California and although recently experiencing really good yields, he sees farming costs exceeding returns and that is simply unsustainable. A farm crisis could  be felt beyond the farms to farm suppliers and consumers.  Viable farms are ncessary, so what is to be done? Yeung always knew he’d be a farmer. His father, Joe Yeung, started...

While nutrition science knows about 150 well-documented nutrients, there are approximately 135,000 additional molecules in foods that have health impacts but are not tracked in nutritional databases. Laszlow Barabasi, a physicist and network medicine researcher at Northeastern University and Harvard Medical School, explains how these compounds work in the body, noting that many have therapeutic effects when consumed in specific concentrations. Certain food combinations, like those in the Mediterranean diet, can mitigate negative health effects of red meat, and  ultra-processed foods contribute to health issues despite their popularity.  Understanding these compounds is important for treating specific conditions, yet the basic principles of...

While nutrition science knows about 150 well-documented nutrients, there are approximately 135,000 additional molecules in foods that have health impacts but are not tracked in nutritional databases. Laszlow Barabasi, a physicist and network medicine researcher at Northeastern University and Harvard Medical School, explains how these compounds work in the body, noting that many have therapeutic effects when consumed in specific concentrations. Certain food combinations, like those in the Mediterranean diet, can mitigate negative health effects of red meat, and  ultra-processed foods contribute to health issues despite their popularity.  Understanding these compounds is important for treating specific conditions, yet the basic principles of...

Rebuilding our regenerative supply chain is a priority focus of Eco Farm, where a panel of women lead the way in sharing what they’re doing to make a difference. Led by “Reaping What She Sows” author Nancy Matsumoto, the keynote EcoFarm panel reveals how transparency and equity in the food system must progress. Nancy Matsumoto’s book and the Eco Farm panel fights for a healthier more just system and answers the question: How should we eat. www.eco-farm.org

Farmers are supoosed to share $12 billion dollars to make up for lost markets, higher costs and lower prices due to President’ Trump’s global trade war. The Wall Street Journal editorial said President Trump said he was “delighted to give American Farmers $12 Billion” in economic Assistance. The President of the the American Soybean Assoiation told CNN  that this was just “a bandaid on an open wound” because what farmers want is an opportunity to make a living, to make a profit from the market, “not being dependant on the next program to keep us from bleeding to death.”  Blake Hurst, Missouri so...

Food innovators, farmers, chefs and foodies have been looking ahead for years, so in this Farm to Table Talk Podcast we go back to a conversation in Coubhoure that was looking ahead to now.  Future episodes will be back to now and looking ahead tomorrow. Food is changing. How will we eat? That’s the question posed in the Farm To Table Talk Clubhouse room to Troy Hooper a multi- business entrepreneur in the hospitality space with a consulting practice to build and scale emerging brands. Troy and Rodger Wasson are joined live in the Clubhouse room by a lar...

A backyard hobby that started over 40 years ago  has grown into a nationally recognized, family-owned business that produces more than 80,000 quail weekly, raisied responsibly, without antibiotics or hormones, and shipping premium products to chefs, retailers, and home cooks across the country. Manchester Farms is America’s first quail farm, and Brittney Miller is leading its second-generation legacy.. Brittney combines her passion for sustainable agriculture with modern food safety standards. Her SQF Level 2 certified, HACCP-compliant farm sets the benchmark for quality in specialty poultry. Brittney brings expertise, warmth, and a story of authentic American entrepreneurship that resonates to anyone interested in...

Steve and Candice McClain, who grew up in New Jersey but have no farming background, transitioned from urban to rural farming after Steve’s experience as a chef working with a farm. Inspired by sustainable farming practices, they decided to purchase a farm in the northwestern corner of New Jersey. They now focus on organic produce and animal husbandry, embracing the farm-to-table philosophy. Starting with pigs to improve pasture conditions and later adding cattle, chickens, sheep, rabbits, and ducks, they established a farm market in a renovated barn to sell their produce and products, using social media to promote it...

Steve and Candice MacLean, who grew up in New Jersey but have no farming background, transitioned from urban to rural farming after Steve’s experience as a chef working with a farm. Inspired by sustainable farming practices, they decided to purchase a farm in the northwestern corner of New Jersey. They now focus on organic produce and animal husbandry, embracing the farm-to-table philosophy. Starting with pigs to improve pasture conditions and later adding cattle, chickens, sheep, rabbits, and ducks, they established a farm market in a renovated barn to sell their produce and products, using social media to promote it...

Extreme steps taken to make food look more appealing, last longer and be addictively delicious is detrimental to our health. State Legislatures from West Virginia to California are not waiting for federal solutions. CA Asssembly-member Jesse Gabriel says “our public schools should not be serving students ultra-processed food products filled with chemical additives that can harm their physical and mental health and interfere with their ability to learn,” Scott Faber leads the Environmental Working Group’s government affairs efforts to reform food, farm, water and chemical safety policies. Faber is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center. EWG.or...

In addition to wanting to know where their food comes from and where it’s grown, thirty three million Americans have a diagnosed food allergy. Fifty million have an intolerance that is not technically allergic but certain foods disagree with them in some way. For a variety of reasons over seventy million follow life style diets. That means over half of the country needs to know what is in their food.  Dylan McDonnell is the Founder and CEO of Foodini, a company that strives to make it easy for Restaurants to help consumers and consumers to help themselves. It wil...

When debates over SNAP funding heat up, it’s worth remembering leaders like Gus  Schumacher —the late USDA Under Secretary who championed farm-to-family connections and bipartisan solutions. This Farm To Table talk episode revisits his insights on SNAP innovation, nutrition incentives and lasting ways to strengthen food access for all. Gus Schumacher, who passed away in 2017, was a respected agricultural economist and former Massachusetts Commissioner of Agriculture. He served as Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services at the USDA from 1997 to 2001, overseeing the Farm Service Agency, the Foreign Agricultural Service, and the Risk Management Agency.Beyon...

Real rural life today ranges from hope to nostalgic ideals to real world crisis that directly affect farmers and ranchers, their famiies, their communities and ultimately all of us. The rate of suicide in rural communities is 50 % higher than the rate in non-rural communities. And with farmers the rate is 3 times higher than urban. What is going on? Why must we care and how can we help or be helped? Jim Ennis is the Executive Director of Catholic Rural Life. www.catholicrurallife.org

Hot Springs, Arkansas will soon be known as the Napa Valley of Saké if Matt Bell has his way. Saké rice grown  in Central Arkansas supplies Origami Sake, the fastest growing US saké brand and  the only US brewer to win a Gold Medal at the Tokyo Saké Challenge 2025. Origami is also the largest domestically-owned saké brewery in the USA, 100% powered by solar energy and producing three Saké styles plus a non-alcoholic Sake.  (https://drinkorigami.com/)

Iowa has been under stress 50 years as the economy changed fundamentally from diverse independent farmers and business and a union to concentrated cooperative agriculture and Walmart, Dollar General and no union. Art Cullen won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for exposing what corporate agriculture was doing to his Iowa farmingommunity. His new book “Dear Marty, We Crapped in Our Nest” reveals what’s really happening in rural food systems from someone who’s lived and reported there for decades. His reporting reveals how corporate agriculture affects the entire food chain, from soil to table. Art exposes how corporate consolidation impacts not just far...

Animals have been domesticated for 10,000 years and the current outbreak of avian flu is the largest and most complex animal disease outbreak in history, with serious risks beyond poultry. Avian influenza risk especially rises when waterfowl migrate in the fall, Maurice Pitesky, University of California Cooperative Extension poultry specialist has developed the Waterfowl Alert Network to help farmers manage their cattle and poultry’s exposure to migratory birds when they are nearby. If farmers are aware and utilize the network it will reduce risk and prevent birds and cows from getting sick. Maurice holds a veterinary degree and a pos...

How long can a community last if there were no open roads or grocery stores? During the tragic California fire caused mudslides of 2018, the town of Summerland was cut off from the rest of the world and the food supply chain. The devastating effects of the tragedy and the consequences of no grocery stores in Summerland reached a turning point when customers started fighting over stale sandwiches or snacks left at Liquor stores or gas stations.  These experiences led to the establishment of Sweet Wheel Farms – a community asset to solve the absence of food, to expand farm education to...