This week on Everything You Didn’t Know About Herbalism, we are joined by the passionate and insightful Vice President of Development at the Rodale Institute, Annie Brown. As a true specialist surrounding all things organic agriculture, Annie shares with us how the Rodale Institute was founded during the boom of chemicals being introduced to the farming industry and how one businessman’s intuition led him from the hustle and bustle of NYC to rural Pennsylvania; where he studied agriculture practices of Indigenous populations that grew successful crops without the need for synthetic chemicals. From here, J.I. Rodale taught himself and his family how to effectively grow food without pesticides and chemical fertilizers. This led to the founding of the Rodale Institute in 1947, and the revolutionary term,“regenerative agriculture”, was coined.

From the Rodale Institute's inception nearly 80 years ago, the fight for accessible organic agriculture persists strongly in the present day. Through partnerships and consulting with like-minded businesses, Rodale creates a clear path forward for those seeking to make the crucial transition into organic agriculture by providing research, farmer training, and consumer education. Mountain Rose Herbs is a proud partner of the Rodale Institute. Together, we are working to create a food system in harmony with nature by paving the way for the future of healthy soil, healthy food, healthy people, and healthy planet.

As always, we thank you for joining us on another botanical adventure and are so honored to have you tag along with us on this ride. Remember, we want to hear from you! Your questions, ideas, and who you want to hear from are an invaluable piece to our podcast. Send us an email at podcast@mountainroseherbs.com to let us know what solutions we should uncover next within the vast world of herbalism. 

Learn more about Annie and the Rodale Institute:

🌿Annie Brown is the Vice President of Development at Rodale Institute. She has been working with the Institute since 2012. She and her team oversee all fundraising activities for the organization, including public and private grants, individual donations, and corporate partnerships. Her passion for organic was born from her Missouri childhood where she was raised five miles in the country surrounded on all four sides by chemical/conventional farms. Her mother’s multiple bouts with cancer throughout her life were what woke Annie to connecting environment and diet to overall human health.

Before her work at Rodale Institute, Annie had been involved in the food industry in various capacities ranging from food writer, cooking school co-director, co-founder of a handmade pasta company, sales/marketing director of a Colorado artisanal pasta company, food blogger, and was formerly a partner in a boutique Boulder PR firm focusing on restaurants and specialty food products. Her passion for food began as a young girl where she learned how to cook in her mother’s country kitchen. She created her first cookbook at age six and made her very first dollar selling handmade pimento cheese sandwiches at a local public auction at age eight.

Check out how you can get involved with the Rodale Institute HERE!

Learn how you can join the next generation of regenerative organic farmers HERE!

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