Slow Tools Pioneer And Veteran Farmer
with Rob Rock
- Welcome to The Market Gardener Podcast, your gateway to the vibrant world of organic small-scale farming. JM Fortier and Chris Moran explore the big ideas, challenges, and solutions that shape our food system. Join us and the leading voices in sustainable agriculture as we dive into insightful conversations that empower, educate, and inspire action.
About this episode
In this episode, we chat with Rob Rock of Pitchfork Farm in Vermont. Rob has been organic farming since 2002 and has been an innovator in the field of “slow tools” … tools made for human scale, ecological farming.
In this wide ranging conversation, we dive deep into topics such as the role of technology in small-scale farming, community building and the importance of local business, the future of small farms amidst climate change, and how we all need to take part in designing the future we want.
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[2:36] Importance of farmer gatherings and meeting other farmers
[6:36] Designing and creating tools for small farms
[8:34] Farm flooding, climate change, future of ag in Vermont
[22:55] Why do we need small farms?
[30:22] Pitchfork farm, importance of crew relationships, community developing from the farm
[42:12] Farm relationship with chefs and restaurants
[48:31] Importance of “supporting cast” in small farm movement
[55:43] Slow Tools, becoming a tool inventor, future of tech in slow tools, AI
[1:31:01] Where is small-scale farming going as a movement?
[1:35:09] Will the future be “solar punk” ?
[1:41:39] The One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka, farming in Japan
[1:48:31] Learn other skills! Take part in designing the future
Mentioned Links & Resources
Rob Rock - Pitchfork Farm
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