podcasts

What happens when it’s time to pass a farm on to the next generation? Should it be sold to the highest bidder? Inherited by the oldest son? How do we make sure that the wealth stays with the farm — and that the next generation can afford to take over?

A big advantage of the farming lifestyle is community. Which makes it that much harder to farm successfully as a single farmer. Rachelle Ternier at Prairie Garden Seeds has some unusual ways to build a ‘we’ as a single farmer.

Small prairie towns are disappearing. There aren’t enough people left to keep the towns viable, and the young people leave and don’t come back. Revitalizing these towns means convincing the youth that the small-town life is a viable one.

What levers do we have to take commerce out of the commodity market? To live outside the logic that says the lowest price is the best price? At Farm 140, I found a room full of people figuring out how to do just that.

The Community Foundation of the South Okanagan has bought the farm — literally. Has farming become a charity case? According to Community Foundation leader Kevin Ronaghan, buying a farm is the best investment they can make in building a community.

Farming is a tough, tough business. The saying goes, get big or get out, and big stress comes with big business. But what if that isn’t true? Maybe smaller farms are just what we need to stay connected to our food.