The Delta region of Arkansas is an area of intensive chemical agriculture. The controversial herbicide Dicamba is used heavily in the area, sprayed by airplane over thousands of acres of crops like corn and soybeans. In Phillips County, in the heart of the Delta, one community dreams of an organic farm. Kate speaks with Martin and Jennifer about the efforts to establish an organic farm in Phillips County and the challenges they’re up against.

The Taproot Podcast is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance and to grow the greater organic community. Learn more at organictransition.org [http://organictransition.org/].

Follow and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Guest Bios

Martin Blocker is a farmer and lifelong resident of Phillips and Desha County. His family has been in the area for at least 160 years. He is an active organizer in the effort to establish an organic farm in Phillips County. He is trying to pass along the landmark knowledge of his ancestors to the next generation.

Jennifer Hadlock is a community organizer, genealogist, movement lawyer, and member of New Day Landmark Collective. She learned about the Elaine Massacre of 1919 as a Board member of the Fund for Reparations Now!! and was subsequently asked by Black massacre descendants and supporters to research land ownership and theft in Phillips County, Arkansas.

Helpful Links

 * New Day Landmark Collective [https://www.newdaylandmarkcollective.org/]
 * Arkansas official says vandals targeted him over dicamba [https://apnews.com/6c050cd64dfaa5fc83d8acb94787db94], Associated Press
 * The Elaine Riot, [https://archive.org/details/TheArkansasRaceRiot/page/n1/mode/2up] Ida B. Wells
 * These Walls Can Talk [https://if-these-walls-could-talk.shorthandstories.com/these-walls-can-talk/index.html], Elaine Legacy Center
 * American Congo: African American Freedom Struggle in the Delta [https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1m46fx0], Nan Woodruff

Credits

This work was funded and supported by the USDA National Organic Program, the Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP) [https://www.organictransition.org/]

Produced by Kate Cowie-Haskell. [https://airmedia.org/talent/kate-cowie-haskell]

Podcast art by Geri Shonka.

Music:

 * Chiado by Jahzarr, from the Free Music Archive
 * Gentle Rain by John Bartmann, from the Free Music Archive

Going for Organic in the Arkansas Delta

In the 90s, a small team of researchers from the University of Missouri tasted some elderberry wine and wondered why this ubiquitous native fruit wasn’t a part of local farming operations. Nearly three decades later, Missouri leads the country in elderberry production. Kate speaks with Patrick Byers and David Buehler, two people who helped build the domestic elderberry market, about the cross-sector collaborations that made it possible.

The Taproot Podcast is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance and to grow the greater organic community. Learn more at organictransition.org [http://organictransition.org/].

Follow and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Guest Bios

Patrick Byers, recently retired from the position of Horticulture Field Specialist with the Webster County office of University of Missouri Extension, was born in Nebraska and raised in the Midwest. His educational background includes horticulture degrees from the Universities of Nebraska, Missouri, and Arkansas. Patrick’s 33-year career touched all aspects of horticulture, and his most recent job focused on advisement to fruit and vegetable farmers with the goal of supporting sustainability and profitability. His passions include berries (especially elderberry), garlic, native fruits and nuts, hops and orchids. In retirement he is developing his own homestead on 24 rocky Ozark acres in south Missouri.

David Buehler, known to most simply as Farmer Dave, is the founder and driving force behind Buehler Farms, which he owns and operates alongside his wife and business partner, Ann Buehler. Their farm sits on land that has been in Dave’s family since 1899. Buehler Farms serves as the umbrella company for their broader elderberry ecosystem, including ElderFarms, which produces finished consumer elderberry wellness products, and Nobleberry, their emerging functional elderberry soda line.

Dave has spent years studying and refining elderberry production, from nursery propagation to large-scale orchard design. Buehler Farms supports growers across the region through custom American elderberry installations with a berry buyback program, raw bulk product supply, and practical, experience-based consulting. His approach centers on clear communication, proven methods, and helping growers create real opportunities to diversify and strengthen their operations.

Dave’s vision is simple: help build a strong regional elderberry network where the small, ordinary farmer can thrive.

Helpful Links

 * Elder Farms [https://elderfarms.com/]
 * Elderberries are a successful niche crop at a crossroads: go big or stay small [https://www.kmuw.org/agriculture/2023-07-24/elderberries-are-a-successful-niche-crop-at-a-crossroads-go-big-or-stay-small]

Credits

This work was funded and supported by the USDA National Organic Program, Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP) [https://www.organictransition.org/]

Produced by Kate Cowie-Haskell [https://airmedia.org/talent/kate-cowie-haskell]

Podcast art by Geri Shonka

Thank you to Jackie Casteel and Will Chiles for the inspiration for this episode.

Music:

 * Ghost Solos by Lucas Gonze, from the Free Music Archive
 * Chasin It by Jason Shaw, from the Free Music Archive

Developing Domestic Elderberry Production and Markets

Synthetic fibers make up 70% of the current fiber market. Natural fibers like flax linen and wool were once produced domestically as a necessity for clothing families– but today natural fiber production is largely relegated to hobbyists. Today’s guest is Charis Walker, a shepherd and sustainable wool advocate based in Southern Ohio. Charis and Kate talk about the motivation for organic practices in fiber farming and the place of fiber in US agriculture.

The Taproot Podcast is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance and to grow the greater organic community. Learn more at organictransition.org [http://organictransition.org/].

Follow and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Guest Bios

Charis Walker is chief animal manager and shepherd of Tarheelbilly Farm in Willow Wood, Ohio. As a North Carolina native, is the Tarheel in Tarheelbilly Farm. A self-taught spinner, she also knits and weaves, and shears the flock. Her award-winning fleeces are sold to fiber aficionados far and wide, and her roving and yarn appreciated by fiber artists across the country.

Helpful Links

 * Tarheelbilly Farm [https://tarheelbillyfarm.com/]
 * Rustbelt Fibershed [https://rustbeltfibershed.com/]
 * Is there hope for a wool market in US Agriculture? [https://www.agdaily.com/livestock/is-there-hope-for-a-wool-market-in-u-s-agriculture/]
 * From Closet to Bloodstream: The Silent Microplastics Crisis in Fashion [https://www.forbes.com/sites/dianneplummer/2025/05/31/from-closet-to-bloodstream-the-silent-microplastics-crisis-in-fashion/]

Credits

This work was funded and supported by the USDA National Organic Program, Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP) [https://www.organictransition.org/]

Hosted and produced by Kate Cowie-Haskell [https://airmedia.org/talent/kate-cowie-haskell]

Podcast art by Geri Shonka

Music:

 * Chasin It by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive
 * Ghost Solos by Lucas Gonze, Free Music Archive

Fields of Fleece - Fiber Farming in Ohio

Right tree, right place, right time. That’s one way to think about agroforestry, a farming methodology and movement that advocates for intentionally incorporating trees into farm operations as a way to support farm businesses and community health. Kate speaks with Kaitie Adams of the Savanna Institute and Liz and Nate Brownlee of Nightfall Farm about why trees are a critical part of the Midwest’s farming future.

The Taproot Podcast is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance and to grow the greater organic community. Learn more at organictransition.org [http://organictransition.org/].

Follow and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Guest Bios

Liz and Nate Brownlee are livestock farmers in southeast Indiana. Together, they run Nightfall Farm, on Liz's family's land. They've converted fifty acres of corn and soybean land to silvopasture, where they rotationally graze meat chickens, laying hens, turkeys, pigs, and sheep. Their grazing practices sequester carbon and raise animals with care – which turns into very tasty meat and eggs. Find Nightfall goods via their CSA, at local restaurants and independent groceries, and farmers markets. All of this work is motivated by a love for the natural world, a desire to fight climate change, and a belief that food can bring people together.

Kaitie Adams leads the Demonstration and On-Farm Education Team at the Savanna Institute. Based in flat lands of East-Central Illinois, her work focuses on creative ways to connect people, build abundance, and create new futures on landscapes and in communities through perennial cropping systems. Her background in anthropology (M.A., 2015, SIUC) helps illuminate the deep ecological and social connections created through agriculture and informs her work on the ground. Adams is drawn to agroforestry for its powerful reimagining of a future that is abundant, perennial, and beautiful. Adams also teaches community classes on seasonal cooking, fermentation, and canning when not rambling around with her veggie-farming husband and rambunctious daughter.

Helpful Links

 * Savanna Institute [https://www.savannainstitute.org/about-us/]
 * Nightfall Farm [https://www.nightfallfarm.com/]
 * Agroforestry Could Transform Farming in the Midwest [https://www.earth.com/news/agroforestry-could-transform-farming-in-the-midwest/]
 * In This World ~Wendell Berry [http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/wendell_berry/poems/133#google_vignette]

Credits

This work was funded and supported by the USDA National Organic Program, Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP) [https://www.organictransition.org/]

Hosted and produced by Kate Cowie-Haskell [https://airmedia.org/talent/kate-cowie-haskell]

Podcast art by Geri Shonka

Music:

 * Chiado by Jahzzar, Free Music Archive, CC BY-SA
 * Poor Man’s Groove by Mr. Smith, Free Music Archive, CC0 1.0 Universal License

Branching Out with Agroforestry in Indiana

Hannah Breckbill joins us for this episode of the Taproot Project to explore the networks that support queer farmers in the rural Midwest. Hannah founded Humble Hands Harvest in Decorah, Iowa, in 2016 – a worker-owned organic farm cooperative that produces about 30 types of vegetables, fruit, nuts and grass-finished lamb on 22 acres. She talks with Kate about what’s helped her thrive in her life as a farmer, why so many queer people want to farm, and the importance of community.

The Taproot Podcast is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance and to grow the greater organic community. Learn more at organictransition.org [http://organictransition.org/].

You can find new episodes from The Taproot Project wherever you get your podcasts.

Guest Bio

Hannah Breckbill [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Xx1MW-Jqk-b38i1f1AkISIzRE9QWxOrT/view?usp=drive_link](she/they) loves to show up, to go deep, and to channel the power of relationships into right-sized action. She dedicates her community involvement to developing ever-better alternatives to conventional systems. She is a worker-owner at Humble Hands Harvest, a diversified direct-market farm in rural northeast Iowa, and is grateful for rain.

Helpful Links

 * Humble Hands Harvest [https://humblehandsharvest.com/]
 * Queer Farmer Network  [https://www.queerfarmernetwork.org/]
 * Wildcrafting Our Queerness Project: Metronormativity blog [https://maxwellcloe.com/education/wildcrafting/metronormativity]
 * Greater Minnesota Two-Spirit & LGBTQIA+ History Map [https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/ff9c23776f1d4b729caac2d034f2a09f]
 * Surveying queer farmers: How heteropatriarchy affects farm viability and farmer well-being in U.S. agriculture [https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/1155/1127]
 * Mennonite Church USA [https://www.mennoniteusa.org/who-are-mennonites/faq-about-mennonites/]

Credits

This work was funded and supported by the USDA National Organic Program, Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP) [https://www.organictransition.org/]

Hosted and produced by Kate Cowie-Haskell [https://airmedia.org/talent/kate-cowie-haskell]

Podcast art by Geri Shonka

Music:

 * Chasin It by Jason Shaw, Tunez by HoliznaCC0
 * Ghost Solos by Lucas Gonze– all from the Free music Archive

Meet Hannah - A queer farmer thriving in rural Iowa

The prairie was once one of the largest and most ecologically complex ecosystems in the world. Today, most of that prairie has been replaced for farmland. Kate explores how the prairie is, and can be, part of our agricultural world through conversations with people who are restoring prairies in the Upper Midwest and advocating for the return of the prairie’s most important and iconic resident: the American Buffalo.

The Taproot Project is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance, and to grow the greater organic community. Learn more at organictransition.org [http://organictransition.org/].

You can find new episodes from The Taproot Project wherever you get your podcasts.

Guest Bios

Dawn Sherman [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uZzdnvAYb3FrXGhkb65EFzBpnExrwi6j/view?usp=drive_link] is passionate about returning Buffalo to Native lands, and improving the lives and economies of Native Communities. She brings more than 25 years of business expertise and entrepreneurial skills to her role as a founding board member and executive director of Tanka Fund. She is a member of the InterTribal Buffalo Council, where she represents her tribe, the Delaware Tribe of Indians of Bartlesville, serves as a founding board member of The Regenerative Agriculture Alliance, and represents her tribe on the board of the American Woolen Company.

David Wise [https://drive.google.com/file/d/18pWfZV1iFstLc23-Zi8bemsxk6Qug2De/view?usp=drive_link] is a descendant of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the co-founder of Native Wise LLC, a farm focused on soil health, restorative farming and Indigenous agricultural practices. David and his wife Patra established a ranch in 2022 to establish their first bison herd and currently supply bison products to customers across the Midwest, with a focus on sharing cultural knowledge of bison with their community.

Mary Mallinger [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sjC_bIBpbB3kuGPbb_-DJW0NqWPD0d9L/view?usp=drive_link] is a Conservation and Engagement Biologist working for the Minnesota Zoo, with a master’s in Biological and Environmental Sciences from the University of Rhode Island. She has spent an extensive amount of time with the Minnesota Zoo researching bison and their effects on Midwestern land.

Helpful Links

 * Native Wise LLC and Dancing Crane Ranch [https://nativewisellc.net/dancing-crane-ranch/]
 * What Happened to the Bison? [https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/what-happened-to-the-bison.htm]
 * A Complex Prairie Ecosystem [https://www.nps.gov/tapr/learn/nature/a-complex-prairie-ecosystem.htm]
 * Minnesota Bison Conservation Herd [https://mnzoo.org/conservation/minnesota/bison-conservation-minnesota/]
 * Tanka Fund [https://www.tankafund.org/]

Credits

This project was funded and supported by the USDA National Organic Program, Transition to Organic Partnership Program [https://www.organictransition.org/]

Hosted and produced by Kate Cowie-Haskell [https://airmedia.org/talent/kate-cowie-haskell]

Podcast art by Geri Shonka

Music and sounds:

 * I Want to Destroy Something Beautiful by Josh Woodward, Free Music Archive, CC BY
 * Remnants of Effervescence by Brylie Christopher, Free Music Archive, CC BY
 * Bison bellowing - Yellowstone National Park by Nivatius -- https://freesound.org/s/519594/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
 * Bodhisatva_PBP_Common_Yellowthroat.wav by Bodhisatva -- https://freesound.org/s/81764/ -- License: Attribution 3.0

Restoring Midwest Prairies and Reviving Indigenous Traditions

There is a robust and growing network of grassroots organizations supporting Detroit’s urban farming and food sovereignty movement. Kate speaks with Erin Cole and Shakara Tyler, two farmers and organizers working closely with the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network (DBCSFN), about their current projects and the values behind their vision.

The Taproot Podcast is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance and to grow the greater organic community. Learn more at organictransition.org [https://www.organictransition.org/].

You can find new episodes from The Taproot Project wherever you get your podcasts.

Guest Bios

Erin Cole [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i9PpWejvuI8mbrV2pm5mF5jn1zfiAqLm/view?usp=drive_link\]is a long-time Detroiter, educator, and urban farmer. She co-founded Nurturing Our Seeds nearly 15 years ago, born directly from a community need and built through a community-supported initiative. Nurturing Our Seeds is grounded in values of food justice and self-determination. They currently operate a CSA serving over 30 families and lead various community-driven programs that center food education, wellness, and land stewardship

Shakara Tyler [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ygAp4twWg9Ti15Q6coxcykkuaQTKeHnb/view?usp=drive_link] is a returning-generation farmer, educator and organizer who engages in Black agrarianism, agroecology, food sovereignty and environmental justice as commitments of abolition and decolonization. She obtained her PhD at Michigan State University in Community Sustainability and works with Black farming communities in Michigan and the Mid-Atlantic. She explores participatory and decolonial research methodologies and community-centered pedagogies in the food justice, food sovereignty and environmental justice movements. She also serves as Board President at the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN), board member of the Detroit People’s Food Co-op (DPFC) and co-founder of the Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund (DBFLF) and a member of the Black Dirt Farm Collective (BDFC).

Helpful Links

 * Nurturing our Seeds [http://nurturingourseeds.org/]
 * Detroit Urban Farming: Detroit Historical Society [https://archive.org/details/Detroit_Urban_Farming_with_the_Detroit_Historical_Society]
 * Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network [https://www.dbcfsn.org/](DBCFSN)
 * Detroit People’s Food Co-op [https://detroitpeoplesfoodcoop.com/]
 * Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund [https://www.detroitblackfarmer.com/] (DBFLF)

Credits

This work was funded and supported by the USDA National Organic Program, Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP) [https://www.organictransition.org/]

Hosted and produced by Kate Cowie-Haskell [https://airmedia.org/talent/kate-cowie-haskell]

Podcast art by Geri Shonka

Music:

 * Chasin It by Jason Shaw, Tunez by HoliznaCC0
 * Ghost Solos by Lucas Gonze– all from the Free music Archive

Digging into Detroit's Food Sovereignty Movement

The Midwest is sometimes called the breadbasket of America. But the infrastructure for local grain production and processing has largely disappeared, and most of the grains that are now grown here are used for animal feed. What does it take to restore a regional grainshed in the Midwest? Kate talks with folks at the Artisan Grain Collaborative about the future of grain, and with a brewer and a farmer who are bringing that future into being.

The Taproot Podcast is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance and to grow the greater organic community. Learn more at organictransition.org [https://www.organictransition.org/].

You can find new episodes from The Taproot Project wherever you get your podcasts.

Guest Bios

Elena Gutierrez Byrne [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C6APhWRCoPolQbvjhT2mt9gR9sH6pJbN/view?usp=sharing]is the Communications Manager at the Artisan Grain Collaborative. She holds a doctorate in nutritional sciences from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and has been an avid gardener for years with her husband on their 8 acres just outside of Madison, WI. She is enjoying seeing the local foods movement capture the hearts of consumers everywhere.

Jessica Jones [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bBRnDcPaKjkuEXBLzYthKB2lsEz1A9wR/view?usp=sharing] is the Brewer and co-owner of Giant Jones Brewing Company - an independent, women and queer-owned, certified organic craft brewery in Madison, Wisconsin. She is a Grand Master Beer Judge through the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) and an Advanced Cicerone®. Jessica loves Barleywine and providing extremely in-depth answers to what you believed was a simple question.

Willie Hughes [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fyVkhmsqVLqdY6Ax3Ki0U0BsRoTP0v2c/view?usp=sharing]is the sixth generation to operate the Hughes family farm in Janesville, WI. They have incorporated multiple conservation practices including diversified rotations, extensive cover cropping, improving soil health through compost and biologicals, variable rate applications, and automated irrigation water management. Hughes Farms consists of 5000 acres of food grade, NON-GMO and organic specialty crops.

Amy Halloran [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Qf6bQi1C9gaqyfDEUi1IG6-j-XCQP0WT/view?usp=sharing] lives in upstate New York. Her love for food, and for the people who grow and make it, led her to write a book about the revival of regional grain production, The New Bread Basket. She's worked in emergency feeding programs, and believes that food insecurity and regional grain systems share a core American problem: of our not valuing the work of feeding each other. Amy is working on a book about the twinned histories of the modern American loaf and the modern American woman.

Helpful Links

 * Artisan Grain Collaborative [https://www.graincollaborative.com/about-us]
 * Giant Jones Brewing Company [https://giantjones.com/]
 * The New Bread Basket [https://amyhalloran.net/grains-book/]
 * Anatomy of a wheat kernel  [https://flour.com/anatomy-of-a-wheat-kernel/]

Credits

This work was funded and supported by the USDA National Organic Program, Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP) [https://www.organictransition.org/]

Hosted and produced by Kate Cowie-Haskell

Podcast art by Geri Shonka

Music:

 * Ghost Solos by Lucas Gonze, Free Music Archive, CC BY

Midwest Grain Chain - Cultivating Relationships and Markets

Stories from changemakers in Midwestern agriculture, coming to you every other week starting this September. Subscribe now!

The Taproot Project is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program,  —a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance, and to grow the greater organic community.

The Taproot Project Trailer

Rows of corn, red barns, men in overalls. This is definitely part of the story of food and farming in the Midwest, but it’s not the whole story. The Taproot Project digs deeper. In each episode, you’ll hear about people across the Midwest who are reclaiming farming as a connector— to the land, to ancestors, and to a sense of purpose.

We talk with farmers, brewers, ranchers, conservationists, and historians about land, legacy, and what sustains their work.

The Taproot Project is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance, and to grow the greater organic community. Learn more at organictransition.org [https://www.organictransition.org/].

Hosted and produced by Kate Cowie-Haskell.

Podcast art by Geri Shonka.

Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program

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