Check out LSP’s ongoing Ear Bites podcast series for conversations on how we can build a resilient community-based food system. You can check out all 393 episodes of our Ear to the Ground podcast here.
Ear to the Ground 394: Canceling Commodities
As a farmer and entrepreneur, John Strohfus sees the production of food-grade crops as a key opportunity for regenerative farmers to forge links in a value chain based on building healthy soil.
Ear to the Ground 392: Diversity’s Diet
Farmer and small grains marketer Matt Kruger sees a rotation based on raising food grade crops as a way for farmers to get rewarded for building soil health. It’s also a way to fight the only thing he truly hates.
Ear to the Ground 386: A Farm to School Taste Test
How a small, rural school district is taking a trial run at sourcing food from local farmers.
Ear to the Ground 385: A Longer Local Lunch Season
Jeanine Bowman believes having locally produced food on her school’s menu shouldn’t be a special occasion — it should be a daily part of nourishing kids while supporting the farm economy.
Ear to the Ground 384: Power Play
Ag antitrust expert Austin Frerick sees the current food system as a mechanism for modern robber barons to treat rural communities as mere “extraction colonies.” But, he argues, changing how we eat isn’t enough — we need to disrupt how power is distributed all along the food chain (2 of 2 parts).
Ear to the Ground 381: A Key Ingredient
Chris MacLeod came to Mill City hoping to source local grain while pursuing his passion for baking. When confronted with the reality of the export-driven commodity system, he doubled down on connecting with local farmers.
Ear to the Ground 379: Proclaim Your Grain
Gilbert Williams is a pioneer in processing local grains for local markets. His advice? Go stand in the field, put your name on the package, and tell your story.
Ear to the Ground 378: Dumping the Doubts
Noreen Thomas got into organic crop farming almost three decades ago as a way to produce healthy food and survive economically. Today, she’s the mentor she never had.
Ear to the Ground 377: Flour Power
When Peter and Brittany Haugen sought to diversify their western Minnesota crop farm, they realized there was little infrastructure available to support small grains. So they forged their own link in the food chain by launching Sandhill Mill.
Ear to the Ground 362: Regenerative Return
When Roy Pfaltzgraff returned to his family’s northeastern Colorado cropping operation in 2016, he was committed to making farming a fulltime endeavor that built resilient soil, supported the community, and produced healthy food.(Second in a three-part series on small grains and community-based foods.)
Ear to the Ground 361: Additive Vs. Extractive 
Bob Quinn says regenerative farming and rural economic revitalization go hand-in-hand. For him, it all started with a handful of “King Tut’s wheat.” (First in a three-part series on small grains and community-based foods.)
Ear to the Ground 360: Food Bank Booster
At a time when rural residents are grappling with high food insecurity, an innovative Wisconsin program is connecting local farmers with local eaters.
Ear to the Ground 347: Bite-by-Bite
Mapping a rural region’s “community food assets” reveals isolated islands of opportunity in a sea of corn and soybeans. LSP’s Scott DeMuth says now is the time to connect the dots and create a new relationship between farmers, eaters, and the places they live in. For a transcript of this podcast, click here.
Ear to the Ground 335: Bumping Elbows
From raising produce and working in a restaurant to teaching food safety and managing a farmers’ market, Sara George has experienced “farm-to-fork” from just about every angle possible. This has given her invaluable insights into the barriers, and opportunities, involved with connecting farmers and institutional buyers.
Ear to the Ground 332: Real Food, Real Impact
Beverly Dougherty’s Real Food Hub is out to prove that connecting local farmers and local eaters makes sense nutritionally and financially — and is just plain fun.
Ear to Ground 331: Reality Check
Direct-marketing expert and farmer Ryan Pesch sees a lot of potential in the community/local food movement, but farmers hoping to enter that realm need to ask some key questions first.
Ear to the Ground 282: Kitchen Table Economics
LSP’s Amy Bacigalupo talks about why the organization is diving deep into helping communities build food systems that can stem the tide of commodities (and wealth) leaving the land.
Ear to the Ground 283: Ending the Extractive Economy
Ken Meter draws on decades of community analyses to explain why agriculture will never be truly regenerative until we fix our dysfunctional food system.
Ear to the Ground 284: Hive of Healthy Activity
From Kris Shelstad’s point of view, an empty building on Main Street is packed full of opportunities for revitalizing her hometown’s economic and cultural life, one conversation at a time.
Ear to the Ground 322: Lunchroom Stewardship
Aimee Haag is proving that farm-to-school arrangements can benefit kids, communities, and farmers…one tomato at a time.