The Future is Organic- Diana Martin

Episode #5 - Diana Martin from Rodale Institute explains how her organization is growing the organic movement through research, farmer training, and consumer education.

Summary

On this episode of Agrihood Radio, we catch up with Director of Communications for Rodale Institute, Diana Martin.

Diana expresses her thoughts on what questions should be asked when considering an Agrihood for your family. She also shares the process of organically grown foods in America.

Biodiversity on farms is also an important topic that Diana raises questions for. For example; what are farms doing to encourage pollinator habitats? The birds, the butterflies and the bees, are they planting milkweed so that when monarch butterflies come through they have a habitat?

How are Agri-Communites encouraging the biodiversity in the soil? Because feeding this microbial community is so important for soil health. We discuss these key points along with many more important questions.

There’s also the concern of how farms only mono-crop corn or soybeans on their land year after year. Those crops become very resource intensive. Which means they require significantly more fertilizer. They're almost always GMO resistant to glyphosate.

So they're continuously getting more and more Roundup, rainfall washes those chemicals into the waterways and end up creating dead zones with really hostile life that can have a harmful effect on drinking water.

Diana explains how certain communities in the Midwest are seeing blue babies syndrome from chemicals in their drinking water. It’s having that type of an impact on the health of the population that live there.

Diana Martin oversees all marketing and communications including the Rodale Institute website, social media, email marketing, advertising, public relations, and the print publication New Farm. She is a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Have a listen and enjoy the interview as Diana shares her insightful knowledge with us!