The Farm Report – Details, episodes & analysis

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In collaboration with HRN and the National Young Farmers Coalition, Following a screening of the documentary "Common Ground" Leigh Ollman moderates a spirited conversation about the future of farming with guests Michelle A.T Hughes, Chirs Nickell and Leah Penniman.

Chris Nickell (Finca Seremos)- Chris Nickell (they/them) is a community organizer and land steward. With previous work experience in academia, labor organizing, and state government, Chris turned to agriculture in 2022. They farmed vegetables and offered public programming at Stone Barns Center in 2022 and served as crew leader at Cropsey Community Farm in 2023. This year they founded Finca Seremos in Beacon, NY with their spouse, Brenda González. Seremos is a food justice project to grow fresh, organic, nutrient-dense produce for Chris and Brenda's community in Northern Manhattan and the Bronx as well as their new community in the mid-Hudson Valley.

Leah Penniman (Soul Fire Farm)- Leah Penniman (all pronouns)  is a Black Kreyol farmer, mother, soil nerd, author, and food justice activist from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, NY. She co-founded Soul Fire Farm in 2010 with the mission to end racism in the food system and reclaim our ancestral connection to land. As Co-ED and Farm Director, Leah is part of a team that facilitates powerful food sovereignty programs – including farmer training for Black & Brown people, a subsidized farm food distribution program for communities living under food apartheid, and domestic and international organizing toward equity in the food system.

Michelle A.T. Hughes (Young Farmers) - Michelle (she/her) is a former hog farmer from New Haven, Connecticut, with a background in agriculture policy. Before serving as Co-Executive Director, Michelle has served in a number of roles at the Coalition beginning as a Farm Bill Organizer in the summer of 2017. From there, Michelle served on the federal policy team as Federal Policy Associate after the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill. Working on federal farm policy reinforced Michelle’s desire for equitable change for young farmers and inspired her to design a framework for the organization’s racial equity transformation.

SUPPORT A BRIGHTERFUTURE FOR U.S.AGRICULTURE.Help our coalition tackle the obstacles preventing talented, passionate young farmers and ranchers from building successful careers in agriculture.

Access to land is the number one challenge facing the next generation of farmers in the US. Centuries of discrimination and land theft have put this resource out of reach of farmers who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Everyday in the US we lose 2,000 acres of viable farmland to development. With millions of acres on the verge of changing hands, the Farm Bill is our best chance to ensure this land transitions equitably to the next generation of farmers. We’ll dig into the land access challenges farmers face, how the One Million Acres for the Future campaign provides solutions, and the role the next farm bill can play. Visit https://www.youngfarmers.org/land/ to find out more. 

Learn more about the Young Farmers One Million Acres campaign, check out the National Young Farmer Survey, and tell Congress to support land access for young and BIPOC farmers here.

Our guests specifically talk about the the Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program (LCM) and the Increasing Land Access, Security, and Opportunities (LASO) programs.

Connect with the farmers featured in this episode. Visit Heru Urban Farming and EarthDance Farm School.

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Adrien de Botin and his wife Carolina Prioglio are the husband-and-wife founders of Maison/Made, and to make the certified biodynamic skin-care products that they sell, they grow their own medicinal herbs on a family farm in Burgundy and have built a network of small farm suppliers around the world. In this episode, host Lisa Held talks to de Botin about the couple’s efforts—from the specifics of biodynamic practices and why they matter, to how biodynamic farming, a system focused on minimizing inputs, building healthy soil, and working with local ecology, compares to systems like organic or regenerative agriculture.

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With funding from New York State, American Farmland Trust (AFT) recently launched its most ambitious program to help young farmers access land and conserve farmland statewide. The program is modeled after the Hudson Valley Farmlink Network and is aimed at connecting landowners—especially retiring farmers—to young farmers via online listings and resources, on-the-ground support and guidance, and financial assistance. Host Lisa Elaine Held talks to AFT's New York Policy Manager Samantha Levy about how the program will work, what she anticipates the challenges will be, and why she thinks it is a successful model for getting more young people on land to start farming.

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Aquaponics is a system that pairs produce growing with raising fish. At Oko Farms in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Yemi Amu operates the largest outdoor aquaponics farm in New York City. Amu sits down with host Lisa Held to discuss the benefits and challenges of producing food using aquaponics, how Oko Farms is contributing to healthy food access in local communities, and how she’s teaching both kids and adults how to follow her lead.

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At Soul Fire Farm, Leah Penniman has been leading a farm-based movement to uproot racism in the food system and seed community food sovereignty for years. Now, her first book, Farming While Black, digs into the injustices built into the food system and offers resources for others to follow her lead in addressing them—by growing both food and activism. Penniman calls it "a reverently compiled manual for African-heritage people ready to reclaim our rightful place of dignified agency in the food system." She sits down with host Lisa Held to talk about the book and the overall mission.

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In Newark, NJ, AeroFarms is producing greens using unique growing methods inside massive warehouse farms. Co-founder Marc Oshima sits down with host Lisa Held to talk about the approach, how it compares to traditional agriculture in terms of environmental impact, debates over soil vs. hydroponic growing, and the company's plans for future farms.

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The first apple trees were planted at Hicks Orchard, about 200 miles north of New York City, in the 1880s. Since, then multiple generations have grown apples, pears, cherries and plums to sell directly to visitors on the farm. In 2005, Slyboro Cider House was established at the farm, and its heritage ciders are becoming more widely available thanks to online seller Cider in Love. In this episode, host Lisa Held talks to cider maker Dan Wilson about the process of cider making, including growing and fermenting fruit, how farm practices affect the final product, and how cider is boosting New York’s farm economy.

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James Peisker and Chris Carter opened butcher shop Porter Road in order to get better meat from local farms in Kentucky and Tennessee to more restaurants and home kitchens in Nashville. Recently, they launched an online shop to sell their meat across the country. In this episode, host Lisa Held sits down with Peisker and Carter to talk about how they work with farmers raising animals on pasture, their standards for high-quality meat, why they opened their own processing facility to solve a farm-to-table supply chain challenge, whether selling online negates the benefits of supporting local farms, and how they’re getting customers to embrace less popular cuts of meat so they can sell whole animals and waste less.

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[1]https://porterroad.com/
[2]https://porterroad.com/pages/about

Agricultural workers play a critical role in feeding people around the world. According to a new United Nations report, “they are, however, among the most food insecure, facing formidable barriers to the realization of their right to food, often working without labour and employment protections and under dangerous conditions.” Host Lisa Held speaks with labor organizers—Emma Kreyche, from Worker Justice Center of NY, and Suzanne Adely, from the Food Chain Workers Alliance—about that paradox and the many issues that impact farmworkers’ ability to feed themselves and their families, from low wages and flawed guestworker programs to lack of access to social services and drivers’ licenses due to immigration status.

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[1]https://northstarfund.org/people/emma-kreyche/
[2]http://www.wjcny.org/about-us/staff
[3]http://foodchainworkers.org/