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. The farm market is now open three days a week, primarily on weekends, and relies on word-of-mouth and social media for advertising. They also grow over 200 varieties of USDA-certified organic vegetables, which are used for a four-course tasting menu dinner series held four times a month. www.theNJFarm.com

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.org/foodscores

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 will soon be the law in California as it is already in Europe for restaurants to make this critical information available to their customers. https://foodini.co/

Foodini – AI-Powered Dietary Intelligence

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.Beyond his government service, Gus helped found the Wholesome Wave Foundation and championed reforms that continue to shape agricultural and food policy today. The USDA’s Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program proudly bears his name — a lasting tribute to his vision for connecting farmers and families through healthy food.

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 farmers, but entire rural communities, water quality, and the long-term sustainability of our food system. His family-owned newspaper proves that independent food journalism can still hold powerful interests accountable. www.stormlake.com

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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 postgraduate degree in epidemiology. As a faculty member at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, he specializes in poultry health and food safety epidemiology – enhancing food safety and production efficiency. Waterfowl Alert Network (WFAN) helps agricultural producers reduce the spread of avian influenza by showing where migrating waterfowl are in relation to their farms. Using advanced radar modeling and field-tested epidemiological science, it provides daily risk forecasts that help poultry, cattle, and swine farms improve their biosecurity before the next outbreak strikes—giving producers a weather report for bird flu.