An interview with Eric Rygg, President of Silver Springs Foods and Huntsinger Farms, the largest grower and processor of horseradish in the world, based in Eau Claire, WI.

An interview with Ruth McCabe and Emery Davis, conservation agronomists at Heartland Co-op, an agricultural co-op based in Des Moines, Iowa with over 70 locations around Iowa. Emery also farms with his family in southeastern Iowa.

https://www.heartlandcoop.com/

An interview with three people in the vanguard of winter camelina commercialization efforts as an oilseed cash crop in the Upper Midwest.

Colin Cureton is Director of Adoption and Scaling at the University of Minnesota's Forever Green Initiative.

Matthew Tentis is a 3rd generation farmer on White Barn Acres near Kellogg, Minnesota focused on raising cattle and regenerative agriculture.

David Kiesner is Director of Business Development at Millborn Seeds, a specialty seed company dealing with over 1200 unique species of seed, located in Brookings, South Dakota.

https://forevergreen.umn.edu/

https://www.driftlessgrown.com/members/white-barn-acres

https://www.millbornseeds.com/

Chippewa Valley Bean Vice President Charles Wachsmuth talks about the history of the family business, current markets, and what makes them unique in the world of kidney beans.

Located in Menomonie, WI, Chippewa Valley Bean is the world's largest processor of kidney beans, exports to 35 countries worldwide, and has tripled in size over the last 12 years. They are two-time winners of the Governor's Export Achievement Award.

Chippewa Valley Bean: https://www.cvbean.com/

An interview with Dale Hilgenkamp and Dean Duval about current and future markets for aronia berries.

Dale Hilgenkamp is an aronia farmer near Omaha, Nebraska and president of the American Aronia Berry Association. Dean Duval is an aronia farmer in Castana, Iowa as well as a board member of the association with a focus on research and development.

American Aronia Berry Association: https://americanaronia.org/

Forrest Funmaker of the Ho-Chunk Nation talks about the significant of their partnership with UW-Madison to conduct hemp variety trials at Whirling Thunder Farm near Tomah, Wisconsin. The partnership is made possible by a Sustainable Agriculture and Research Education (SARE) grant.

Ho-Chunk Nation website:

https://ho-chunknation.com/

An interview with Dr. Heather Darby and Phillip Alberti on the latest in hemp research. Dr. Heather Darby is an Agronomy Specialist for University of Vermont Extension. Phillip Alberti is a Research Program Manager in the Department of Horticulture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Resources:

University of Vermont Extension Hemp Research Reports

https://www.uvm.edu/extension/nwcrops/research

Midwestern Hemp Database

https://extension.illinois.edu/hemp/midwestern-hemp-databases

Ellison Lab, UW-Madison

https://alternativecrops.horticulture.wisc.edu/

An interview with Dr. Jed Colquhoun about his research on the Bambara groundnut. The Bambara groundnut is a new crop to the United States but commonly grown in its native Africa as a subsistence crop. Jed shares his successes and challenges during his early work breeding this legume for Wisconsin.

Dr. Jed Colquhoun is Professor in the Department of Horticulture and IPM Program Director at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Four experts from Indiana join us for a conversation on growing peppermint and spearmint for oil.

Doug Matthys is a mint farmer in South Bend, Indiana at Shady Lane Farms, a fourth-generation family farm growing mint on about 1000 acres.

Dr. Elizabeth Long, Assistant Professor in the Department of Entymology at Purdue University, studies plant-insect interactions to inform IPM strategies in specialty crops, with a focus on the Asiatic garden beetle grub in mint fields.

Petrus Langenhoven is a Horticulture and Hydroponic Crop Specialist at Purdue University working on the management of verticillium wilt in mint.

Dr. Stephen Meyers, Assistant Professor in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Purdue University, conducts research on weed management strategies in mint.

Links:

https://ag.purdue.edu/department/arge/industry/mint/mint-growers.html

A conversation with two experts on haskaps (aka honeyberries).

First up is Bernis Ingvaldson, who owns and operates The Honeyberry Farm with her husband Jim in Bagley, MN, about two hours south of the Canadian border. They grow about two acres of honeyberries along with many other alternative fruit crops.

Next is a conversation with Dr. Bob Bors, Assistant Professor of Plant Sciences at the University of Saskatchewan and North America's premier haskap breeder. Bob has been breeding haskaps for over 20 years, with a focus on mechanical harvesting, and has released 10 varieties in that time.

The Honeyberry Farm website and online nursery:

http://honeyberryusa.com/index.html

University of Saskatchewan Fruit Program

https://research-groups.usask.ca/fruit/?utm_source=fruit&utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=2019-02-28