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Brittany Moreland:The Yellowstone Valley Food Hub
Above: Brittany Moreland at her farm in Luther, Montana. “I’m a native Montanan and have always had an interest in agriculture,” said farmer Brittany Moreland in Luther, Montana. Brittany grew up in central Montana with summers spent helping on the family grain farm. Despite Brittany’s exposure to agriculture, she went on to study at…
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Omega Beef:Grass, Water and Community
Above: Jeanie Alderson and Terry Punt at their home in Birney, Montana. Jeanie Alderson and Terry Punt live and work at Bones Brothers Ranch in Birney, Montana. Together with Jeanie’s father, two sisters and their families, they own and operate Bones Brothers Ranch. Jeanie is a fourth-generation rancher. “I’m really proud to be part…
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Shiloh Valley Family Farm
Theresa Shaw stands in a greenhouse at Shiloh Valley Family Farm as dark storm clouds fill the sky. Her youngest son, 5-year-old David, hangs on her hip as she begins her story. “The Farmer Veteran Coalition provided us a grant to buy this greenhouse as we were expanding into vegetables,” said Theresa. The…
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Steve Charter: Soil Health
Third-generation rancher Steve Charter is changing the story about agriculture. “When you use fertilizer, herbicide, pesticide, over-till and overgraze, you mess up the entire relationship of the soil and the plant,” said Steve. Over the past 70 years modern agriculture’s reliance on additives has depleted soil, polluted waterways, significantly increased greenhouse gas emissions and…
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Tom Varcalli
Above: Tom Varcalli at his home in Sheridan, Wyoming. Tom Varcalli wants to see farms supporting families again. In 2017, the U.S. Department of Agriculture noted that the average American farm operated at a net loss — requiring off-farm income and health insurance just to break even. “The farm can make money — but not…
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Wink Davis: Commitment to Consumers over the Industrialization of Small Scale Farms
On his sixtieth birthday, Wink Davis gave himself a present. He and his wife, Max Eisele, bought a farm in Hotchkiss, Colorado. Today, Wink and Max raise certified organic peaches, apples, wine grapes, table grapes and Babydoll Southdown sheep. And there’s the winery. Mesa Winds Farms & Winery rests in the North Fork Valley,…
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Scott Horner on the Farm Bill
The Farm Bill dictates the origin of your food, the economic health of your community, the amount of control of big agriculture and factory farms, subsidies and who gets them, the price of your groceries, and whether or not you know where the food you eat comes from. It’s easy to write off the…
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Wyoming Food Freedom Act Provides Opportunity for Producers
Joe Wesnitzer was surrounded by the gentle hum of a heater while working in his greenhouse harvesting fresh lettuce in late October — a rarity in Wyoming. Outside, his herd of Scottish Highland cattle grazed the frosty ground. The sun was just beginning to set but Joe was still hard at work preparing for…
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Young Roots Farm: Mindful Food for Mindful People
In the hills above Sutton Creek, southeast of Baker City, Oregon, a group of Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs trot over sagebrush and bunchgrass filled pastures towards farmer Amy Young. She stands on a paddock smiling and ready to greet them. “My pigs are the happiest pigs you’ll ever come across,” Amy says, scratching one…
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Susan Boyd: The Green Revolution
Susan Boyd at her farm in Union, Oregon. Today there is enough food produced to feed the entire world. Yet, an estimated 795 million people around the world go hungry. Even in the United States, where the majority of farming is industrialized, large-scale and operated on ideals that “America is feeding the world,” 1…