Doug Stephan
500 episodes listed below
Farm talk with policy teeth.
American Family Farmer follows family farming through the practical details that shape a season: help, land, labels, crops, chemicals, fuel, and survival. It pairs field-level interviews with Doug Stephan’s opinionated read on policy and farm economics.
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American Family Farmer sounds like farm radio that kept its edges when it became a podcast. It is practical first. Episodes ask how a farm gets help, how a tree heals after tapping, how an urban grower feeds a neighborhood, and how consumers know where their food really came from. Then the conversation widens. Land ownership, government cuts, fuel prices, farm income claims, pesticide liability, product labeling, and big agriculture all become part of the same argument about whether family farms can keep going. Doug Stephan gives the show a clear editorial spine. He is warm with guests, but he is also willing to name what he thinks is broken. That makes the program feel less like a neutral trade briefing and more like a weekly check-in from someone measuring policy against tractor fuel, livestock, acres, crops, and bills. The interview episodes have a useful looseness. Nathan Vanette talks about radishes, farming, veterans, internships, Clemson University, and helping future farmers start businesses. Jacob Pouser explains maple tubing, tapping, tree health, climate pressure, and sustainable sugaring at Baird Farm. Tammy Perdue describes Sweet Pea Urban Garden, microgreens, row crops, local food, and the changing public appetite for knowing how food is grown. Kelly Ryerson brings a sharper thread around glyphosate, Bayer, lawsuits, pesticide exposure, and chemical-dependent agriculture. The show also carries regular sponsor material, especially weight-loss advertising, which can blur into the conversational rhythm. Still, the farm content is direct and grounded. It favors people doing the work, not abstract food-system talk. It suits listeners who can handle political frustration alongside practical agricultural detail. At its strongest, American Family Farmer connects one farm’s daily problem to the larger machinery pressing on American agriculture.
Made for: For farmers, farm-adjacent listeners, local-food supporters, and agriculture watchers who want practical field talk mixed with blunt commentary on policy and economics.
What sets it apart: The show stands out by letting farm procedure, personal experience, and political frustration sit in the same conversation. It treats labels, land, help, pesticides, and crops as connected pressures on family farms.
A weekly look at trends in Family Farming and Healthy Eating.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Farm operators explain the labor, markets, infrastructure and production choices that determine whether an agricultural enterprise can keep working.
American Family Farmer treats agriculture as an operating business shaped by land, labor, markets and regulation. Doug Stephan leads practical conversations with farm owners and operators, asking how they produce, hire, sell and adapt.
Maple taps, pig farrowing, California water fights: your farm-curious brain gets properly muddy.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A practical look at farming as labor, land, and business work.
American Family Farmer uses this conversation to treat farming as work, not branding. Nathan Vanette presents Growing Green Family Farms as a deliberate operation: radishes may be the near term draw, but the real point is the pesticide free, herbicide free, no till approach in…
Who owns the land is the episode's real pressure point.
American Family Farmer centers on one plain question: who owns the land. Doug Stephan moves from a Vermont maple syrup operation to USDA farmland figures, then into the strain family farms face from war and the pressure that puts on the food supply.
Maple sugaring here comes through as work, restraint, and business all at once.
This episode treats maple sugaring as real work, not folklore. Jacob Pouser of Baird Farm walks through the winter to spring rhythm in North Chittenden, Vermont: cleaning up tubing, drilling new tap holes, and setting spiles. The most useful detail is the discipline behind it.
Women in farming take center stage, with the real pressure points in land, resources, and leadership.
American Family Farmer treats women in agriculture as a working reality, not a ceremonial theme. Doug Stephan moves from Women's Month and the International Year of the Woman to a new information hub, then keeps coming back to the main point: women produce about half of the…
A grounded look at farm-based outpatient therapy, with access, animals, and real limits in view.
Doug Stephan's conversation with Megan Moran of Cultivate Care Farms treats the farm as both a place and a working part of outpatient therapy.
A sixth-generation farm story about water, policy, and staying in business.
This episode treats Bowles Farming Company like a real family business, with succession, scale, water access, and the blunt math of keeping a California farm moving.
A practical farm conversation about organic inputs, survival, and making do with what is close at hand.
American Family Farmer keeps its feet on the ground. Doug Stephan opens with farm memory, then turns to Ann Malloy of Neptune's Harvest, and the conversation lands where it should: what small family farmers can actually use, afford, and trust.
Ethical livestock work only holds when care and market reality stay in balance.
The episode treats ethical farming as a business problem first, which gives it some real footing. It keeps coming back to the practical work of raising pigs well: picking sows for maternal instinct, setting up farrowing space, and making sure the animals can be handled, moved,…
Farm business talk with coffee-shop honesty.
Radishes get top billing.
This episode critiques former President Trump's claim about a 20% increase in farm income, attributing it to Biden-era aid packages and questioning the economic reality for farmers.
Jacob Pausner of Baird Farm in North Chittenden, Vermont, describes how a fourth-generation, 585-acre maple farm transitioned from dairy to maple syrup production and how the maple industry has transformed through modern technology.
Host Doug Stephan delivers a solo commentary on the US agricultural economy, covering fuel and fertilizer cost pressures, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins's five stated priorities for the ag sector, and USDA data showing that 79 percent of US farmland is owned by non-farming landlords.
This episode features an interview with Tammy Perdue, who transitioned from a business career to running an urban farm in North Carolina, discussing her journey into organic farming through a workshop with Will Allen.
Doug Stephan uses American Family Farmer to mark Women's Month and the International Year of the Woman with a focus on women in agriculture.
An interview with Kelly Ryerson, known as the glyphosate girl, discussing her documentation of glyphosate cancer trials and the dangers of the pesticide.
This episode discusses the impact of government staffing issues on family farmers and explores the controversial topic of glyphosate use in agriculture.
Megan Moran, executive director of Cultivate Care Farms in Bolton, Massachusetts, describes how her farm offers outpatient mental health therapy using animals and land as central therapeutic tools.
An interview with Bradley Pfeiffer about the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers and the need for industry standards.
This episode covers the latest news on the House Farm Bill and features an upcoming interview with Megan Moran from Cultivate Farms about helping farmers.
This episode features an interview with biology professor Norris Muth, who explains the differences between ecology and evolution and their relevance to farming and the environment.
This episode discusses the proposed new farm bill and its implications for farmers and rural communities.
This episode covers the latest avian flu outbreak threatening to reverse declining egg prices, with a focus on impacts for family farmers.
How does a sixth-generation farm keep going when the easy answers run out?
The episode discusses a Supreme Court case about federal pesticide regulations and state-level failure-to-warn lawsuits, focusing on Monsanto's Roundup and glyphosate cancer claims.
Ann Molloy, co-owner and director of sales and marketing at Neptune's Harvest in Gloucester, Massachusetts, describes how a fifth-generation commercial fishing family turned fish processing waste into a nationally distributed organic fertilizer.
Interview with Jody Scott, co-founder of Green Goo, discussing her background in gardening and her journey into farming.
The host editorializes about the re-approval of the banned pesticide dicamba and criticizes political figures involved.
A CPA shares tax deduction tips for farmers before filing season.
This episode features an interview with Jack Algier, director of agroecology at Stone Barns Center, discussing the establishment and mission of this regenerative farming education center in New York.
Host Doug Stephan interviews Tom and Martha Brickman about their farmstead bed and breakfast and cheese business, sharing personal farming stories.
This episode discusses the threat of the new world screw worm near the U.S.
Eliza Maclean, owner of Cane Creek Farm in Saxapahaw, North Carolina, describes how living with an Amish family as a teenager and earning a Duke master's degree in environmental toxicology shaped her pasture-based pig farming operation.
This episode features Heidi Sandrev discussing her journey founding and running Angel Haven Horse Rescue, a volunteer-based organization in Ohio that helps both horses and people.
The episode features an interview with a flower farmer about starting and running a farm business, with tips on diversification and trends in family farming.
The episode discusses a report on USDA workforce reductions linked to political alignment requirements under the Trump administration.
The host introduces a special episode where a radio consultant interviews him about his farming life and the show's background.
Host Doug Stephan interviews sisters Courtney and Beth Hodge about their family dairy farm and pudding production business.
The episode discusses the impact of tariff policies and a $12 billion aid package on American family farmers.
Lynn Westmeister discusses her family farm in Ohio, which started with horses and expanded to include exotic animals like a pet zebra, and how she opened it to the public.
Host Doug Stephan interviews Dawn Broder about her upbringing on a family farm and her current work in farming and healthy eating.
This episode features an interview with Warren Shaw, president of the Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation, discussing the economic challenges facing farmers and his personal experience rebuilding after his barn roof collapsed in a 2023 snowstorm.
Farmers discuss protecting crops from frost during a drought in Vermont.
Interview with a veteran-owned dairy farm owner about his farm's operations, veteran status, and customer engagement.