• Growing seeds for sale or for your own farm with Dan Brisebois of Tourne-Sol Cooperative Farm
    Nov 19 2024
    Dan Brisebois has over 20 years of market farming and seed growing experience as a founding member of Tourne-Sol Cooperative farm in Quebec, Canada. In this interview and discussion of his new book, The Seed Farmer, we hear how his interest in seed growing goes all the way back to the beginning of his farming career. Now, he can tell us from experience what it’s like to grow many seed crops, since roughly half of the farm income derives from seed sales, with the other half coming from a 500-member CSA.This interview and Dan’s book cover the practicalities of how to grow a seed crop, whether for your own use or for sale. Topics covered include choosing a crop, pollination, isolation distances, inbreeders vs outcrossers, harvest and processing for good germination, storage and more! This interview gives an overview of the differences between growing for a crop of fresh vegetables vs. for seed. For the nitty-gritty details, order The Seed Farmer, which is now shipping from Growing for Market; magazine subscribers always get 20% off all books, including The Seed Farmer. Dan is also the author of the book Crop Planning for Vegetable Growers and founder of the Farmer Spreadsheet Academy that offers courses in farm planning, including a seed farmer mentorship. Connect With Guest: Dan’s book The Seed Farmer: https://growingformarket.com/store/products/262Website: https://www.fermetournesol.qc.ca/enFarmer spreadsheet academy: http://spreadsheet.farm/bcpInstagram: @danbrisebois.farmInstagram: @fermetournesol Podcast Sponsors:Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support: There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. From start-up market farms to complex and scaled-up CSAs, GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, and you’re eligible to join the co-op and become a member-owner after your first sale. Visit grownby.com to get started. Tilth Soil makes living soils for organic growers. The base for all our mixes is NOP-compliant compost, made from the 4,000 tons of food scraps we divert from landfills each year. And the results speak for themselves. Get excellent germination, strong transplants, and help us turn these resources back into food. Try a free bag, and check our 2025 seed starter pre-sale for the best prices of the season at tilthsoil.com/gfm. PanAmerican Seed brings to market novel, high-quality vegetables for the fresh market grower and hobby farmer. This year, to help make choices for vegetable programs easier, we’ve grouped our assortment into four categories where these edible favorites perform their best. Look for our easy-to-identify symbols in our latest brochure! Visit panamseed.com/vegetables to learn more and find a seed supplier today. Farmhand is the only ready-to-ride assistant made by and for farmers. Through a simple text or email to Farmhand, you can offload admin tasks, automate your CSA, update your website, and sell more to your customers. Learn more and take one of our many time-saving tasks for a test drive to see firsthand how Farmhand can help you earn more, and work less at farmhand.partners/gfm. Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse kits, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full spectrum of colors. For all that plus experienced support for everything they sell, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com. Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial
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    1 hr and 14 mins
  • GrownBy: Building a cooperatively-owned farm marketplace app with Lindsey Lusher Shute
    Nov 12 2024

    You may know Lindsey Lusher Shute from co-founding the National Young Farmers Coalition, but what we talk about on the pod this week is her work with GrownBy: the only cooperatively farmer-owned farm marketplace app. During her decade as the Executive Director of the NYFC, one of the needs that was identified was a flexible way for farmers to sell a wide variety of products online. That need is what led to her founding the Farm Generations Cooperative that runs GrownBy.

    Now, over 900 farms use GrownBy to sell vegetables, flowers, goat petting sessions (listen to the interview!) and more, straight to the public. Very competitive selling fees are made even more attractive by the fact that as soon as farmers make a sale through the platform, they are invited to join the Farm Generations Cooperative, and potentially get some of their fees back as a coop co-owner. You can also run a CSA through GrownBy; for all the details, listen to this week’s Growing for Market Podcast!

    Connect With Guest:
    Website: https://grownby.app
    Instagram: @grownbyapp

    Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

    Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

    Tilth Soil makes living soils for organic growers. The base for all our mixes is NOP-compliant compost, made from the 4,000 tons of food scraps we divert from landfills each year. And the results speak for themselves. Get excellent germination, strong transplants, and help us turn these resources back into food. Try a free bag, and check our 2025 seed starter pre-sale for the best prices of the season at tilthsoil.com/gfm.


    PanAmerican Seed brings to market novel, high-quality vegetables for the fresh market grower and hobby farmer. This year, to help make choices for vegetable programs easier, we’ve grouped our assortment into four categories where these edible favorites perform their best. Look for our easy-to-identify symbols in our latest brochure! Visit panamseed.com/vegetables to learn more and find a seed supplier today.


    BCS two-wheel tractors are designed and built in Italy where small-scale farming has been a way of life for generations. Discover the beauty of BCS on your farm with PTO-driven implements for soil-working, shredding cover crops, spreading compost, mowing under fences, clearing snow, and more – all powered by a single, gear-driven machine that’s tailored to the size and scale of your operation. To learn more, view sale pricing, or locate your nearest dealer, visit BCS America.


    Farmhand is the only ready-to-ride assistant made by and for farmers. Through a simple text or email to Farmhand, you can offload admin tasks, automate your CSA, update your website, and sell more to your customers. Learn more and take one of our many time-saving tasks for a test drive to see firsthand how Farmhand can help you earn more, and work less at farmhand.partners/gfm.

    Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse kits, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full spectrum of colors. For all that plus experienced support for everything they sell, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

    Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Making compost out of food waste destined for the landfill with Nathan Rutz of Tilth Soil
    Nov 5 2024

    Tilth Soil was born out of a desire to keep some of the millions of pounds of food waste that is discarded every year out of landfills, with their mission to “feed people, not landfills.” Hear about how their sister company, Rust Belt Riders, started out hauling food waste in bicycle trailers, and has subsequently scaled up to trucks in order to handle just some of the scraps generated in Cleveland, Ohio- in 2023 they composted over 10 million pounds and that’s not even all the food waste generated by Cleveland!

    Tilth Soil/Rust Belt Riders encourages and provides resources for others who want to divert food scraps from the waste streams of their own communities. So, whether you have interest in starting a similar business in your own community, or want to start collecting food scraps for your farm, listen to this interview to hear about what it’s like to build a business sourcing food waste for composting. Or, if you’re interested in the finished product, Tilth Soil offers a wide range of compost and soil blends for farmers and gardeners.

    Connect With Guest:
    Website: tilthsoil.com
    Instagram: @tilth.soil

    Podcast Sponsors:

    Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

    PanAmerican Seed brings to market novel, high-quality vegetables for the fresh market grower and hobby farmer. This year, to help make choices for vegetable programs easier, we’ve grouped our assortment into four categories where these edible favorites perform their best. Look for our easy-to-identify symbols in our latest brochure! Visit panamseed.com/vegetables to learn more and find a seed supplier today.

    BCS two-wheel tractors are designed and built in Italy where small-scale farming has been a way of life for generations. Discover the beauty of BCS on your farm with PTO-driven implements for soil-working, shredding cover crops, spreading compost, mowing under fences, clearing snow, and more – all powered by a single, gear-driven machine that’s tailored to the size and scale of your operation. To learn more, view sale pricing, or locate your nearest dealer, visit BCS America.

    Farmhand is the only ready-to-ride assistant made by and for farmers. Through a simple text or email to Farmhand, you can offload admin tasks, automate your CSA, update your website, and sell more to your customers. Learn more and take one of our many time-saving tasks for a test drive to see firsthand how Farmhand can help you earn more, and work less at farmhand.partners/gfm.

    Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse kits, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full spectrum of colors. For all that plus experienced support for everything they sell, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

    Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial
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    1 hr and 23 mins
  • Producing regionally adapted seeds for the Upper Midwest with Driftless Seed Company
    Oct 29 2024

    Driftless Seed Company is part of an encouraging trend we are seeing with regional seed companies producing seed in and with adaptations to their specific region. On this week’s podcast, we have Cody Egan and Dylan Bruce of Driftless Seed Company, telling host April Parms Jones how they went from farming and working for a seed company to founding one. Dylan had to leave part way through the interview due to technical difficulties, so we get the rest of the story from Cody.

    Driftless Seed Company focuses on providing regional, open-pollinated seeds to farmers and gardeners in the Midwest. The company works closely with growers to understand their preferences and what grows well for them, and they offer different models for growers to earn income from seed production, including a commission-based model. They emphasize the importance of joy and inspiration in farming and seed work, and supporting local seed economies and building relationships with growers and communities.

    Connect With Guest:

    Website: driftlessseeds.com

    Instagram: @driftlessseeds


    Podcast Sponsors:

    Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

    Do you have more tasks on your farm than you have time? Stop interruptions and focus on what matters most. Delegate repetitive duties in your tunnel to Orisha, get rid of diseases for good and get the most out of your tunnels. Sleep better, knowing that they’ll call you if anything goes wrong in your greenhouse. For tips and tricks on how to simplify your farm activities, check out their free ebooks at orisha.io/tools and sign up to Orisha’s newsletter at orisha.io/newsletter.

    Farmhand is the only ready-to-ride assistant made by and for farmers. Through a simple text or email to Farmhand, you can offload admin tasks, automate your CSA, update your website, and sell more to your customers. Learn more and take one of our many time-saving tasks for a test drive to see firsthand how Farmhand can help you earn more, and work less at farmhand.partners/gfm.

    Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse kits, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full spectrum of colors. For all that plus experienced support for everything they sell, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

    Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 8 mins
  • Balancing farming and parenting with Katie Kulla, author of the new book Farm-Raised Kids!
    Oct 22 2024

    Farming and parenting can each be demanding jobs by all by themselves, so it can be a real challenge to do both at the same time! Katie Kulla talked to over 25 farmers about their experiences and how they strike a balance between the two, and it’s all in her new book, Farm Raised Kids: Parenting Strategies for Balancing Family Life with Running a Small Farm or Homestead! The book will be available at the end of October, and you can pre-order it from Growing for Market Magazine’s online store now (subscribers always get 20% off all books).

    Katie shares her own experience as a farmer and parent, as well as insights from interviews with a diverse range of farm families. The book covers topics such as involving children in seasonal traditions, bringing kids into farm work, ensuring their safety on the farm, the challenges and joys of raising children on a farm, managing the needs of older children, and making educational choices. Katie and host Rebecca Kutzer-Rice discuss the importance of prioritizing family time, finding a balance between work and parenting, and the unique experiences and opportunities that come with farming, as well as the benefits of having children on the farm.

    Growing for Market podcast listeners will recognize Katie as one of the hosts of this podcast, and magazine readers will recognize her as a long-time contributor to the magazine. Here’s a link to an article Katie wrote for the magazine on the topic, “Strategies for balancing parenting and farm work.” Photo © Shawn Linehan. Used with permission from Storey Publishing.

    Connect With Guest:

    Buy the book- GFM subscribers get 20% off: Farm-Raised Kids: Parenting Strategies for Balancing Family Life with Running a Small Farm or Homestead

    Website: katiekulla.com

    Instagram: @katiekulla


    Podcast Sponsors:

    Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:


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    Do you have more tasks on your farm than you have time? Stop interruptions and focus on what matters most. Delegate repetitive duties in your tunnel to Orisha, get rid of diseases for good and get the most out of your tunnels. Sleep better, knowing that they’ll call you if anything goes wrong in your greenhouse. For tips and tricks on how to simplify your farm activities, check out their free ebooks at orisha.io/tools and sign up to Orisha’s newsletter at orisha.io/newsletter.


    Farmhand is the only ready-to-ride assistant made by and for farmers. Through a simple text or email to Farmhand, you can offload admin tasks, automate your CSA, update your website, and sell more to your customers. Learn more and take one of our many time-saving tasks for a test drive to see firsthand how Farmhand can help you earn more, and work less at farmhand.partners/gfm.

    Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse kits, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full spectrum of colors. For all that plus experienced support for everything they sell, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

    Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial
    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 6 mins
  • New host special episode with Rebecca Kutzer-Rice of Moonshot Farm in New Jersey!
    Oct 15 2024

    We’re so excited to be welcoming Rebecca Kutzer-Rice to the podcast team as one of our co-hosts, we wanted to make sure and record an episode to properly introduce everyone to her! Growing for Market Magazine readers will recognize Rebecca from her articles in the mag, including many about flower growing written from her experience running Moonshot Farm, a specialty cut flower farm in East Windsor, NJ. She grows flowers year-round including in a geothermal greenhouse, for retail markets in and around NYC.

    She has also written about topics as varied as cybersecurity, tillage vs. no-till, farm profitability and more. Her article from the magazine, “Eleven things we did to make our farm profitable (finally)” is linked below. Podcast listeners will remember her from episode 50 where she talked about quitting her job to grow flowers full-time, which is also linked below. In this interview, she and host Katie Kulla discuss her farm’s markets, how other growers can find grants like the ones that have helped Rebecca grow her farm, how they are making use of the H-2A guestworker program to meet farm labor needs, and more!

    Connect With Guest:

    Website: www.moonshotfarm.com

    Instagram: @moonshot_farm

    Rebecca’s previous GFM pod appearance:

    Quitting your job to grow flowers 52 weeks of the year

    One of Rebecca’s articles from Growing for Market Magazine:

    Eleven things we did to make our farm profitable (finally)

    Podcast Sponsors:

    Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

    BCS two-wheel tractors are designed and built in Italy where small-scale farming has been a way of life for generations. Discover the beauty of BCS on your farm with PTO-driven implements for soil-working, shredding cover crops, spreading compost, mowing under fences, clearing snow, and more – all powered by a single, gear-driven machine that’s tailored to the size and scale of your operation. To learn more, view sale pricing, or locate your nearest dealer, visit BCS America

    Do you have more tasks on your farm than you have time? Stop interruptions and focus on what matters most. Delegate repetitive duties in your tunnel to Orisha, get rid of diseases for good and get the most out of your tunnels. Sleep better, knowing that they’ll call you if anything goes wrong in your greenhouse. For tips and tricks on how to simplify your farm activities, check out their free ebooks at orisha.io/tools and sign up to Orisha’s newsletter at orisha.io/newsletter.

    Farmhand is the only ready-to-ride assistant made by and for farmers. Through a simple text or email to Farmhand, you can offload admin tasks, automate your CSA, update your website, and sell more to your customers. Learn more and take one of our many time-saving tasks for a test drive to see firsthand how Farmhand can help you earn more, and work less at farmhand.partners/gfm.

    Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse kits, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full spectrum of colors. For all that plus experienced support for everything they sell, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

    Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

    Show more Show less
    53 mins
  • How farmers can get help preserving farmland with Addie Candib of American Farmland Trust
    Oct 8 2024

    On this week’s podcast we talk with with Addie Candib, who oversees American Farmland Trust’s programs and policy advocacy in the Pacific Northwest. You might be familiar with American Farmland Trust from their “No Farms No Food” message that shows up on bumper stickers throughout rural America. But their work is much bigger than just that campaign, as we will learn from Addie.

    In addition to their other projects, American Farmland Trust has protected in perpetuity over 6.8 million acres of farmland and ranchland using agricultural conservation easements. Addie explains how conservation easements work and ways farmers can preserve their own farmland or gain access to preserved land. Along the way we cover topics such as diverse as intergenerational land transfer, policy advocacy, and the challenges farmers face today, including climate change and the emotional toll it takes, emphasizing the importance of community, resilience, and addressing the social and emotional aspects of farming in the face of climate change.

    Connect With Guest:

    Website: https://farmland.org

    Instagram: @americanfarmlandtrust

    Podcast Sponsors:

    Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

    BCS two-wheel tractors are designed and built in Italy where small-scale farming has been a way of life for generations. Discover the beauty of BCS on your farm with PTO-driven implements for soil-working, shredding cover crops, spreading compost, mowing under fences, clearing snow, and more – all powered by a single, gear-driven machine that’s tailored to the size and scale of your operation. To learn more, view sale pricing, or locate your nearest dealer, visit BCS America

    Do you have more tasks on your farm than you have time? Stop interruptions and focus on what matters most. Delegate repetitive duties in your tunnel to Orisha, get rid of diseases for good and get the most out of your tunnels. Sleep better, knowing that they’ll call you if anything goes wrong in your greenhouse. For tips and tricks on how to simplify your farm activities, check out their free ebooks at orisha.io/tools and sign up to Orisha’s newsletter at orisha.io/newsletter.

    Farmhand is the only ready-to-ride assistant made by and for farmers. Through a simple text or email to Farmhand, you can offload admin tasks, automate your CSA, update your website, and sell more to your customers. Learn more and take one of our many time-saving tasks for a test drive to see firsthand how Farmhand can help you earn more, and work less at farmhand.partners/gfm.

    Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse kits, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full spectrum of colors. For all that plus experienced support for everything they sell, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

    Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial
    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 7 mins
  • How to help new farms get started with Rowan Steele of the Headwaters Farm Business Incubator Program
    Oct 1 2024

    On this week’s podcast we talk with Rowan Steele, farmer, farm advocate, and Manager of the Headwaters Farm Business Incubator Program for the East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District. Headwaters Farm is located just east of Portland, Oregon. As manager, Rowan supports experienced, conservation-forward farmers get their farm businesses off the ground. On this podcast we’ve interviewed several farmers who got their start via incubator farms, so we’re excited to hear more about how this concept works from someone who helps manage such a program.

    The Headwaters Farm Business Incubator Program provides affordable land, infrastructure, and equipment, as well as training and technical assistance to beginning farmers. The goal is to address common barriers, such as access to capital, farm knowledge, networks and markets. The Headwaters Farm is a 60-acre site with irrigated crop land and shared facilities. The conversation covers the five-year program structure, the importance of financial viability, the criteria for selecting program participants, the transition process after graduation, the challenges farmers face today and more.

    Connect With Guest:
    Website: https://emswcd.org/farm-incubator/headwaters-farm/
    Instagram: @emswcd


    Podcast Sponsors:

    Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:


    BCS two-wheel tractors are designed and built in Italy where small-scale farming has been a way of life for generations. Discover the beauty of BCS on your farm with PTO-driven implements for soil-working, shredding cover crops, spreading compost, mowing under fences, clearing snow, and more – all powered by a single, gear-driven machine that’s tailored to the size and scale of your operation. To learn more, view sale pricing, or locate your nearest dealer, visit BCS America

    Do you have more tasks on your farm than you have time? Stop interruptions and focus on what matters most. Delegate repetitive duties in your tunnel to Orisha, get rid of diseases for good and get the most out of your tunnels. Sleep better, knowing that they’ll call you if anything goes wrong in your greenhouse. For tips and tricks on how to simplify your farm activities, check out their free ebooks at orisha.io/tools and sign up to Orisha’s newsletter at orisha.io/newsletter.

    Farmhand is the only ready-to-ride assistant made by and for farmers. Through a simple text or email to Farmhand, you can offload admin tasks, automate your CSA, update your website, and sell more to your customers. Learn more and take one of our many time-saving tasks for a test drive to see firsthand how Farmhand can help you earn more, and work less at farmhand.partners/gfm.

    Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse kits, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full spectrum of colors. For all that plus experienced support for everything they sell, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

    Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

    Show more Show less
    53 mins