Season 2 Episode 7: Jeanie Alderson on the "Big Four" Meatpacking Monopoly
Release Date: 03/31/2022
Succession Stories | 2 | My Way or the Highway
Reframing Rural
When Valier rancher Gene Curry began planning the future of Curry Cattle Company, he approached succession with the same drive that helped him build his operation from a patchwork of leased pastures and foreclosure sales. But when it came time to pass the operation to the next generation, he found himself facing a challenge that demanded something ranch life had never asked of him before: softening his dominant personality and learning to let go. What began as a practical effort to preserve the ranch he’d pieced together over decades, became a personal transformation that asked Gene to...
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Succession Stories | 1 | A Diagnosis and a Deadline
Reframing Rural
When Howie Hammond learned he might only have months to live, he and his daughter Andrea had to make quick decisions about the future of their family's farm and ranch. In the Milk River Valley of northern Montana, the Hammonds' story shows how one family's health scare catalyzed the difficult conversations about succession that many rural families avoid until it's too late. From urgent meetings with their lawyer and accountant, to long days spent side by side in the field, Howie and Andrea share what it took to move from uncertainty to a plan that keeps the family farm intact.
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Bonus: Cowboy Poet, Jim Hamilton reads “The Changing of the Guard”
Reframing Rural
Curious to know the man behind the deep voice we heard at the beginning of Reframing Rural’s Season Four preview? That’s cowboy poet, Jim Hamilton. Here he is reading his poem about succession, "The Changing of the Guard."
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Season 4 “Succession Stories” Preview
Reframing Rural
Aging farmer demographics, rising land values and farm stress are creating a challenging environment for the successful transfer of farms and ranches to the next generation. Behind the legal, financial and familial considerations of farm and ranch transition, lay a wellspring of stories that do not often surface in conventional planning discussions. In Season Four, Reframing Rural will unearth the stories laying beneath the logistics, stories from families navigating complex social and environmental factors as they work to preserve their agricultural way of life.
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A New Season of Reframing Rural is in the Works
Reframing Rural
Megan has come back from maternity leave and is working with Winnett ACES on a new podcast season!
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A Note from Megan
Reframing Rural
Megan has some big life news to share and is working with collaborators on the creative direction of the fourth season!
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Season 3 Episode 10: Creator Roundtable: A Behind-the-Scenes Conversation with Reframing Rural’s Audio Engineer, Story Editor and Producer/Host
Reframing Rural
In this final installment of Season 3 “Groundwork,” Reframing Rural founder, host and producer, Megan Torgerson speaks with the podcast’s audio engineer, Aaron Spieldenner and story editor, Mary Auld about the inspiration behind the season and all the work that goes into producing the show’s long-form narrative episodes.
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Season 3 Episode 9: A Conversation with Grace Olmstead, author of "Uprooted: Recovering the Legacy of the Places We've Left Behind"
Reframing Rural
Grace Olmstead is the West’s preeminent author on place. In her book "Uprooted: Recovering the Legacy of the Places We've Left Behind” and in this interview, she speaks to rural outmigration, connection to place, the history of how agriculture was industrialized and the future of agriculture in the West amid suburban sprawl and a call to build more just and resilient regional food systems.
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Season 3 Episode 8: John Wicks: the Story of a Punk Rock Farmer and his Fight to Save the Future of Family Farming in Montana
Reframing Rural
At 21 John Wicks was faced with the decision to stay in college or come home and save his family's farm. Today he is a leader in Montana's organic and regenerative farming movement and an advocate for family farms across the state, serving as the associate director of Montana Farmers Union. Together with his friends Peyton Cole and Paul Neubauer, John is helping further the understanding that the health of our agricultural lands impacts the health of our communities.
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Season 3 Episode 7: Normalizing Mental Health Care in Agricultural Communities, Addressing Farm Stress & Restoring Wellbeing in Rural Montana
Reframing Rural
Dr. Alison Brennan, MSU Extension's designated mental health specialist, Courtney Brown Kibblewhite with Northern Ag Network and Beyond the Weather, and wellness coach and rancher Lisa Williams discuss mental health resources and stigma around mental health in Montana's rural and agricultural communities. This episode spans data on farm stress, free counseling services for Montana producers and actionable tips for restoring balance and wellbeing to our lives.
info_outlineJeanie Alderson comes from a storied legacy of ranchers in Southeast Montana. In the 1970s, her parents were among the rural organizers to form Northern Plains Resource Council. Today, Jeanie and her husband Terry are continuing their work standing up for family farms and ranches by fighting against the "Big Four" meatpacking monopoly that's extinguishing competition and dictating prices, forcing some ranches to go out of business.