We're kicking off season 3 of the Food Safety Dish with the inspiring story of Regenerating an Iowa Family Farm with food & agriculture writer and farmer Beth Hoffman. Follow her story from coastal journalist to the heartland as she and her husband cultivate their new regenerative farm visions on Whippoorwill Creek Farm, raising beef, goats and veggies without the sprays, chemicals, or the GMO grains. Hear all about their dynamic farm model offering farm tours, cooking and writing classes, on-farm dinners, and overnight stays on family farmland passed down through generations.

Beth Hoffman has been reporting on food and agriculture for more than twenty-five years and is the author of Bet the Farm: The Dollars and Sense of Growing Food in America, a book about the economics of farming, told through her story of moving to the farm. She also writes In the Dirt as part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative and hosts the "At the Iowa Farm Table Podcast."

On this exciting season 2 finale, we explore the world of cooperatives and the co-operative advantage with the longstanding and pioneering Ashland Food Co-op in Ashland, Oregon. With produce manager Joe Reyes and cooperative expert Annie Hoy, we talk AFC's origin story and evolution, how they developed into the northwest's first Certified Organic Retailer, the many parallels between food safety and certified organic standards, and so much more!

Seven Cooperative Principles

Ashland Food Coop

Co-Op Development Resources:

Northwest Cooperative Development Center

California Co-op Development Center

National Co-op Business Association/CLUSA

Food Co-Op Initiative

University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives

With the recent 2024 final rollout of FSMA's Produce Safety Rule on Pre-Harvest Agricultural Water (Subpart E), there's been a lot of chatter and some confusion about what growers need to do to comply. We got the dish from Michigan State University extension educator and on-farm food safety statewide coordinator Phil Tocco. Hear what Phil has to say about water hazards, risks, and assessing your own ag water as he distills technical regulatory language into an accessible pool of knowledge that empowers growers.

Risk Prioritization Tool for Agricultural Water