The Thriving Farmer Podcast

A Note from Michael: The Thriving Farmer Podcast is currently on pause as we navigate a busy season on the farm. While we're taking this break, we're excited to share Farm in Focus, a special series of short, focused conversations recorded earlier this year. These bite-sized episodes highlight practical insights from farmers and experts across the industry. We hope they're helpful and encouraging as you continue your farming journey.   What does it take to plan, grow, and manage more than 600 crop varieties each year? In this Farm in Focus episode, Michael sits down again with Katie Baldwin and Amanda Merrow of Amber Waves Farm—this time diving into the art and complexity of crop planning on a diversified, vertically integrated teaching farm. From balancing customer demand with realistic yields, to building soil health with integrated grain production, to coordinating a team during harvest, Katie and Amanda offer a candid look at what it really takes to manage large-scale crop diversity. Whether you're planni