We often think of a farm as a place that grows food. But a small farm does so much more than that.

It holds up a local economy, circulating dollars in a way no chain store can. It creates belonging, the feeling of being known by the person who grows your food.

It carries the identity of a family and a town.

And it quietly supports the mental health and the very future of the place it calls home.

In this quick episode, we explore how small farms fortify our communities, drawing on research and the real voices of people across the country.

We also look at what unravels, slowly and often invisibly, when a farm disappears. Because supporting a farm is never just about food.

It's about the kind of town and world you want to live in.

One Bite is Everything explores the connections between food, health, community, the environment, and the economy. Through conversations with farmers, chefs, researchers, advocates, and food system leaders, host Dana DiPrima examines how food touches every aspect of our lives and why understanding our food system has never mattered more.

Top 3% of all podcasts globally

Top 100 food podcasts (22)

Top 100 agriculture podcasts (87)

More engagement than more than 88% of all podcasts on Spotify

Five-star rating average

Part of Heritage Radio Network, home of the top voices in food

Follow Dana at @xoxofarmgirl and learn more about the For Farmers Movement at forfarmersmovement.com.

What does the USDA actually do? Who does it serve? And why does it seem like some farmers receive support automatically while others struggle to access even basic resources?

In this episode of One Bite Is Everything, Dana DiPrima takes listeners through a practical USDA 101. From its origins as Abraham Lincoln's "people's department" to its modern role overseeing everything from SNAP and school lunches to crop insurance, conservation programs, and rural development, this episode explores one of the most powerful and least understood agencies in American life.

Dana examines the difference between programs that maintain the existing agricultural system and programs designed to build opportunities for the next generation of farmers. She explains why commodity crops like corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, rice, and peanuts benefit from long-established safety nets, while many small, diversified, and beginning farmers operate without comparable protections.

The conversation also looks at major USDA changes since 2025, including staffing reductions, program cancellations, shifts in conservation funding, trade-related assistance payments, and changes to nutrition programs. Along the way, Dana asks a larger question: if the USDA was created to serve farmers, which farmers is it serving today?

This episode is not about politics. It's about understanding the systems that shape our food, our farms, and our future.

• Why Abraham Lincoln called the USDA "the people's department"
• The USDA's role in food, farming, nutrition, conservation, and rural America
• The difference between commodity support programs and market-building programs
• How crop insurance, price supports, and farm safety nets work
• Why many small and diversified farms operate outside those systems
• Recent USDA staffing cuts and program changes
• Farm bankruptcies and what they reveal about the state of agriculture
• Why understanding the USDA matters to everyone who eats

Because if we're going to talk about the future of food, we need to understand the institutions helping shape it.

One Bite is Everything explores the connections between food, health, community, the environment, and the economy. Through conversations with farmers, chefs, researchers, advocates, and food system leaders, host Dana DiPrima examines how food touches every aspect of our lives and why understanding our food system has never mattered more.

Top 3% of all podcasts globally

Top 100 food podcasts (22)

Top 100 agriculture podcasts (87)

More engagement than more than 88% of all podcasts on Spotify

Five-star rating average

Part of Heritage Radio Network, home of the top voices in food

Follow Dana at @xoxofarmgirl and learn more about the For Farmers Movement at forfarmersmovement.com.

What happens when people step out of the grocery store and onto a working farm?

In this episode of One Bite is Everything, Dana sits down with chef and educator Gary Podesto of Climate Farm School, an organization that brings people directly to farms to learn about food systems, soil health, climate resilience, and regenerative agriculture. Through immersive, week-long experiences on farms around the world, participants gain a deeper understanding of where food comes from and the people responsible for producing it.

Gary shares what draws people to these experiences, from health concerns and climate anxiety to parenthood and simple curiosity. Together, Dana and Gary explore why so many people feel disconnected from their food, what happens when they reconnect with the land, and why understanding food systems often changes the way people think about everything from farming to community to personal responsibility.

The conversation also examines the unique role chefs play in our food system. With more than half of America's food dollars spent in restaurants, chefs have an opportunity not only to feed people, but to help consumers understand the farms, farmers, and choices behind every meal. Gary reflects on how food can become a powerful tool for education, storytelling, and connection, helping bridge the gap between the people who grow our food and the people who eat it.

• What Climate Farm School is and how it works
• Why people are seeking a stronger connection to the land
• The role of soil health in food, climate, and resilience
• How regenerative agriculture differs from conventional systems
• Why local food systems matter
• The challenges and realities facing today's farmers
• How chefs can help reconnect consumers with agriculture
• The power of food as a tool for education and community

Gary Podesto is a chef, educator, and facilitator with Climate Farm School. Drawing on decades of culinary experience, he helps participants explore the connections between food, farming, ecology, and community through immersive learning experiences on working farms.

Climate Farm School is an educational nonprofit that helps people reconnect with the land through immersive learning experiences on working farms. Participants spend time with farmers, educators, and food system leaders exploring topics such as soil health, regenerative agriculture, climate resilience, local food systems, and the challenges facing modern agriculture.

Operating on partner farms in the United States and internationally, Climate Farm School combines hands-on learning, discussion, and community-building to help participants better understand how food is produced and how farming intersects with environmental, economic, and social issues. The program brings together people from diverse backgrounds who share a curiosity about food, farming, and the future of our food system.

Through its courses and alumni network, Climate Farm School seeks to shorten the distance between consumers and producers, creating opportunities for meaningful connection, practical education, and informed action.

Learn more here: https://www.climatefarmschool.org

One Bite is Everything explores the connections between food, health, community, the environment, and the economy. Through conversations with farmers, chefs, researchers, advocates, and food system leaders, host Dana DiPrima examines how food touches every aspect of our lives and why understanding our food system has never mattered more.

Top 3% of all podcasts globally

Top 100 food podcasts (22)

Top 100 agriculture podcasts (87)

More engagement than more than 88% of all podcasts on Spotify

Five-star rating average

Part of Heritage Radio Network, home of the top voices in food

Follow Dana at @xoxofarmgirl and learn more about the For Farmers Movement at forfarmersmovement.com.

What happens when food assistance programs lose funding?

For millions of children and families, the effects can be immediate. Fewer meals. More strain on household budgets. More difficult choices between food, housing, healthcare, and transportation.

In this episode of One Bite is Everything, Dana welcomes back Rachel Sabella, Director of No Kid Hungry New York, to discuss how recent and proposed funding cuts could impact children, families, schools, and communities. Together, they explore why hunger remains a persistent challenge in America and why many organizations are concerned that the problem could worsen in the months ahead.

Rachel explains how programs that help feed children work behind the scenes, why schools play such an important role in food security, and what happens when support systems are reduced at a time when many families are already struggling with higher costs. The conversation also looks at the broader consequences of childhood hunger, from health and educational outcomes to long-term impacts on communities and the economy.

Food is more than what's on our plate. It's opportunity. It's stability. And for millions of children, it's the foundation that makes everything else possible.

• Why child hunger remains a growing concern
• What recent and proposed funding cuts could mean for families
• How schools help close the hunger gap
• The connection between food security, health, and education
• Why rising household costs are putting pressure on parents
• Common misconceptions about food assistance programs
• What No Kid Hungry is doing to help
• How listeners can get involved

Rachel Sabella is the Director of No Kid Hungry New York, where she works to ensure that every child has access to the food they need to learn, grow, and thrive. Her work focuses on strengthening school meal programs, expanding access to nutrition assistance, and advocating for policies that help families put food on the table.

Top 3% of all podcasts globally

Top 100 food podcasts (22)

Top 100 agriculture podcasts (87)

More engagement than more than 88% of all podcasts on Spotify

Five-star rating average

Part of Heritage Radio Network, home of the top voices in food

Learn more about No Kid Hungry and the work being done to end childhood hunger.

Follow Dana at @xoxofarmgirl and learn more about the For Farmers Movement at forfarmersmovement.com.

What does it actually take to create a truly great restaurant experience — not just once, but every single night?

In this episode of One Bite is Everything, Dana sits down with Chef Chris Stam of Alchemy on Martha's Vineyard to talk about the invisible systems, relationships, and standards behind great food.

Chris’s path took him from culinary school outside Boston to some of the most intense kitchens in the country, including Spice Market and the restaurant groups of Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Daniel Boulud. Along the way, he learned not just how to cook, but how to lead teams, maintain quality at scale, and build systems that can deliver excellence under pressure.

But this conversation goes far beyond restaurant culture.

Dana and Chris explore the connection between chefs and farmers, what sourcing looks like on an island shaped by conservation land, and how local food systems are strengthened through long-term relationships. Chris shares the story of working with farmer Jo Douglas of Fork to Pork, whose farm collects vegetable scraps from restaurants to feed pigs that eventually return to the menu — creating a deeply local, circular food relationship most diners never get to see.

This episode is about craftsmanship, consistency, mentorship, hospitality, and the reality that every plate of food carries an entire network of people behind it.

Because food is never just food. It’s relationships and labor. It’s land, standards, and it’s trust.

And sometimes, it’s a chef and a farmer building something together one meal at a time.

Visit Alchemy on Martha's Vineyard and follow them on IG @alchemymv

Connect & Support

Learn more about the For Farmers Movement at For Farmers Movement

Read Bite Sized on Substack

Follow Dana on Instagram at @xoxofarmgirl

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review One Bite is Everything on Apple Podcasts. It helps more people find the show and supports independent food storytelling that connects the dots between farming, food, and the bigger systems shaping both.

What do small farmers actually need?

After reviewing nearly 900 farmer grant applications through the For Farmers Movement — along with 45 new project submissions from the Friend of a Farmer Choice Awards — a very different picture of American farming begins to emerge. One you might not expect.

In this solo episode of One Bite is Everything, Dana pulls back the curtain on the hidden infrastructure quietly holding small farms together and explores what farmers are actually asking for help with.

Because it’s probably not what most people think.

Consumers often imagine small farms needing better marketing, more exposure, prettier packaging, or social media support. But the applications reveal something far more practical — and far more revealing about the state of food in America today.

Farmers are asking for water systems, fencing, walk-in coolers, irrigation, processing equipment, high tunnels, rotational grazing infrastructure, feed systems, and the operational tools that make survival possible.

Again and again, the applications point to one thing: small farms are often operating one missing piece of infrastructure away from real vulnerability.

Dana shares what surprised her most after reading hundreds and hundreds of applications from farms across nearly every state in the country — and why these requests reveal a much bigger story about resilience, climate adaptation, local food systems, and the invisible mechanics behind the food we eat every day.

The conversation explores the disconnect between the romanticized version of farming and the operational reality behind it. It looks at why water keeps showing up as one of the biggest issues farmers face, how farmers are quietly adapting to climate pressures without necessarily calling it “climate work,” and why so many projects center around systems that consumers rarely see but rely on constantly.

The episode also examines how fragile local food systems can be, how isolated many farmers feel while trying to build infrastructure in systems that weren’t designed for small farms, and why seemingly modest projects can have ripple effects throughout entire communities.

At the center of this episode is a bigger realization: food is not just food. It’s infrastructure, labor, weather, logistics, land, economics, and resilience — all held together by people solving problems most of us never even realize exist.

And through these applications, farmers are giving us an unusually honest window into what it actually takes to keep producing food in America right now.

The For Farmers Movement is a national movement supporting small farmers through storytelling, nominations, direct grants, and community connection. Since 2022, the movement has funded projects across 48 states and Puerto Rico while helping connect eaters more directly to the people producing their food.

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review One Bite is Everything on Apple Podcasts. It helps more people find the show and supports independent food storytelling that connects the dots between farming, food, and the systems shaping both.

Show Notes

What does it actually take to become a farmer today if you didn’t grow up on a farm, inherit land, or have a roadmap?

In this episode of One Bite is Everything, Dana sits down with first-generation goat farmer Emma Smalley to talk about the reality of building a farm from scratch in modern America.

Emma’s path into farming started with a Craigslist ad and an aging goat farmer named Roger who needed help caring for his herd. What followed was mentorship, loss, land searches, commuting hours to support the farm with an off-farm job, and eventually building a goat operation of her own in rural New York.

But this conversation goes far beyond goats.

It explores the growing crisis around farmland access, succession planning, first-generation farming, and the emotional complexity behind keeping land in agriculture. Emma shares what it feels like to compete with developers for farmland, why so many farms depend on off-farm income to survive, and how isolation has quietly become one of the defining realities of farming today.

Dana and Emma also discuss:

• why land can be “available” but still inaccessible
• how mentorship shapes new farmers
• the hidden emotional side of farmland transitions
• rotational grazing and regenerative practices
• why goat meat demand is growing in immigrant communities
• the role of community in keeping farmers going
• how organizations like American Farmland Trust are helping support land access and transition planning
• why farming today often depends on people operating at their absolute limit

At the center of this episode is a bigger question:

If millions of acres of farmland are expected to change hands in the coming decades, who actually gets the opportunity to farm?

Emma’s story offers a deeply personal look at that question—and at the people trying to build a future inside a system that often wasn’t designed for them.

In This Episode

• Emma’s unexpected path into goat farming
• The reality of first-generation farming
• Competing with developers for land
• Farming while working a full-time job
• Goat farming, halal markets, and immigrant food systems
• Why community matters more than people realize
• The emotional weight of farmland succession
• Building a farm that can outlast you

About Emma Smalley

Emma Smalley is a first-generation goat farmer in New York State raising meat goats on a former dairy farm in Allegheny County. She manages her farm while also working full-time off-farm and has been involved in farmer community-building efforts including the Good Farmers Guild of Western New York. Emma also worked with American Farmland Trust to navigate land access and farm transition planning.

About American Farmland Trust and Farmland for a New Generation

Farmland for a New Generation New York (FNG-NY), coordinated by American Farmland Trust in partnership with New York State and regional organizations, helps connect farmland seekers with landowners looking to keep land in agriculture. Through a statewide network of Regional Navigators, the program provides guidance, resources, and transition support for both new farmers and retiring landowners.

https://farmland.org/farmland-for-a-new-generation-new-york

Connect & Support

Learn more about the For Farmers Movement at For Farmers Movement

Read Bite Sized on Substack

Follow Dana on Instagram at @xoxofarmgirl

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review One Bite is Everything on Apple Podcasts. It helps more people find the show and supports independent food storytelling that connects the dots between farming, food, and the bigger systems shaping both.

Inside the hidden systems, rules, economics, and realities shaping America’s farmers markets.

Most people think they understand farmers markets.

You show up. You buy produce, eggs, cheese, meat, flowers, or honey from a farmer. You support local food. Done.

But behind every stand is an entire system most consumers never see.

In this episode, Dana sits down with Catt Fields White for a fascinating conversation about what’s really happening behind the scenes at farmers markets across America and why the details matter far more than most of us realize.

Catt has spent decades managing markets, training vendors, advising market managers nationwide, and helping shape conversations around farmers markets both nationally and globally. What emerges in this episode is a much more complex, and much more important, picture of local food than the charming Saturday morning version many people imagine.

Together, Dana and Catt unpack:

• why farmers markets operate so differently from state to state
• the surprising history of farmers markets in America
• how regulations quietly shape what foods and businesses survive
• the hidden labor of managing a farmers market
• why some markets allow resellers and others ban them entirely
• how convenience influences consumer behavior more than we admit
• the tension between purity, practicality, access, and survival
• what “local food” actually means in different settings
• why farmers can earn dramatically more selling directly to consumers
• how policy and economics shape the food system in ways most people never see

The conversation also explores a deeper question underneath all of it: What happens when the systems shaping our food become invisible to the people eating it?

Because food is never just food. It’s economics. It’s regulation. It’s labor. It’s land. It’s culture. And it’s community.

It’s also a set of decisions quietly shaping what survives and disappears from our food system every day.

Whether you shop at farmers markets every weekend or only stop by a few times each summer, this episode will change the way you think about what’s happening behind the tables.

• Why the same tomato can create completely different outcomes depending on where you buy it
• The difference between “local” at a grocery store and “local” at a farmers market
• Why many consumers misunderstand how farmers markets work
• The economics behind direct-to-consumer food systems
• The role of resellers, aggregators, and producer-only markets
• How market managers juggle safety, permits, logistics, politics, and farmer relationships
• Why some foods can legally be sold in one county but not another
• The hidden pressures facing small farmers and local markets
• Why taste may be one of the most powerful tools for reconnecting people to local food

Catt Fields White is the co-founder of Farmers Market Pros and a longtime farmers market manager, consultant, educator, and advocate. She works with markets and vendors across the country and participates in broader conversations shaping farmers markets nationally and internationally.

• Find Farmers Market Pros here and on Substack.
• Learn more about the For Farmers Movement at For Farmers Movement
• Follow Dana on Instagram at @xoxofarmgirl or Substack/Bite Sized
• Listen to this and more episodes of One Bite is Everything wherever you get podcasts

If this episode changed the way you think about farmers markets, share it with someone who shops one. Or someone who should.