On this special edition of the Tractor Time podcast, hosted by Taylor Henry, CEO of Acres U.S.A., we delve into sustainable farming, regenerative practices, and organic certification with guest Sam Welsh from OneCert, Inc. This podcast was made possible by the partnership between Acres U.S.A. and OCIA. The USDA's Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP) is aimed at educating producers on transitioning to organic farming through white papers, webinars, podcasts, and on-farm events. Sam Welsh shares his journey from executive director at OCIA to founding OneCert in 2003 and its growth to include a global certification agency. The episode covers organic certification processes, the role of certifiers, integrity in the organic certification world, the new fraud prevention updates, and challenges with organic certification. Sam shares insights on the importance of record keeping, mentoring for aspiring organic farmers, and navigating the complexities of organic certification in the face of evolving standards and expectations.

On this episode, we speak with Eric & Joy McEwen, Owners of Diggin’ Livin’. They talk about the origin of the farm, the positive effects of having beehives for a landscape, the generic interplay with nature and the need for a new generation of beekeepers.  Thank you for listening. You can learn more about Acres U.S.A. at www.AcresUSA.com.

On this episode, we speak with Mollie Engelhart, Executive Chef at Sage Plant Based Bistro & Brewery and owner of Sow a Heart Regenerative Farm and Sovereignty Ranch. Mollie speaks about how her passion for the environment spurred her interest in the regenerative movement and the difficulties that come along with fighting for a better planet.  Thank you for listening. You can learn more about Acres U.S.A. at www.AcresUSA.com.

On this episode, we speak with Paul Neubauer, Farm Foreman at Vilicus Farms and owner of P/N Custom Grazing. Paul speaks about his passion for livestock integration with crop production and the inequalities that exist in the agricultural landscape.   Paul Neubauer is a young agrarian and first-generation farmer and rancher. Growing up in Buffalo, NY Paul did not get first-hand exposure to agriculture until after graduating high school when he worked on his uncle’s ranch in Tennessee. He was immediately attracted to raising livestock as well as agriculture in general, and was able to build on those interests while attending Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. While pursuing a degree in History, Paul worked on the school farm, learning about land management and animal husbandry, as well as equipment operation while raising crops and livestock for the students of Warren Wilson. After graduating from college, Paul apprenticed at the San Juan Ranch in Saguache, Colorado through Quivira’s New Agrarian Program. He spent two years working in the high and dry San Luis valley, continuing to grow his skillset in animal and land management. After his time as an apprentice, he continued to work in Colorado for a local rancher, managing a herd of cattle in nearby Gunnison.Paul is the Farm Foreman at Vilicus farms, and manages the day to day operations of the farm as well as managing his own cattle enterprise, P/N Ranch. He is committed to working at the intersection of crops, livestock, land health and people. Paul is certain we are not doing enough as a society to address climate change, the deeply unhealthy food system, massive and unsustainable inequality of the gender, racial, religious and economic kinds and the lack of livestock on U.S. cropland. His work as a foreman and mentor at Vilicus Farms, as well as his time as an apprentice in the NAP program have been in an effort to live closely to the land and pursue remedies to the aforementioned societal ills. Paul’s relationships with his agricultural mentors has been the essential catalyst for his joy in the work of growing food, and his small successes thus far. Inspired by his own experience as a mentee, Paul is dedicated to providing education, mentorship and his friendship to other beginning farmers and ranchers.Paul’s work with land, animals, food and people also extends past the farm gate as he is the president of the Cottonwood Local of Montana Farmers Union. Paul has represented the Montana Farmers Union at the National Farmers Union Convention, and works hard to help create and shape policies that will improve the health of the land and the livelihoods of those who manage it.   Thank you for listening. You can learn more about Acres U.S.A. at www.AcresUSA.com.

On this episode, we speak with Harry Greene, Co-founder of Propagate. Harry speaks about the creation of Propagate, how their software generates more profit per acre and the future of agroforestry.    Harry is an agroforestry agronomist, focusing on finance and economics for useful trees on working farms: orchards, windbreaks, silvopasture, and alley cropping. He spent years trail running, swimming, and kayaking made clear the connection between forests, clean air, and clean water. Before an MBA, Harry spent two years as a resident modern pentathlete at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center. He competed on the World Cup circuit in the United States, Mexico, and Egypt and at the 2015 World Championships in Berlin. Harry currently resides in Trumansburg, New York, farming chestnuts, black locust, and other tree crops on 50 acres.   Thank you for listening. You can learn more about Acres U.S.A. at www.AcresUSA.com.

On this episode, we speak with Kelly Mulville, Vineyard Director of Paicines Ranch. Kelly speaks about how his passion for holistic agriculture developed, the technics he employs at Paicines Ranch and the future of the industry.     For the past 25 years Kelly Mulville has managed and consulted with vineyards, farms and ranches throughout the western USA, Spain and Australia. His focus is on combining experience in farming and viticulture with holistic management in order to design and manage more ecologically, socially and economically sound farming practices. This usually involves a considerable amount of help from livestock.  Kelly has been vineyard director at Paicines Ranch since 2014 and does design/advising work for vineyards.   Thank you for listening. You can learn more about Acres U.S.A. at www.AcresUSA.com.

TRACTOR TIME #72: In this special episode #3 AcresUSA invites you to a special Podcast Series on Integrating Precision Analysis with Crop Input Applications. Learn how to use precision lab analysis to optimize crop input selection, application and timing while minimizing budget. Presented by Apical Crop Science Thank you for listening. You can learn more about AcresUSA at www.AcresUSA.com

TRACTOR TIME #71: In this special episode #2 AcresUSA invites you to a special Podcast Series on Integrating Precision Analysis with Crop Input Applications. Learn how to use precision lab analysis to optimize crop input selection, application and timing while minimizing budget. Presented by Apical Crop Science Thank you for listening. You can learn more about AcresUSA at www.AcresUSA.com

TRACTOR TIME #70: In this special episode #1 AcresUSA invites you to a special Podcast Series on Integrating Precision Analysis with Crop Input Applications. Learn how to use precision lab analysis to optimize crop input selection, application and timing while minimizing budget. Presented by Apical Crop Science Thank you for listening. You can learn more about AcresUSA at www.AcresUSA.com

In this episode ... and this is quite the invitation … we’re going to make you a bit uncomfortable. We’re going to talk about a lot of things going on in eco-agriculture and regenerative agriculture, but we’re not going to talk about soil health. In fact, we’re going to talk about money. We’re going to talk about the challenges built into the booming interest in the regenerative ag industry, what pieces are missing, and how the investors lining up at the gate can help – or they can hurt. To explore these topics, we’ll be talking with Lauren Manning, the owner of Ozark Pasture Beef and senior associate at Croatan Institute, an independent, nonprofit research and action institute whose mission is to build social equity and ecological resilience by leveraging finance to create pathways to a just economy. She talked to us from her farm in Arkansas, where it had just snowed for a little November surprise – or shock – but she still found a moment to talk. Tractor Time is brought to you by Sea-90 Ocean Minerals!  Sea-90 offers complete nutrient support for today’s farm, homestead, and ranch. With more than 90 minerals and trace elements in nature’s perfect balance, Sea-90 re-mineralizes soil, increases nutrient density, and elevates the vitality of your animals.   Web:  www.Sea-90.com Email:  info@seaagri.com Phone:  (770) 361-6092 Thank you for listening. You can learn more about Acres U.S.A. at www.AcresUSA.com.

On today’s episode of Acres U.S.A's Tractor Time sponsored by microBIOMETER, we’re going to live under the soil. We want to invite you too. Imagine a world where you could peek under your crops and see and hear what is going on. Where you could look into your flowerpot on your windowsill and see a whole universe of life. What you’d see would not only resemble Times Square, but Times Square Times Times Square times Times Square … or something like that. The cycle of life and the intelligence of nature is fully, and beautifully, at work. We are joined today by Laura Decker, the owner and operator of microBIOMETER, Dr. James White, a professor of plant biology at Rutgers, and Jeff Lowenfels, the author of several books, including a new one, Teaming with Bacteria. In our conversation, you will hear us try to establish why microbiology is an important topic for all farmers and ranchers today, and then go deep into what we know. How nutrients are brought to plants. How water can be stored. How nature resists some technology we are trying to force into it today. In the end, you’ll hear Jeff Lowenfels compare mycorrhizal fungi to the free love concept, we (unofficially) nominate Dr. James White for a Nobel Peace Prize, and Laura Decker talks about the future. Lowenfels is the author of the latest book, Teaming with Bacteria. You can find it, and all of his books, at AcresUSA.com. His entire collection is 30% off right now. Shop here" https://bookstore.acresusa.com/products/teaming-with-book-bundle Dr. White will be speaking in December at the Eco-Ag Conference & Trade Show in Covington, Kentucky. Laura Decker will be there too. So will I. We’ll see you there as well. You can register at EcoAg.AcresUSA.com SPONSOR MESSAGE: Improving the health of your soil is essential to increasing your output, but how can you tell if you are making progress? Research shows that microbial biomass — fungi and bacteria — is the leading indicator of soil health. Living soil fixes nutrients, improves plant immunity, stores water more efficiently and builds soil structure, therefore, a healthy level of microbes increases productivity while reducing inputs. There are more microbes in a handful of living soil than there are humans on this planet. We are just now starting to understand how vital the symbiosis is between plants and these microorganisms.  microBIOMETER® is a low cost, fast, on-site soil test for microbial biomass and fungal to bacterial ratio that allows you to quickly determine the health of your soil.  Order direct at microBIOMETER.com. Frequent retesting provides you with the data necessary to assess your soil management practice.

Anne and David recently published What Your Food Ate, a deep dive into the research around regenerative agriculture tactics. They read hundreds of research papers, talked with dozens of practitioners and ended up … hopeful. Listen in as they talk about their book, how they see us building a more resilient human being through changing our food supply to focus on nutrient density, microbiology and plain old common sense.

On this episode we welcome Anneliese Abbott. Her name may be familiar to Acres U.S.A. readers. She writes a monthly column called History of Organic Agriculture in America. It’s a must read that’s always full of surprises — and so is her first book, Malabar Farm: Louis Bromfield, Friends of the Land, and the Rise of Sustainable Agriculture. The book explores the life and legacy of a famous, Pulitzer Prize-wining novelist who became an Ohio-based, hard-partying prophet of a new kind of agriculture in the post-war era. It’s fascinating story that involves everything from Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall to wild parties, boxer dogs and techniques that now make up the foundation of sustainable agriculture. Abbott studied plant and soil science at The Ohio State University. She ran a Michigan CSA for four years. She’s now a graduate student in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Rick Clark is a fifth-generation farmer based in Warren County, Indiana, but he’s been spreading the no-till, organic gospel far and wide for the last few years. He gave a keynote address at the Acres U.S.A. Healthy Soil Summit back in the summer. And just this month he was a featured speaker at the Acres U.S.A. Eco-Ag Conference in Columbus, Ohio. And if you’ve ever heard Rick speak, you know how much of an evangelist he is for soil health and ecological farming. His enthusiasm is infectious. He’s definitely not hiding his light under a bushel. In fact, big food brands have started taking notice of Clark’s production methods. Rick was named Danone’s Sustainable Farmer of the Year in 2017. And Land O’ Lakes recently recognized his work with an Outstanding Sustainability Award. So why is Clark getting this attention? Because he’s proving that an obsessive focus on soil health — and not just on yield — can work at a commercial scale. His family has farmed near Williamsport, Indiana since the 1880s. Today, the family is producing organic corn, soybeans, wheat, alfalfa and more on 7,000 acres. Clark is quick to point out that they were, historically, among the worst offenders in terms of excessive tillage and toxic chemistry. But over the last 15 years or so, that’s all changed. Today, Clark is proving that no-till organic production methods can lead to both a profitable business and a healthy, balanced ecosystem. Yes, that means no till, no pesticides, no herbicides, no synthetic fertilizers. But it isn’t just about what he isn’t doing. Clark is also perfecting the craft of cover crops as well as the use of livestock within cropping systems. Clark says his strategy is to work with Mother Earth to create self-sustaining, closed loop ecological systems that are teeming with biodiversity. But he’s also obsessed with collecting data and using technology to his benefit. What he’s not obsessed with is yield. To him, it’s almost a five-letter word. The most important consideration, for Clark, is the long-term health of his land. And his vision might just be the future of agriculture. To find our more about Rick Clark, visit www.farmgreen.land.

On this episode we welcome Nicolette Hahn Niman. The name might sound familiar to some of you. She’s married to the pioneering California rancher Bill Niman, for one, but you might also know her as the author of two seminal works on ethical meat production, Righteous Porkchop and Defending Beef. Over the years, the former vegetarian and environmental attorney has become a passionate and outspoken advocate for sustainable food production and improved animal welfare. She’s published pieces on those topics in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, HuffPost, and The Atlantic. And Chelsea Green has just published a new and expanded edition of Defending Beef: The Ecological and Nutritional Case for Meat. A lot has happened since the first edition of the book was published back in 2007. Since then, cattle have become nearly synonymous with human-caused climate change and environmental destruction. But are cattle inherently bad? Or … is there another side to the argument? In this conversation, you’ll hear why she believes cattle, and other grazing animals, can be used as tools for restoring both human health and ecological balance. Beef, Niman argues, doesn’t have to remain an environmental villain. She believes that wisely managed livestock can help repair ecosystems, fight climate change and improve human health — all at the same time.

For the last twenty years, Beth Hoffman has worked as a journalist covering food and farming. Her work has been featured on NPR's Morning Edition, The Guardian, Latino USA, and the News Hour. She’s also taught journalism at university. And now she considers herself a full-time farmer. Although she lived much of her life on the west coast, in the San Francisco area specifically, she and her husband moved to rural Iowa a few years ago with the dream of taking over his family’s 530-acre farm. She tells that story in her new book, Bet the Farm: The Dollars and Sense of Growing Food in America, out now from Island Press. The book is part memoir and part exploration of the current state of the family farm. Use the coupon code NOVPOD at the acresusa.com bookstore for 10 % off on all titles.

On this episode we’re listening in on a recent virtual event for André Leu’s new book, Growing Life: Regenerating Farming and Ranching. And he’s getting a little help from his friends, Vandana Shiva and Ronnie Cummins. Leu, Shiva and Cummins go way back and co-founded Regeneration International back in 2015. The organization promotes food, farming and land-use systems that regenerate and stabilize climate systems, the health of the planet and people. In addition to being the international director for that group, Leu is also a farmer in Australia and the author of The Myths of Safe Pesticides and Poisoning Our Children. We here at Acres U.S.A. are proud to be the publisher of all of his books. I should also mention that he’s speaking at our Eco-Ag Conference in Columbus Ohio in December. Go to ecoag.acresusa.com for more information on that. Vandana Shiva is a world-renowned environmental thinker, activist, feminist, philosopher of science, writer and science policy advocate. She is the founder of Navdanya Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in India and President of Navdanya International. She is a prolific writer, speaker and author, and recipient of numerous awards. Find her books Food, Farming & Health and Oneness vs the 1% in the Acres U.S.A. bookstore. Ronnie Cummins is co-founder and International Director of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and its Mexico affiliate, Via Organica. Cummins has been active as a writer and activist since the 1960s. Over the past two decades he has served as director of US and international campaigns dealing with sustainable agriculture issues including food safety, genetic engineering, factory farming, and global warming. You can find his book, Grassroots Rising: A Call to Action on Climate, Farming, Food and Green New Deal in the acresusa.com bookstore.

On this episode of Tractor Time we welcome fourth generation South Dakota rancher Kelsey Ducheneaux-Scott. Kelsey is the director of programs for the Intertribal Agriculture Council, which seeks to build and restore indigenous foodways in Native American communities. She’s also a co-owner of DX Beef, a direct-to-consumer grassfed beef operation on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation. That’s where she grew up and that’s where she ranches today with her family. She’s passionate about soil health, land stewardship, education and bringing nutritious food to her community. She received a bachelor’s in Rangeland Management from South Dakota State University, a master’s of agriculture in Integrated Resource Management from Colorado State University, and she’s currently closing in on a doctorate in education at Northcentral University. Even though she’s still only in her 20s, she’s emerged as an important voice within the regenerative agriculture. For more information about Kelsey, visit dxbeef.com.

On this episode we’re discussing talking plants and smart insects with entomologist and author Dr. Joe Lewis. Lewis spent his career in entomology with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service at the Tifton Campus of the University of Georgia. It was there that he worked to unlock the secrets of how plants and insects communicate with one another, particularly how plants use SOS signals to recruit beneficial insects to their defense. Based on those groundbreaking insights, Lewis and his colleagues developed holistic and sustainable approaches to pest management within agricultural systems. In 2008, along with his colleagues John A, Pickett and James H. Tumlinson, Lewis received the prestigious Wolf Prize in Agriculture. Although Lewis has published papers in many academic and scientific journals, he’s just published his first book for Acres U.S.A. It’s call A New Farm Language: How a Sharecropper’s Son Discovered a World of Talking Plants, Smart Insects, and Natural Solutions. The book tells the story of Joe Lewis’s humble beginnings as the son of an illiterate Mississippi sharecropper and the hardscrabble, yet happy childhood he spent raising chickens and growing cotton. It was on that small, rented farm, which had no electricity or indoor plumbing, that Lewis developed a fondness for nature that would set him on an unlikely path toward becoming an eminent scientist and innovator. More than a memoir, A New Farm Language is a manifesto and mission statement confronting the abuses of industrial agriculture and defending the value of strong communities and natural solutions.

On this episode we welcome Brother Coyote himself, Gary Paul Nabhan. An agricultural ecologist, an ethnobotanist, a MacArthus “genius grant” winner, a professor and an Ecumenical Franciscan Brother, Nabhan is a true polymath. He’s a pioneering figure in the local food movement as well as the modern heirloom seed saving movement. He’s also the author of an almost countless number of books, including The Nature of Desert Nature, Food from the Radical Center: Healing Our Land and Communities, and Mesquite: An Arboreal Love Affair. His most recent book is called Jesus for Farmers and Fishers: Justice for All Those Marginalized by Our Food System. The book is a challenging, poetic and hopeful exploration of what the teachings of Jesus have to tell us about our modern food system and our relationship to the natural world. Even if you’re not religious, or even spiritual, I think this interview is still well worth your time — Nabhan has tapped into a deep and universal store of wisdom just when we need it most. I’ve been a long-time admirer — of his endless curiosity, of his versatility as a writer and of his rare insight when it comes to ethics, agriculture and science. He isn’t someone who spends much time raging at powerful institutions. He’s not always shaking his fists at corrupt corporations. Instead, he offers us pathways of hope, healing, purpose, abundance and justice. Nabhan’s spent much of his life working, often in the fields, to preserve both cultural folkways and biological diversity, two things he see’s as being inextricably linked. And his biography is so full of milestones that it’s impossible to fit all but a fraction of them here. Born in the early 1950s, Nabhan is a first-generation Lebanese American who was raised in Gary, Indiana. He has a B.A. in environmental biology from Prescott College in Arizona, an M.S. in plant sciences from the University of Arizona, and a Ph.D. in the interdisciplinary arid lands resource sciences, also from the University of Arizona. He’s served as director of conservation, research and collections at both the Desert Botanical Garden and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, where he did the research to help create the Ironwood Forest National Monument. He was the founding director of the Center for Sustainable Environments at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. He’s on the University of Arizona faculty as a research social scientist with the Southwest Center, where he now serves as the Kellogg Endowed Chair in Southwestern Borderlands Food and Water Security. He and his wife currently live in Patagonia, Arizona on a five-acre spread near Tucson. I could go on, but I’m eager to share this interview with you today. I hope you find as much inspiration as I did in this conversation with Gary Paul Nabhan. For more information, visit garynabhan.com.