DOWN on the FARM
with Tom Willey
First Friday of the month at 5p.m.
KFCF, 88.1 FM Fresno
California’s last-ditch effort to forestall exhaustion of our Great Central Valley aquifer will abandon some million acres of irrigated farmland. A new report by Community Alliance with Family Farmers and University of California, “Managing Groundwater with Small Farms in Mind”, warns that farms feeding our state’s local communities will suffer disproportionally. Join report coauthor and Full Belly Farm founding partner Judith Redmond in conversation with “Down on the Farm host Tom Willey.
Florida-schooled entomologist Kim Horton operated a 7-acre south valley greenhouse raising billions of predatory mites and beneficial insects. Kim then moved out to the field at 50,000-acre Grimmway Farms, our nation’s largest Organic vegetable operation. Under the tutelage of Gerald Davis, a pioneering organic agronomist, Kim broadened her knowledge and practice of biologically intensive soil management and fertility. Join “Down on the Farm” host Tom Willey in conversation with Kim Horton.
Agri Technovation president and agronomist Cary Crum sets a spell on our “Down on the Farm” front porch every second August to monitor San Joaquin Valley agriculture’s pulse. California farmers fancy themselves cutting-edge innovators but trail progressive Midwest and overseas cultivators in adopting precision and biological soil management practices. South Africa-based Agri Technovation operates on five continents and offers a broadened perspective. Join host Tom Willey and Cary Crum in conversation.
Deep-well vertical turbine pumps, employed for barely a century, have dewatered the planet’s major aquifers to an alarming extent, including our San Joaquin Valley’s. Some 70% of extracted water is used for irrigated agriculture, not only here but everywhere else. “Chickens are coming home to roost.” Eavesdrop on Ken Schmidt, hydrogeology’s senior statesman hereabouts, and “Down on the Farm” host Tom Willey in conversation about quantity and quality.
As our Organic Stone Fruit Jubilee is soon to celebrate its 18th year, “Down on the Farm” host Tom Willey welcomes generational San Joaquin Valley orchardists Bryce Loewen and Nicholas Boldt. Joining us in conversation will be Hansel Kern, co-owner of North Fork’s award-winning Gnarly Carrot organic grocery. Big changes are underway in all sectors of Valley agriculture, stone fruit notwithstanding. Join us to hear from fine folks who feed us.
California’s methane-belching organic waste mountains will shrink by 75% – transformed into black gold for farms and gardens – if we ever figure out how to comply with a law that was to have accomplished this by 2025. UC Merced’s Presidential Chair in Climate Change, leading national compost researcher Rebecca Ryals, and Sierra Resource Conservation District’s Jessie Kanter engage “Down on the Farm” host Tom Willey in conversation.
University of California’s aversion to the “O” word ceased with the appointment of its first Statewide Organic Specialist in 2019. “Down on the Farm” host Tom Willey welcomes UC Cooperative Extension’s second, soil microbiologist Lauren Hale, who commenced her new role at UC Merced in February. Hale researched soil microbiomes at the USDA-ARS Center in Parlier for seven years prior to joining UC. Join Lauren Hale and “Down on the Farm” host Tom Willey in conversation.
Along with his dad John Warmerdam of Kings Orchards in Hanford are a highwire act growing 80 acres of cherries. They count among that “casino” crop’s southern San Joaquin Valley pioneers. More familiar stone fruits round out the duo’s 250 orchard acres. John helped launch the Farmer Ag Network, a community of San Joaquin Valley farmers transitioning from chemical to biological intensity. Join Warmerdam and “Down on the Farm” host Tom Willey in conversation.
Fourth generation Hanford farmer Richard Felipe has adopted unusual practices for some half-dozen years on 200 acres of pistachios. Neighbors gape at a flock of sheep grazing his cover cropped orchard. Enthused with recent Korean Natural Farming innovations, Richard is hosting, on his own dime, Triple F Ranch’s second annual field day later this month. Join Richard Felipe and host Tom Willey in conversation.
An unprecedented series of public forums led to the 1996 publication of Highway 99 a literary Journey through California’s Great Central Valley. “Down on the Farm’s” 2026 Culture in Agriculture radio event celebrates 30 years since the late Malcolm Margolin’s Heyday Press bestowed that gift on the other California. Join one organizer of that effort, Modesto poet Lillian Vallee, and host Tom Willey in conversation.