Ben Dobson: Luddites, Take-nologists, and 4th Grade Climate Science

Real Organic Podcast

#041: Ben Dobson of Stone House Farm in NY's Hudson Valley covers a lot of ground as he gives illustrative explanations of Earth's natural cycles and how they're complemented by organic farming. He makes a great case for expanding organic production in the US to meet our market demand instead of looking to imports. Ben also takes on CAFOs, grain fraud, hydroponics, and the dire importance of the organic movement aligning with social justice and land access efforts.
Ben Dobson is the farm manager at Stone House Grain, which supplies NY's Hudson Valley with organic animal feed and also aims to support a community of bakers, brewers, and distillers. He is also the managing director of Hudson Hemp and Hudson Carbon, mapping out the relationship between agricultural practices and soil carbon sequestration. Stone House Farm has been certified with the Real Organic Project since we launched our pilot program in 2018.
To watch a video version of this podcast please visit:
https://www.realorganicproject.org/ben-dobson-luddites-takenologists-4th-grade-climate-science-episode-forty-one
The Real Organic Podcast is hosted by Dave Chapman and Linley Dixon, engineered by Brandon StCyr, and edited and produced by Jenny Prince.
The Real Organic Project is a farmer-led movement working towards certifying 1,000 farms across the United States this year. Our add-on food label distinguishes soil-grown fruits and vegetables from hydroponically-raised produce. It also identifies pasture-raised meat, milk, and eggs as compared to products harvested from animals in horrific confinement (CAFOs - confined animal feeding operations).
To find a Real Organic farm near you, please visit:
https://www.realorganicproject.org/farms
We believe that the organic standards, with their focus on soil health, biodiversity, and animal welfare were written as they should be. But the current lack of enforcement of those standards is jeopardizing small farms that follow the law. The lack of enforcement is also jeopardizing the overall health of the customers who support the organic movement; customers who are not getting what they pay for at market but are still paying a premium price. The lack of enforcement is jeopardizing the very cycles (water, air, nutrients) that Earth relies upon to provide us all with a place to live, by pushing extractive, chemical agriculture to the forefront.
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