In this episode, Ryan sits down with JR Burdick of Nourishing Family Farm to trace one family’s journey through collapse, survival, and renewal in American agriculture.
JR recounts how his family lost everything during the 1980s farm crisis. A generational rupture driven by debt, policy, and the false promises of industrial agriculture. From being pushed out of conventional dairy to navigating co-op control, regulation, and consolidation, his story reveals how rural America was hollowed out from the inside.
But this conversation is ultimately about rebuilding. JR shares how those hard-earned lessons became the foundation for founding Nourishing Family Farm, producing raw milk, stewarding soil, and restoring trust between farmers and their communities. Along the way, we talk food as medicine, faith in the work, and redefining farming as care for land, animals, and people.
