Atina Diffley is an organic farmer, public speaker and author of the 2013 Minnesota Book Award winner, “Turn Here Sweet Corn: Organic Farming Works,” a memoir based on Atina’s life running the Gardens of Eagan organic vegetable farm. Her advocacy has addressed the pressures of suburban development and she successfully led a legal and citizen campaign against the notorious polluters, Koch Industries, to create an Organic Mitigation Plan for organic farms in Minnesota. Tune in to learn more about:
– What is new on Atina’s 100 acre farm and why she started planting perennial crops;
– Why monocropping is affecting the soil microbiome and insects;
– Ecosystems and their value for farming;
– Why organic can feed the world;
– How planting two different plants next to each other – like asparagus and soybeans – can benefit both and reduce the use of pesticides;
– Why knowledge is the best tool to share for growing plants without spraying;
– The relationship that we have with the food that feeds us and with the soil it grows in;
– The future of her farm and why she put her farm and the land into a conservation easement.
To learn more about Atina’s work go to https://atinadiffley.com.