Log into your account

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Our Food
  • How It Works
  • Food Waste
Get started for free
  • Tips & Guides
  • Recipes
  • Featured Food
  • Food Waste Movement
  • About Imperfect
Not a member yet?
Get started for free
Log into your account
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Our Food
  • How It Works
  • Food Waste
  • Blog
  • Tips & Guides
  • Recipes
  • Featured Food
  • About Imperfect
  • Food Waste Movement
  • Sign Up
  • FAQs
  • Impact
  • Refer a Friend
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Food Waste Movement

The Economics of Farming with Noelle Fogg Elibol

You can’t take care of the environment if you can’t take care of the people doing the work.”

Noelle fogg elibol
Everyone knows that farming is hard work, but a lot of us still fantasize about quitting our 9-5 and starting a small farm somewhere. So how hard is it to start farming, really? 

According to the USDA, only 1 out of 2 small farms survive beyond their first five years, and out of those, only 1 out of 4 survive after 15 years. Why is it so hard to make a living by growing food? 

To separate farming fact from fiction, we sat down with Noelle Fogg Elibol of Kitchen Table Advisors, a nonprofit dedicated to making agriculture a more viable business model for small farmers. In this fascinating conversation she share lessons about the economics of farming and how we can to make farming a sustainable way of life for generations to come. 

Episode Show Notes:

  1. Learn more about Kitchen Table Advisors and check out their Instagram to stay up to date on their work. 
  2. The USDA defines a small farm as any farm with gross income under $250,000 per year.
  3. It’s important to note that according to the USDA, “while most U.S. farms are small – 91 percent according to the Census of Agriculture – large farms ($250,000 and above) account for 85 percent of the market value of agricultural production. 
  4. Noelle is proud to have worked with Javier Zamora of JSM Organics
  5. If you want to get in the weeds of agriculture, there’s no better place than the most recent US agriculture census, conducted in 2017. 
  6. The Heal Food Alliance does important work to build a food system that is healthy, accessible, and affordable for everyone. 
  7. Noelle recommended reading “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan, “Eating Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer, and “The Fate of Food” by Amanda Little to better understand our food system. 
  8. Noelle also recommended watching the documentary Food Inc. 

If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more about the economics of farming in America, be sure to check out our interviews with Yemi Amu and Amber Tamm.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

guest

0 Comments
Oldest
Newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Tagged Unwasted podcast

You might find these a-peel-ing

Producer spotlights
From Seed to Table: The Story ...
The first time we talked with Michael Bosworth about bringing his barely broken ...
Read more
Combatting climate change
How We Calculate Our Environme...
See what goes into calculating our environmental impact stats and learn what you...
Read more
DEI
4 Ways to Celebrate AAPI Herit...
It’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and we’re excited to cel...
Read more
Company history
We’re Going the Ripe Dir...
We started Imperfect Foods to save ugly produce from going to waste. It felt wro...
Read more
Producer spotlights
Creatively preventing waste wi...
Learn how buying ugly produce helps make family farming more sustainable.
Read more
Back to Food Waste Movement

Want olive the latest?

Sign up for emails to stay up to date.

ImperfectFoods Logo
B Certificate Logo
  • Sign Up
  • FAQs
  • Impact
  • Refer a Friend
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Download on the App Store Badge Download on the Google App Badge
Imperfect Foods © 2025. All Rights Reserved
Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell My Personal Information