Farming stories

Guests: Cathy Snyder, Gail Koskela, Jess Niederer

Today, three different perspectives on farming in the greater Philadelphia area with JESS NIEDERER, CATHY SNYDER, and GAIL KOSKELA. After studying to be a conservation biologist, Niederer instead took over her family farm in Pennington, New Jersey. She now grows organic vegetables and flowers on land first worked by her grandfather. Snyder is the Founder and Executive Director of Rolling Harvest Food Rescue, a Bucks County organization that connects hunger-relief sites with local farmers to distribute extra produce to the food insecure. Synder previously worked in broadcasting and started Rolling Harvest after she noticed a shortage of fresh foods when volunteering at her local food bank. Koskela is an animal science teacher at Walter B. Saul High School, an agricultural school that’s part of the Philadelphia public school district. She’ll tell us about what it’s like to teach animal behavior and husbandry, and what students can gain from an agricultural education, regardless of whether or not they end up farming.