Donate to WERU Today!Producers/Hosts: Holli Cederholm
Editor: Clare Boland
Common Ground Radio is an hour-long discussion of local food and organic agriculture with people here in the state of Maine and beyond.
This month:
On the February 2023 episode of Common Ground Radio, host Holli Cederholm discusses collaborative marketing models used by farmers and food producers in Maine. She is joined by Colleen Hanlon-Smith and Adrienne Lee, co-founders and owners of Daybreak Growers Alliance, a food distribution hub, and Melissa Law and Courtney Mongell, flower farmers and board members of the Maine Flower Collective. They talk about how these collaborative networks benefit both producers and customers by aggregating products and consolidating delivery.
-Collaborative marketing models for farmers
-Centralized marketing and distribution
-Food access
-Farm to food pantry
-Flower collective
-Sustainable floriculture
Guest/s:
Colleen Hanlon-Smith is a co-founder and owner of Daybreak Growers Alliance. Hanlon-Smith has worked in various capacities to serve the Northeast food system and farming communities, and is a founding member of Waldo County Bounty, a hunger relief nonprofit.
Adrienne Lee is a co-founder and owner of Daybreak Growers Alliance, and co-farmer and owner of New Beat Farm, a MOFGA-certified organic vegetable and cut flower farm located in Knox, Maine.
Melissa Law is vice president of Maine Flower Collective and also runs the flower program at Bumbleroot Organic Farm in Windham. The farm grows certified organic blooms for their flower CSA, farmstand and wholesale partners, with a focus on annuals, including dahlias.
Courtney Mongell operates Mare Brook Farm in Brunswick with her husband Ryan. They grow specialty cut flowers, evergreens, and certified organic edible flowers and herbs
FMI Links:
Daybreak Growers Alliance
Waldo County Bounty
Maine Flower Collective
About the hosts:
Holli Cederholm has been involved in organic agriculture since 2005 when she first apprenticed on a small farm. She has worked on organic farms in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Scotland and Italy and, in 2010, founded a small farm focused on celebrating open-pollinated and heirloom vegetables. As the former manager of a national nonprofit dedicated to organic seed growers, she authored a peer-reviewed handbook on GMO avoidance strategies for seed growers. Holli has also been a steward at Forest Farm, the iconic homestead of “The Good Life” authors Helen and Scott Nearing; a host of “The Farm Report” on Heritage Radio Network; and a long-time contributor for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, which she now edits in her role as content creator and editor at MOFGA.
Caitlyn Barker has worked in education and organic agriculture on and off for the last 17 years. She has worked on an organic vegetable farm, served on the Maine Farm to School network, worked in early childhood education and taught elementary school. She currently serves as the community engagement coordinator for MOFGA.
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