Recently, one of the Alliance for Food and Farming “Facts Not Fear” Produce Safety Media tour guests, Monica Reinagel  MS, LD/N, CNS,  developed a new podcast series, “Faces of Farming.”  According to Monica:  “Most Americans can’t visit a working farm to see for themselves how their food is treated. That’s why we are taking the mystery out of your meal with Faces of Farming.”

We thank you Monica.  Because at the AFF we often say that we wish we could give every consumer with concerns about produce safety a tour of our farms and the opportunity to meet and talk directly to farmers.  Since this isn’t a realistic option, we do the next best thing – we invite media and nutrition communicators on farm tours so they can pass along what they see firsthand as Monica is doing with this podcast.

Two of the four “Faces of Farming” podcast segments will focus on produce.  The first, “What’s It Like to Run a Vegetable Farm,” features Dale Huss of Ocean Mist Farms.  This is available to listen to now.  The second segment will feature a strawberry farmer and will be posted on November 20.

We invite you to learn more about the firsthand experiences of AFF tour guests by reading these posts and articles as well:

• “Eat More Produce Challenge,”  by Alex Caspero, Delish Knowledge

• “Field to Fact: Fruit and Veggie Farm Tour,” by Carolyn O’Neil, Happy Healthy Kitchen

• “Facts Not Fears:  The Truth About Safe Farming Practices,” by Natalie Rizzo, Nutrition a la Natalie

Also read this Boston Globe article by tour guest Dr. Joan Salge Blake about consumer choice, produce safety and eating a diet rich in fruits and veggies.

The tour and resulting articles, blog posts, podcasts and videos are important and effective ways to communicate the care and commitment of organic and conventional farmers and farming companies to consumers.  We reiterate our thanks to our tour partner, Markon Cooperative, and everyone who allowed media and nutrition communicators to visit their farms, watch the harvest, view their processing facilities and joined us for the robust Roundtable discussion on a wide-range of food safety topics.