Let's Get Real
LIVE 6:30 - 7pm EST
First Aired - 08/01/2010 03:30PM
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We Dig Plants is all about fertilizer this week: the good, the bad and the ugly. Carmen & Alice discuss the history of fertilizer and highlight the differences between organic and synthetic fertilizers. Tune in to hear about the The Haber-Bosch process, learn where a drip line is and why roses should be fed regularly. This episode was sponsored by Acme Smoked Fish. For more information visit www.acmesmokedfish.com.
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We Dig Plants Introduction: Fertilizer (21:29)
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Carmen DeVito, Alice Marcus Kreig, fertilizer, the good the bad and the ugly, Groundworks Inc, death and life in fertilizer, the word fertile is defined as producing an abundance, the history of fertilizer, mans use of land, grass clippings as fertilizer, first scientific study on fertilizer was in 1550, crop rotation as a method to preserve soil, nitrogen, when plants are nitrogen deficient they are marked by reduced growth and yellowing of leaves, phosphorous, byproduct of steel manufacturing, provides the energy to drive metabolic reactions, potassium, naturally found in sea water, used for protein synthesis, how do you replenish soils, synthetic fertilizer, yields were very high, synthetically manufactured nitrogen, nitrogen compounds are essential for making explosives, in 1914 Germany was cut off from nitrogen supplies, hydrogen and nitrogen combined to make ammonia, Fritz Haber, The Haber-Bosch process, concentration camp gassing, sinister origins, when talking about fertilizer you can't avoid the topic of death, today more than 500 million tons of artificial fertilizers are produced each year, synthetic fertilizers can leech, there is a lot of chemical imbalance today, white salty crust on the pots of plants, residue from synthetic fertilizers,History of Fertilizer (17:14)
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organic fertilizer, organic vs synthetic, fishing byproducts, addition of compost will improve drainage and improve your plants immune system, garden manure is very different, made from animal waste, dehydrated cow manure, locally made compost, Healthy Start, the smell dissipates quickly, the drip line, where is the drip line?, the drip line is the outer line of the plant where the water drips off of the leaves, the roots mirror the top of the plant, Bat Guano, rated 10 3 1, first number is nitrogen, fish meal is highly recommended, natural organic fertilizer, usually rated 10 5 0, growth hormones, Kelp Meal, plants can absorb nutrients from their leaves as well, the number one DIY crop is tomatoes, even the most novice gardener can handle this, Tomato Tone, designed to grow tomatoes, slow release fertilizer, tomato plants have to produce a pretty intense fruit in a short amount of time, heavy feeders, organic vegetable fertilizer, liquid fertilizer, roses are very important to feed regularly, liquid bone meal, contains calcium, tomatoes require extra calcium, microriser fungi, good bacteria, chlorine,To comment on this episode click here. There are currently Comments
First Aired - 02/17/2011 02:00PM
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BR Shute of Hearty Roots Farm
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Greenhorn Radio Introduction: BR Shute (10:00)
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BR Shute, Hearty Roots Farm, Tivoli NY, BR is Sev's neighbor, Redhook, Hearty Roots does CSA for thousands of customers a week, National Young Farmers Coalition, a movement of young farmers from around the country to enact policy reform, BR is trying to figure out how we can be sharing tools through Farm Act, FarmAct.net, Farm Show is a great magazine thats been around for a long time for conventional farmers to showcase their inventions and workshops, Farm Show is focused on rather bigger scale farms than younger farmers may want, hobbey-oriented inventions, you can subscribe to Farm Show so do it--keep it alive!!, FarmHack.net, ways to share ingenuity and ideas, lots of new farms in the Hudson Valley, there is way more of a market for organic farms CSAs and farmers markets in the Hudson Valley, land prices are still really high in the Hudson Valley so its hard to get land, young farmers are renting land or trying other schemes, land issues, land conservancies, land trusts, land trusts being kind to farmers, illustrations from the 1940s explaining soil nutrients, micronutrients, soil without potassium won't grow much, science got rather simplictic during the times of chemical agriculture, a successful operation requirses a certain set of ingredients, you don't just need people who are gonna buy the food or grow the food, you need allies in other places, you need the land trust to prioritize farmers, getting MIT engineering students and young farmers in the same room to invent and engineer things together,More with BR (9:41)
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human capital, we can't rely on the major institutional players, BR's farm is profitable AND healthy for the land but does NOT have permanent farm land so its still a risk, a 5 year lease, BR's biggest struggle is how to address not having permanent land, BR pays his employees health benefits!, there are 3,000 sustainable ag jobs in the town of Hardwick, mining issues in rural NY and PA, hydrofracking, the economic logic of the frackers is that land is only valuable for real estate and that farming and forestry are no longer relevant, BR farms 25 acres of organic vegetables with 9 people employed in the summer, those 25 acres were originally a hayfield and originally employed less than 1 job, upcoming young farmer events, ADM.com, FarmHack.net, farm credit, it doesnt make sense for ALL beginner farmers to take out loans, discussing tax code advantages to starting a farm, young farmers are allergic to capitalism often but MUST become proficient to the business aspect of farming, knowing WHEN to use credits and tax advantages, Young Farmer Meeting in the Pioneer Valley, lets take advantage of students doing thesis research and help them further the goals of current young farmers and CSAs, The Real Food Challenge is for Universities to spend more of their budget on organic and local food, Organic Farming Association of NY, NOFA, BR came up with a plan with an engineer to build a greenhouse then put the plans on FarmHack so other farmers can benefit from it, open source farming,To comment on this episode click here. There are currently Comments
First Aired - 02/07/2010 12:00PM
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On a very important episode of The Main Course, professor Dickson Despommier discusses population growth and food production and explains how vertical farming might save us all. Also on the show, Jennifer Nelkin and chef Matt Hamilton.
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The Main Course Introduction (9:40)
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The Main Course, Patrick Martins, Katy Keiffer, Dickson Farmstand Meats, structural images for urban farming, tall towers, hydroponically fueled, Brooklyn Grange, Roberta's, Heritage Radio Network, Martha Stewart, New York Times,Matt Hamilton of Belcourt (25:00)
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Toyota, foreign corporations, car industry, mustard, herbs, spices, Matt Hamilton, chickens, eggs, cows, Utica, Long Island, Rhode Island red hen, french bistro, East Village, small menu, wine, Paul Grimes, the culture of food, food politics, Bobo, Queens, Dairyland, red at the bone, Prune, Roberta's, Yelp,Compromise in the Restaurant Industry (26:50)
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the Heritage Radio Network website now has a commenting function, chick peas, compromise in the restaurant industry, practicality, organic products, commodity, farmers market, milk, us against them approach, Virginia, Mumbai, Southeast Asia, Marine Corps, Judy Rogers, Alice Waters, fast sex and slow sex, Fairway Market, Mexican olive oil, food quality, Chinese restaurants, New York Noodle Town, Peking Duck House, braised short ribs, San Francisco, Quince, Michael Tusk, portion size, handmade pasta, Trump building, Balthazar, Automat,Dickson Despommier on Population Growth and Food Production (26:32)
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Dickson's Farmstand Meats, Super Bowl, highway commission, Indianapolis, major highways, controlled environment agriculture, Jen Nelkin, http://gothamgreens.com/, vertical farming, hydroponics, Scott Stringer, global warming, Africa, water supply, hyena, we headed south, bone eaters, marrow, farming, domesticated animals, neanderthals, Jared Diamond, Quest For Fire, Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, Richard Wrangham, Middle East, oasis, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars, irrigation projects, Michael Pollan, humans have rearranged the landscape in our favor, Copenhagen, climate summit, ethanol, corn, subsidized, oil, harnessing fuel, energy, internal combustion engine, alcohol, Henry Ford, tractor, dynamite, end of slavery, the perfect storm for farming, NPK, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, urea, when did the first agricultural revolution end?, it began 12000 years ago, it ended in 1940, The Grapes of Wrath, Neil Young, The World Without Us, Alan Weisman, vertical farming is a radical solution to these problems, Garrett Hardin, The Tragedy of the Commons, over population, open door immigration policy, labor force,Jen Nelkin Explains How Vertical Farming Can Save Us (17:45)
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lettuce, bibb salad, Roberta's, how can vertical farming help, Jenn Nelkin, Jennifer Nelkin, psychological advantages, vertical farming is expensive, Gotham Greens, retrofitting buildings, a lot of technical skill is required, power requirements, closed system, half an acre produces 50000 pounds of crops a year, the return will be very high on the investment, venture capitalists, seasonality, locavores, hydroponic tomatoes, sweeping statements can't tell you anything, some hydroponic produce tastes terrible, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, NYSERDA, solar, www.gothamgreens.com,Having Our Cake & Eating It Too (21:50)
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how can we have our cake and eat it too?, quality food at a good price point grown sustainably, factory food production system, hydroponic farming, crop viability, prototypical vertical farming project, Monsanto, government subsidies, synthetic fertilizer, recycling nutrients, germination, automated growth systems, harvesting, Seinfeld, research and development, San Francisco, Detroit, Minneapolis, Newark, New Jersey Institute of Technology, politicians, green collar jobs, employment opportunities, consumer groups, Ghana, Niger, floods, droughts, locusts, Iceland, geothermal energy, food security issues, livestock, the average farmer in the US makes $10000 dollars a year, small farms, President Barack Obama, taxpayers, farm bill was $300 billion dollars,To comment on this episode click here. There are currently Comments
