Adam Dietrich is an apple and cherry farmer in Conklin. After starting as a pre-med major at Michigan State University, it took six months until he decided he wanted to work on his family’s farm. He switched over to horticulture, engaged in research, and has now been back on the farm for eight years. When he’s not checking on apples or working with Farm Bureau, he kayaks, hikes, and travels internationally.

Adam talks about:

• The kind of fires he has to put out
• His bucket list countries – plus why he can’t go back to New Zealand
• How his parents got 100% of their kids to live near them
• What he and his siblings make fun of each other about
• Why he loved his dungeon at college

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!

 AgroLiquid President Troy Bancroft discusses AgroExpo - going on Aug 13 & 14 in St Johns - what to expect at the show, his agricultural past, why he thinks farming education is valuable, and what he's personally looking forward to in 2019.

  

theagroexpo.com

agroliquid.com

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!

Dru Montri runs Ten Hens Farm in Bath with her husband, Adam. She’s also the Director of Government and Stakeholder Relations for Michigan State University’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and College of Veterinary Medicine. She enjoys watching her two daughters compete in sports, getting her hands in the dirt, and making horticulture a part of her daily life.

Listen as Dru talks about:

- How a positive attitude about a lost purse helps change perspective

- How she builds relationships with customers

- The amount of energy students bring to campus, even in the crosswalks

- The importance of talking to her family over dinner

- Upcoming whale shark experiences, plus other big milestones

www.tenhensfarm.com

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!

Brian Lesperance of Fenn Valley Vineyards left his career in technology to start a second one at a winery. His wife Gwen, whose family started the business in 1973, their two daughters, and Brian love riding around the farm and enjoying nearby Lake Michigan.  Brian skis in the winter, cycles in the summer, and prepares meals – sometimes successfully, sometimes not – year round. 

Brian talks about:

• What extreme farming means in the wine industry
• How much you have to train to cycle from Lansing to the Mackinac Bridge
• The class he and Gwen taught where they paired food and wine that DID not go together, just to prove it really makes a difference
• The most disastrous, inedible meal he ever made
• Music night, pizza night, and how his perfect day is pretty much a regular day

www.fennvalley.com

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!

Andrew Chae of Fisheye Farms is an urban farmer in Detroit.  He grows a variety of vegetables in a farm-to-chef business that provides for local restaurants.  He’s a skateboarder, enjoys Brazilian music, and loves the first-generation farm he and his family have built together.

Andrew talks about:

• His firecracker dad - with many examples - and talented mom
• The organic farm experience he and Amy (wife and business partner) had in Brazil
• The best place for a late dinner in Detroit
• The many ways to prepare cabbage, including grilling
• Why his desire to make a positive impact in the world drove him to start a business

www.fisheyefarms.com

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!

Matt Stutzman is a soybean, corn, and wheat farmer from Adrian.  When he’s not farming, he’s spending time with his wife Maria and their three young children.  He serves on state and national boards, has traveled all over the world (he even floated in the Dead Sea), enjoys fixing and improving machines, and is glad he went to Eastern Michigan University – not only because he liked it, but because that’s where he met his wife.

Listen as Matt talks about:

• The feeling he gets when he can fix something
• The winter he built two liquid trailers
• Hobbies he had before and after kids – golf and Legos, anyone?
• An all-American meal he wants after an international trip
• What he’s looking forward to this year and the next – and whether he’ll get it

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!

Mark Daniels and his wife Miranda manage Bonnie Plants in Ithaca, which is a greenhouse operation that grows 175 different vegetable and herb transplants.  Mark enjoys watching his sons play football, spends time chasing escapee goats, and loves going to his cabin in Sterling where he pretends they don’t have cell service.

 

Listen as Mark talks about:

• How the goats help them get rid of any extra money
• Why working in wholesale is a microcosm of what happens in social media
• How it’s impossible to walk past a historical plaque without reading it, and how it’s genetic
• What advice resonated when he was building a business at age 24
• How he felt speaking to people at the Japanese Embassy

 

www.facebook.com/pages/Bonnie-Plants/158109500887521

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!

Scott Maust is an egg farmer who also races sailboats.  When he’s not on a boat, he’s figuring out how to best take care of chickens in new housing (heated floors!) and working with a team to give them the best nutrition.  Born and raised in Pidgeon, Scott runs Farm Crest Foods with his family.

Listen as Scott talks about:

• The life-changing decision he made after listening to a loud muffler
• The race from Miami to Havana, his first experience of racing on the open ocean
• Why he enjoys the people involved in agriculture
• What questions he gets about chicken feed and manure
• Why eggs, bacon, and steak are always better than pasta  

www.farmcresteggs.com/

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!

Sharon Ostrowski and her family run SharKar Farms, (pronounced Share Care), an all-vegetable 10-acre farm in China, Michigan.  Sharon jokes that everything is grown in China, and she makes this a reality by offering “weird” vegetables like a cucumber/watermelon type, Michigan artichokes, and 20+ varieties of tomatoes.  She says she’s raised her seven children the same way she raises her plants – feeds them, treats them, and gets a healthy result in the end.

Listen as Sharon talks about:

• What satisfaction she draws from planting, growing, and feeding people with plants, and how she can’t grow anything on a tree
• Kayaking and boating, and the indestructibility of canoes
• The year she didn’t plant any red cherry tomatoes
• How younger farmers can learn from experienced farmers who already made mistakes
• No matter how many hours she works, she’s never sad, but always satisfied

www.facebook.com/Sharkar-Farm-311635237661/

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!

Mike Noll lives in the southern thumb with his wife Jordan and four children, where he farms with his dad and brother.  Not only do they milk cows, but they raise beef, corn, wheat, soybeans, sugar beets, alfalfa, and dry beans.  He coaches, serves on several boards, and takes to heart the advice of former Michigan Farm Bureau President Wayne Wood: try to leave everything a little better than when you started.

 

Listen as Mike talks about:

• How an FFA advisor knew after overhearing an argument between him and his brother that they were great at communicating
• How he and Jordan met on her school field trip to the farm, and how all the parents were wishing they would date
• What difficult decision unexpectedly benefited their farm
• Why he prefers one lake over another, even if his wife doesn’t
• The beauty of the wheat harvest, and why

www.facebook.com/Noll-Dairy-Farm-Inc-315095325206193/

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!