Organic Farming Podcast – COVID-19 Episodes

Posted on April 21, 2020 by Taylor in Farming Practices, Farming Resources, Organic // 0 Comments

New Organic Farming Podcast From the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES)

MOSES has launched a new organic farming podcast, and the first 4 episodes focus on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on farmers (see the descriptions below). We hope you’ll share the show with your farmer networks and listen in to hear farmers’ concerns and innovative solutions. Find the show wherever you get your podcasts or connect to it online here: https://anchor.fm/moses-podcast.

Episode 1: Market Farming in a Pandemic

COVID-19 has forced us all to make big changes fast. This is especially true for market farmers. In our first organic farming podcast episode, we talk to vegetable growers Katie Bishop and Rebecca Henderson on how they’ve adjusted so far, as well as online marketing expert Janelle Maiocco on how to quickly get started in online sales.

Episode 2: Organic Grain & the Coronavirus

How is the coronavirus affecting organic grain farmers? What effect might the pandemic have on commodity prices? Chuck gets a market forecast from Ryan Koory of Mercaris. Then he talks to Organic Specialist Carmen Fernholz, a longtime organic grain farmer, and his farm partner, Luke Peterson, to see what they’re doing to weather these unsettling times.

Episode 3: Farmer Mental Health in this Crisis

With the incredible uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are experiencing mental health problems for the first time, and the added stress is worsening many peoples’ underlying mental health conditions. For this episode, Chuck has candid conversations with Emily Krekelberg, head of Minnesota Extension’s Rural Stress Task Force, and farmer and farm advocate Rick Adamski of Seymour, Wisconsin. They have personal experience with mental health issues and draw from those experiences to help others. These conversations can help you recognize mental health issues in yourself or others and give you suggestions on how to address them.

Episode 4: Produce Safety and COVID-19

How does the coronavirus impact produce safety? How much do you have to worry about surfaces? How do you keep yourself, your workers, and your customers safe? The COVID-19 pandemic is creating a lot of questions for market farmers. In this podcast for farmers, produce safety expert Annalisa Hultberg from the University of Minnesota Extension has science-based answers to help you understand best practices for flattening the curve and feeding your community at the same time. MOSES Organic Specialist and organic fruit farmer Rachel Henderson provides a farmer’s take.

COVID-19 Resources for Farmers

To support farmers during this pandemic, MOSES has posted a webpage with helpful resources about online selling, grants and loans, and health and safety measures. The page links to our Community Calendar to access the growing number of webinars related to farming and marketing during these unusual times. If you know of resources to add to this page, please reply to me. We’d like this information hub to be as comprehensive as possible to make it easy for farmers to quickly find the resources they need.