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© 2025 2024 Savanna Institute
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The Savanna Institute's podcast and blog about perennial agroforestry (AF) features interviews, questions from listeners, inside jokes, and more. Subscribe to Perennial AF to hear real AF conversations with some of the Midwest's top agroforesters and perennial farmers! More at https://www.savannainstitute.org/perennialAF
74 Episodes
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In 2024, Savanna Institute began a bioacoustic monitoring program to record the sounds of birds and other wildlife each morning and evening at one of our research farms. Ecosystem scientist Nate Lawrence explains the initial results from this project and how we hope to expand our acoustic monitoring in the future to identify birds, amphibians, insects, and bats in agroforestry fields. Show notes at www.SavannaInstitute.org/PerennialAF
Host Jacob Grace reads from the first three chapters of Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture by J. Russell Smith, first published in 1929. This book, which is now in the public domain, has been extremely influential in the adoption of agroforestry in the United States, and in the origins of the Savanna Institute in particular. Show notes at www.SavannaInstitute.org/PerennialAF
Sallie Calhoun, founder of the #NoRegrets Initiative and owner of Paicines Ranch on California's central coast, talks with staff member Jenn Ripp about how she got started ranching, her experiences as a philanthropist, and the importance of shifting from an agriculture based on chemistry to an agriculture based on biology. Show notes at www.savannainstitute.org/PerennialAF
Farmer Josh Payne leads a tour of his farm in central Missouri and describes his management of beef cattle, sheep, and hogs in a rotational grazing silvopasture system with chestnuts and additional agroforestry crops.
Harry and Jackie Hoch describe their work establishing tropical agroforestry in Carmelita Gardens, Belize, and discuss what has happened with their farmland in Minnesota since the 2018 interview heard in the previous episode. Show notes at www.savannainstitute.org/PerennialAF
Hear an audio tour of Hoch Orchard and Gardens in southeastern Minnesota in this archival recording from 2018. Harry and Jackie Hoch describe their systems for organic apple and cider production, orchard management with multispecies grazing, integrated pest management, and more. More info at https://www.savannainstitute.org/minnesota/hoch-orchard/
Adam D’Angelo, Breeding Operations Manager for the Savanna Institute Tree Crop Improvement Program, leads a tour of a research farm at the Savanna Institute’s Spring Green Campus in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Learn about plant breeding efforts with hybrid hazelnuts, American persimmon, black currants, elderberry, and more. Show notes at www.SavannaInstitute.org/PerennialAF
Brett Chedzoy and Cherrie Nolden have decades of experience managing silvopasture on farms in New York, Argentina, and Wisconsin. In this recorded session from PFG 2024, Brett and Cherrie describe their experiences raising cattle, goats, and other species in silvopasture systems, share lessons they’ve learned, and answer questions from the audience. Show notes at www.SavannaInstitute.org/PerennialAF
Lupe Rios talks about grafting, Eliza Greenman talks about silvopasture and fruit exploring, and Paul Dietmann talks about farm loans and financing in these interviews from the 2019 Perennial Farm Gathering. Show notes at www.SavannaInstitute.org/PerennialAF
In 2018, the Mexican government launched a national program called Sembrando Vida, or “sowing life”, with the goal of reducing poverty and reforesting rural areas with agroforestry. Since the program’s launch, it has paid out billions of dollars and impacted over a million acres, and is now expanding to other central American countries. In this episode, researchers Pablo Gonzalez Moctezuma and Sophia Winkler-Schor describe the details of this ambitious program, and discuss what we can learn from the outcomes of the program so far. Show notes at www.SavannaInstitute.org/PerennialAF
Perennial beverage makers discuss the processing, marketing, and development of syrups, sparkling waters, salves, cordials, shrubs, beers, wines, and other beverages made with perennial ingredients in this recorded workshop from the 2024 Perennial Farm Gathering. Show notes at www.savannainstitute.org/PerennialAF
Host Jacob Grace talks with his friend Alex about her family’s experiences as non-operating landowners trying to establish perennial management on their historic Wisconsin farm, and the hurdles and roadblocks they have encountered along the way. Show notes at www.SavannaInstitute.org/PerennialAF
This January, Savanna Institute staff member MJ Oviatt visited the UK to study hedgelaying with members of the Blackdown Hills Hedge Association. In this episode, we hear MJ’s recorded conversations with hedgelayers Martin Turner, George Pidgeon, and Steven McCulloch. Show notes at savannainstitute.org/PerennialAF/
Chefs and perennial food advocates Beth Dooley, Francesca Hong, and Odessa Piper discuss cooking and baking with perennial ingredients, favorite recipes, and suggestions for being engaged and “curious eaters” in this recorded session from the 2024 Perennial Farm Gathering. Show notes at www.savannainstitute.org/PerennialAF
Erik Hagan, farm director of the Spring Green Campus, leads a farm tour of silvopasture systems in this recording from a field day in August 2024. Show notes at SavannaInstitute.org/PerennialAF
Tree crop researchers Eliza Greenman and Nate Lawrence discuss the pros, cons, and tradeoffs of windbreak and riparian buffer management for ecosystem services and profitability in this recording from the 2024 Perennial Farm Gathering. Show notes at www.savannainstitute.org/PerennialAF
Barbara Decré, assistant director of our Agroforestry Adoption program, leads a guided meditation to help you visualize a perennial farming project five, fifteen and thirty years from now. What is your "why", and how does it help shape your vision? Show notes at www.savannainstitute.org/PerennialAF
Chef Sean Sherman delivers the keynote address at the 2024 Perennial Farm Gathering in October 2024. Show notes at www.savannainstitute.org/PerennialAF
Agroforester Steve Gabriel leads the audience in a conversation about why agroforestry plantings fail and what we can do to help projects succeed in this recorded session at the 2024 Perennial Farm Gathering.
Link to Steve’s resources: https://www.farmingwithtrees.org/projects/whytreesdie
Show notes at www.savannainstitute.org/PerennialAF
Chuck Anderas and Margaret Krome from the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute's policy team discuss the need for a new Farm Bill, the importance of ag policy in expanding perennial agriculture, and what types of engagement can have the greatest impact on policymakers.
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