Growing For Market Podcast Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kulla

This week we hear from Joshua Hughes, who is the Fresh Moves Logistics Coordinator for the Fresh Moves Mobile Market, one of the many programs of the non-profit Urban Growers Collective in Chicago. Host Katie Kulla talks with Joshua about the UGC and their work in general, but more specifically about how the organization is working to “close the food access gap.” Expanding access to food is something we’ve talked about before on this podcast and it’s something that motivates many farmers and organizations to think outside the box when it comes to marketing and distributing produce — UGC and the Fresh Moves Mobile Market represent some truly innovative thinking on the part of many people committed to evolving food systems.

Growers have long used deposits from ancient seas as a source of micronutrients- and over 50 years ago, Dr. Maynard Murray started researching the use of minerals- naturally dried and derived from mineral-rich seawater- as a source of micronutrients. Today on the podcast we talk with Chief Mineral Officer Michael Sileck about how Sea-90 Ocean Minerals continues the work of Dr. Murray today, through their naturally-dried, unprocessed and unrefined soil amendments.

REKO rings gained popularity during the pandemic as a way to keep selling direct to the public when markets were shut down. One of the obstacles to more widespread adoption of the REKO system- reliance on closed Facebook groups to communicate with customers- has been eliminated by Tyler Taggart and REKO Hub. They have developed software to facilitate REKO rings without using Facebook, plus the software is free for producers to use. Instead of charging producers, a small fee is charged to customers when they place an order through REKO Hub.

This week we talk with Hannah Rose Weber and Nate Lada, two of the owners at Green Things Farm Collective in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Green Things is a majority women-owned farm business that has evolved out of several businesses. Nate and his wife Jill first started Green Things farm in 2011 at a local farm incubator program. Then they purchased 64 acres where the farm is now settled. In 2020, Green Things joined with Ann Arbor Seed Company and the Land Loom to expand production, share management of running a diverse farm business and develop a model of sustainable, cooperative, and responsible farming. They offer seasonal vegetables and flowers to their local markets through various channels as well as beef.

We step back and look at the big picture in this wide-ranging conversation with Jean-Martin Fortier, talking about the systemic barriers to local food and farmers and strategies to overcome them. We also talk about Jean-Martin’s many projects, including the recently-released Heirloom farm planning software, and his forthcoming podcast.

On this week’s pod we talk with Brian Campbell and Crystine Goldberg. They own Uprising Seeds, the Certified Organic, farm-based seed business in Bellingham, WA. Brian and Crystine started as fresh market growers in 2004, growing specialty produce for local restaurants, food coops, and farmers markets. During that time they also started one of the country's first food-stamp based CSA programs.