Podcasts about food and farming are all the rage today.  Long before that, Dan Imhoff co-hosted a monthly radio program on Mendocino Public Radio with biodynamic apple farmer, Tim Bates. Between 1997 and 2010, their monthly “Farm and Garden Show” segments featured interviews with leading writers, advocates and practitioners of ecological agriculture : Wendell Berry, Michael Pollan, Vandana Shiva, Temple Grandin, Eliot Coleman, Gary Nabhan, to name just a few. Below is a selected archive of conversations which speak for themselves, but that can also add perspective in understanding the movement to change the way we produce our food and care for the land.

Paul Stammets

“Mycelium Running”

Paul Stammets is one of the world’s leading reserachers and writers about the world of mushrooms.

Wendell Berry

“In Conversation”

A memorable one-hour interview with America’s pre-eminent laureate whose books, essays, poems and novels have deeply addressed the effect of industrial agriculture on rural communities, the human economy and the natural world.

Temple Grandin

“Animals Make Us Human”

Dr. Temple Grandin is an author and animal behaviorist who has spent her life advocating for better treatment of livestock, particularly to reduce stress during slaughter. She has also become well known as a highly functioning autistic person and is the subject of a popular movie.

Ann Mendelson

“The Surprising Story of Milk”

Ann Mendelson is a food journalist and culinary historian. Her excellent 2008 book on milk chronicles the role of dairy products from a wide range of perspectives, including dietary, health and agricultural impacts.

Rowan Jacobsen

“Fruitless Fall”

Rowan Jacobsen is an acclaimed food and science writer and author of numerous books, including A Geography of Oysters.

Michael Phillips

“The Holistic Orchard” 2

Michael Phillips is an author, herbalist and organic orchardist whose books include The Apple Grower and The Holistic Orchard, both by Chelsea Green.

Michael Pollan

“The Omnivore’s Dilemma”

Michael Pollan is one of America’s best known food writers, including his books The Botany of Desire and The Omnivore’s Dilemma. He is also a professor of journalism at the University of California Berkeley.

Michael Phillips

“The Holistic Orchard” 1

Michael Phillips is an author, herbalist and organic orchardist whose books include The Apple Grower and The Holistic Orchard, both by Chelsea Green.

Gene Logsdon

“The Last of the Husbandmen”

Gene Logsdon is an Ohio-based farmer and one of America’s most prolific, intelligent and humorous chroniclers of agriculture and rural issues. We talk about his book, “The Last of the Husbandmen.”

Gary Nabhan

“Why Some Like it Hot”

Gary Nabhan is a MacArthur Award recipient and author of dozens of books about ecology, agriculture and food with a particular expertise in the American southwest where he lives.

Joel Salatin

“Pasture Farming”

Joel Salatin is the author of numerous books on pasture-based farming. We talked with him about his innovative techniques in “stacking” cows, chickens, and sheep in a rotational pasture operation and earning a livelihood by supplying high quality animal products to local markets.

Gene Logsdon

“Pond Lovers”

Gene Logsdon is an Ohio-based farmer and one of America’s most prolific, intelligent and humorous chroniclers of agriculture and rural issues.

Robert Kennedy Jr.

“Animal Factories”

Robert Kennedy Jr. is an attorney and a leading advocate for the protection of clean water across America. The activist networks that he helped to found, Riverkeeper and Waterkeeper, have for many years been instrumental in the struggle to regulate factory farms.

Michael Pollan

“The Botany of Desire”

This interview with Michael Pollan on December 17, 2001 around the release of The Botany of Desire was conducted by Dan Imhoff and Tim Bates for the KZYX Farm and Garden Show.

John Scharffenberger

“In Conversation”

John Scharffenberger is an agricultural anthropologist, farmer and entrepreneur who has started various food businesses ranging from sparkling wine to chocolate and kimchi.

Eliot Coleman

“History of Organic Agriculture”

Eliot Coleman farms year-round in unheated greenhouses on the northern coast of Maine. For more than 50 years, he has been one of the most inventive horticultural minds in America.

Vandana Shiva

“Soil, Not Oil”

Dr. Vandana Shiva is a physicist and leading critic of industrial agriculture, particularly of the battles surrounding the patenting of seeds and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Rowan Jacobsen

“A Geography of Oysters”

Rowan Jacobsen is an acclaimed
food and science writer and author of numerous books, including A Geography of Oysters.

Gary Nabhan

“Where Our Food Comes From”

Gary Nabhan is a MacArthur Award recipient and author of dozens of books about ecology, agriculture and food with a particular expertise in the American southwest where he lives.

Eliot Coleman

“The Four Season Harvest”

Eliot Coleman farms year-round in unheated greenhouses on the coast of Maine. For more than 40 years, he has been one of the most inventive horticultural minds in America.

Gene Logsdon

“The Contrary Farmer”

Gene Logsdon is an Ohio-based farmer and one of America’s most prolific, intelligent and humorous chroniclers of agriculture and rural issues.