July 1: UC Davis hydrogeologist Graham Fogg

UC Davis hydrogeologist Graham Fogg’s ‘Paleo Valleys’, buried along the base of our Sierra Nevada’s western slope, are a potential godsend to groundwater recharge-obsessed Central Valley communities. These ancient, buried riverbeds, dating from the last ice age, are cobble and gravel-filled to depths of 100 feet, can extend for miles underground, and have been proven by Fogg’s team to guzzle flood water as much as 100 times faster than surrounding land. Join Graham and “Down on the Farm” host Tom Willey.

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June 3: Lois Henry, SJV Water

Veteran Fresno Bee and Bakersfield Californian journalist Lois Henry, now CEO and Editor of ‘SJV Water’, gets the drop on all South Valley water happenings. Our Sierra’s modest southern streams can flip from trickle to torrent from year to year. Waterscape scarcity compels California’s wily agricultural titans to sometimes collaborate, and sometimes clash. Join Lois Henry and “Down on the Farm” host Tom Willey exploring mysterious machinations down yonder.

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May 6: Doug Graham, New Era Farm Service

California law will soon transform all our kitchen scraps into black gold. Tulare’s New Era Farm Service, founded by a half-dozen maverick farmers in 1974, may be the state’s first and most enduring commercial compost operation, producing 100,000 tons of dairy manure compost annually. New Era’s just-retired President and CEO Doug Graham shares three decades of composting knowhow with “Down on the Farm” host Tom Willey.

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April 1: The filmmakers of “First Time Home”

“First Time Home” is filmed and directed by Maderans Esmeralda and Heriberto Ventura with Washington State cousins, all second-generation Indigenous Triqui immigrant youth. Deputized to visit an ailing Oaxacan grandfather, the foursome traveled 3,000 miles overland, through an unknown country, ambassadors to an ancestral homeland and extended family they had never met. Join “Down on the Farm” host Tom Willey in conversation with Esmeralda, Heriberto, and film producer Seth Holmes.

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March 4: Fresno’s Vineyard Farmers Market founder, owner Richard Erganian

Chez Panisse restaurateur Alice Waters once described the plein air structure sheltering Fresno’s Vineyard Farmers Market as a ‘cathedral’. Why would a profit-minded developer dedicate acres of a major California city’s most valuable commercial property to fruit and vegetable vendors – for over 40 years? “Down on the Farm” host Tom Willey will ask that question of Vineyard Farmers Market founder and owner Richard Erganian.

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