Inspiring Stories Archives

OUR MISSION

Connecting you with our food system and its value in our daily lives — from dirt to dinner.

Inspiring Stories

Helping global food producers tell their stories by showcasing various types of farmers, ranchers, processors, and other industry professionals

Digging in with Ethan Meissner, FFA Entrepreneurship Winner

Ethan, member of Wisconsin's FFA chapter, has been employed at a local meat processing facility since he was 15. The skills he learned on the job helped him to become a national proficiency winner in the area of Agricultural Processing Entrepreneurship/Placement. Let's hear what he has to say about his experience thus far!

Food Production

Digging in: Dancing Vineyard's Cynthia & Lauren Russell

Sit down with a glass of your favorite wine and listen to Lucy's conversation with her friends, Cynthia and Lauren Russell, a mother-daughter team that purchased land to start their own vineyard in Sonoma County, California.

Soil and Crop Management

Soil Science with FFA's Elszy

Listen in as we talk with Brennan about his involvement in the Future Farmers of America program and his award-winning research on plant and soil sciences.

Soil and Crop Management

New England Farm Connects Soil to Health

Steve McMenamin, manager of Versailles Farms in Connecticut, operates at the forefront of regenerative agriculture. His farm's mission? To grow food for the community with an emphasis on nutrient density, flavor, and good digestion.

Soil and Crop Management

Feeding the World while Healing the Planet

The Nature Conservancy's Global Regenerative Food Systems Director, Saswati Bora, provides a new way of thinking about solving humanitarian, climate and biodiversity crises with the introduction of Foodscapes.

Food Production, Food Security

Newtrient's Carbon Quest

This Digging In episode explores finding a sustainable way to provide all the food we need and while protecting our environment. Listen in as Mark Stoermann and Jamie Vander Molen provide an upbeat overview of the ag world’s efforts to combat climate change with Newtrient.

FFA's Kayla Rossi: Responsibly Managing Livestock

Supporting ag's future is paramount to feeding a growing population. This requires advancements from our farmers and scientists. FFA's Kayla Rossi contributes to this endeavor with her family's responsibly managed livestock operation.

Soil and Crop Management

Jupiter Ridge: Regenerative Stewards of the Land

Will Lorentzen and Adrian White of Jupiter Ridge Farm detail their experience with regeneratively-grown farming practices in Iowa. Their long-term objectives can shape our understanding of what regenerative ag really looks like.

Soil and Crop Management

FFA's Nicholas Mello: The Importance of Seed Science

In partnership with the Future Farmers of America, we will be highlighting a series of finalists from 2020 and 2021 to share their stories and passions. Today, read about Nicholas Mello of California and his hybrid corn seed experimentation.

Agricultural Technology, Soil and Crop Management

Toigo's Transition from Tomatoes to Cannabis

Mark Toigo was forced to pivot his multi-generational farm when low-cost foreign tomatoes flooded the organic market. Toigo converted his tomato crops to cannabis to save his struggling farm, and perhaps a few lives along the way...

Five Reasons Why I Started Using Conservation Practices On My Farm

This article was written by Keith Mears, who farms with his family near Delphi, Indiana, and is a Conservation Steward with America’s Conservation Ag Movement.

Conservation

Regenerative Ag in Your Own Backyard

To an expanding array of people from the inner city to suburbia and beyond, the ideas behind the regenerative ag movement are changing our thinking about the role we play in sustaining our food system...and the health of our environment.

Soil and Crop Management

Foster Brothers Farm: Covering Good Ground

Farmers like Bob Foster of Foster Brothers Farms in Vermont, increase their soil's health by implementing cover crops and no-till farming into their cultivation practices. But these strategies go on to improve global health, too...

Soil and Crop Management

Q&A with FFA’s Tyler Gardner

Future Farmers of America member, Tyler Gardner, is one hard-working college student. His work at his family’s cranberry marsh has evolved his mission to produce healthy and sustainable food for generations to come.

Soil and Crop Management

Behind the Scenes with a Local Beef Farmer

Dave and Holly Albert, owners of Misty Mountain Farms, raise cattle for their local Pennsylvanian market. Their operation runs on a strong value system, adherence to conservation, continued profitability, and consumer relationships.

Food Production, Soil and Crop Management

FarmLink: Connecting Food Waste to Food Security

It’s no secret that COVID has had a huge impact on our food system. Bottlenecks in the supply chain have led to farmers dumping excess milk, plowing over perfectly good produce, and some cuts of meats not even making its way to grocery stores, let alone to food banks for those who need it most. FarmLink, an organization connecting food banks to food producers, is leading the way so that fresh, healthy, safe food is available and plentiful for all those in need of assistance.

Food Security

Demanding Equality: Women Farmers in Africa

These days, it feels hard to find stories of unity and empowerment. But here are three women farmers in Africa who not only challenge the status quo, but have dramatically improved their local economies...and beyond.

Agricultural Labor, Food Security, Soil and Crop Management

A Farmer's Life on the U.S.-Mexico Border

The American ideal of providing a haven and opportunity for those seeking a better life is alive and well. But the harsh realities that come from illegal immigration threaten to undercut that spirit of hope and optimism. While many farmers and ranchers depend on an immigrant workforce to help with their animals and harvests every year, some are at the front lines. Russell Johnson, a fourth-generation New Mexico rancher whose farm borders Mexico, faces these challenges every day. Which begs the question: how can we continue to fortify an agricultural workforce while protecting our farmers at the border?

Agricultural Labor

What's happening at our local grocers during COVID-19?

How are local grocers handling the increase in demand due to COVID-19? How are their supplier channels set up to meet the ebb and flow of particular products? And what changes must be made to address employee needs during this fragile time? We turn to a local Midwest grocer, Heinen's, for their insights...

Food Production, Food Safety

Bettering Farms in Zimbabwe...and Beyond

Nyasha Mudukuti of Cornell's Alliance for Science writes about the challenges facing her family's farm in Zimbabwe. Nyasha's dream is to help her continent see the importance of biotechnology in agriculture and use it to improve the livelihoods of African smallholder farmers.

Agricultural Technology, Food Security

Cork & Cow: FFA Spotlight on Emily Matzke

We would like to introduce FFA member, Emily Matzke. Her passion for ag was rediscovered in FFA and now she’s developing a business plan to tie her love of ag and local food products together to make a unique frozen treat!

D2D on the Farm

People and Nature: Thriving Together in the African Grasslands

Animal Welfare and Health, Conservation

Ag in the Classroom: FFA Spotlight on Lauren LaGrande

We would like to introduce Lauren LaGrande, an exemplary member of Future Farmers of America. Her education in ag started on her family farm and has taken her back to the classroom. Lauren's mission is to educate future generations about something that connects all of us – where our food comes from. Here is her story told from her point of view.

D2D on the Farm

Soil Health: A Personal Chronology of a Global Paradigm Shift

Tillage in croplands is one of the primary drivers of land degradation, but it doesn’t need to be. Join TNC's Michael Doane as he experiences zero-tillage cropping systems with farmers in India, and beyond.

Soil and Crop Management

Coffee: Uniting Our Worlds

Our morning brew is so much more than just another beverage! Each cup connects us with the farmers along the equator. And the crop's proximity to rainforests and mountains highlights the importance of sustainable farming. To bring our cup of joe to life, we introduce sustainability-rated Colombian coffee producer, Finca El Ocaso.

Food Ingredients, Food Production, Food Trade

Our Agricultural Extension Service: From Gardening to Food Safety

Did you know that we all have a tremendous service available in our local vicinity? In 1914, the federal government created the modern agricultural extension services program designed to teach people not just how to farm productively, but how we all can benefit from that agricultural system for a better life. And it still thrives today.

Soil and Crop Management

Are GMOs Bad for the Environment?

Here is a different way to spell the word green: Genetic Engineering. GE technology includes genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which some critics claim harm the environment. But in reality, GMO crops help farmers use pesticides responsibly, conserve water and increase soil health while increasing their crop yield.

Food Technology, Soil and Crop Management

Solein: A Space-Age Protein

We’ve heard of animal-based protein, cell-based protein, and plant-based protein like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat…but what about air-based protein? Solar Foods found a way to reverse carbon emissions by pioneering a protein with carbon dioxide and renewable electricity. This is a feat with potential to address sustainability and world hunger concerns alike. But how feasible is this protein?

Food Security, Food Technology

On the Farm & In the Books: FFA Spotlight on Katherine Smith

Katherine Smith, a Future Farmers of America member, strives to help smallholder farmers achieve profitability through financial stability and process improvement, and her mission is to make that happen. Here's her story...

D2D on the Farm

Fair Oaks Farms: Taking Responsibility

Fair Oaks Farms has come under scrutiny for inhumane treatment to its calves. Find out how the farm's CEO has taken responsibility to better the operations of the farm, as well as the industry as a whole.

Animal Welfare and Health

The Farm Babe: An Ag Love Story

Have you ever bought something labeled organic or all-natural because it sounded ‘healthier’, even though you didn’t really know what it meant? Or quickly decided that GMOs and antibiotics are bad, without understanding why a farmer uses them? What if I told you that The Farm Babe, one of the most influential social advocates for the science behind agriculture, was once in your shoes?

D2D on the Farm

Palm Oil: In Pursuit of Sustainability

Every day, consumers are unwittingly caught in a catch-22. Palm oil, an ingredient in many of the foods we eat and products we use daily, has a reputation for deforestation and habitat destruction. But there is a solution: growing it sustainably.

Food Production

Rallying for our Flooded Farmers

The ongoing flooding in Nebraska and Iowa has pushed many farmers over the edge, making the next harvest an impossibility for some. Many have lost their homes, their farms, and their livelihood. Here is how you can help.

Food Production, Food Regulations & Policy, Food Security

Venezuela in Crisis: A Starving Nation

Hungry citizens, lost jobs, violence, and a mass exodus of millions. It’s the story of a society melting down before our very eyes. How are Venezuelans managing to eat?

D2D On the Farm: The Row We Hoe

As consumers crave locally grown fruits, vegetables, eggs, and meat, local farms answer the call. But maintaining a farm and being profitable is a challenge. D2D visits with 4th generation Hindinger Farm in Hamden, Connecticut.

D2D on the Farm

Saving Chocolate, One 'Kiss' at a Time

As you enjoy sweet chocolate confections today, consider this – the cacao tree is under threat from deforestation, pests and diseases, and climate change. Can it be saved by scientific intervention? Ethos Chocolate has come up with a clever promotion to help consumers embrace the possibility.