AgEBB-MU CAFNR Extension

Green Horizons

Volume 23, Number 2
Spring 2019

Agroforestry

The Agroforestry Podcast: Newest Episode Now Available

By Hannah Hemmelgarn | University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry

The University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry (UMCA) seeks to reach farmers, landowners, and the many professionals and peers who support them, via education and outreach efforts that increase agroforestry adoption. Workshops, webinars, publications, and events all contribute to this goal. This year, UMCA expanded this menu of media with the launch of The Agroforestry Podcast.

As information technology rapidly evolves, podcasts have become a popular way to glean new understanding, inspire creative ideas, and connect interested learners with topic-area experts. Podcasts are digital audio files made available electronically for download or direct listening online. Generally, podcasts are produced as a series, new installments of which can be received by subscribers automatically.

Look for The Agroforestry Podcast logo when you search for and subscribe to the show on your preferred podcast app. You can also tune in at www.centerforagroforestry.org/podcast.php

Several podcasts on farming and food systems are currently available from the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, and independent producers, although none focuses explicitly on agroforestry, and few highlight agroforestry as a featured topic more than once. The Center for Agroforestry's podcast fills a niche, highlighting perennial crops, farmers, suppliers, buyers, and experts in the field.

Since February 2019, UMCA has released four (monthly) Agroforestry Podcast episodes, each reaching around 500 new listeners. The newest episode on native herbaceous plants and elderberry is also a teaser for the Agroforestry Academy, featuring Nadia Navarrete-Tindall, a native plant expert and consultant, and Terry Durham, owner and operator of River Hills Harvest. Previous episodes include:

"Insights from Agroforestry Change-Makers" featuring highlights from conversations with Dr. Michael Gold, Dr. Sarah Taylor-Lovell, Dr. John Munsell, Keefe Keeley, and Kate MacFarland about the benefits of and potential for agroforestry in the US;
"Forest Farming 101", an introduction to medicinal forest plants from presenters at the Appalachian Beginning Forest Farmer Coalition's grower event, including Dr. Jeanine Davis, Dr. Eric Burkhart, and Appalachian forest farmers at the event's exhibit hall;
"Growing American Ginseng", sharing diverse perspectives on the cultivation, conservation, and challenges of Panax quinquefolius, with forest farming professionals and growers.