A few weeks ago, we sat down with Jill Demers and couldn't stop talking...so, we came back for part 2!

In this episode, we dig into the economics of small farming in America, and why the deck has been stacked against it for decades. Jill lays out the numbers plainly — most small farms operate at a loss, propped up by off-farm income, in a system that was never designed to sustain them. We talk about commodity crops, genetically modified seed, the vertical integration of the food industry, and what "get big or get out" actually did to the farms that used to feed us directly.

But this isn't a doom-and-gloom conversation. Jill's real subject is reconnection, what she calls "farm hospitality," and what we'd call remembering something our bodies never really forgot. Because underneath all of it is the same idea Jill's been chasing for over twenty years: food is our deepest connection to nature, and the fracture in that relationship is costing us more than we realize...in our health, our communities, and our sense of belonging to the land under our feet.

In this episode:

• Why 86% of U.S. farms are classified as "small" — and why most of them lose money every year
• How the "get big or get out" model took hold after WWII, and what it replaced
• What a commodity crop actually is (and why that field of corn you're driving past isn't headed to anyone's dinner table)
• The vertical integration of seed, chemical inputs, and distribution — and why it locks small farmers out
• Genetically modified corn, glyphosate, and what it means for our gut health
• Jill's concept of "farm hospitality" as a way to reconnect people to their food — and why many farmers resist it
• The disappearance of farmland to development and, increasingly, to solar leases
• Food deserts and systemic inequity on reservation land in Montana
• Why Jill encourages people to "start at the top of the food chain" (and what that means)
• The cultural narrative that food should be cheap — and why that narrative is doing real damage
• How much less of our income goes to food today than it did in the 1950s, and what filled that gap
• The "60 harvests" figure from Kiss the Ground — and what it means for how much time we actually have
• Why Jill believes consumer dollars, not policy, will be what shifts the system first

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• ReWild Ranch — Jill Demers' regenerative farm, glamping, and retreat space in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana
• Kiss the Ground — documentary on regenerative agriculture and soil health, source of the "60 harvests" statistic
• Listen to Part One: "Food As Our Deepest Connection to Nature with Jill Demers of ReWild Ranch" (Ep. 238)

We'd love to hear from you.

Has your own relationship to food or farming shifted this year, the way Mary's and Emma's has? Where do you land on "starting at the top of the food chain"? Send us a message or leave us a voicemail — we always love hearing what the good dirt means to you.

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Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Lady Farmer. The Good Dirt podcast is proudly part of the Connectd Podcasts network.

🌿 The Good Dirt Producers:

• Wendy Gray