Food matters. There has never been a better time to share the story of modern agriculture. That’s why Dirt-to-Dinner is an amazing organization that’s working to do just that. The team — Lucy, Lisa, Hillary, and Haley — flew out to our Iowa farm last month to take a tour and learned all about how we run our livestock and row crop operation, and I’m so grateful to them for taking time out of their busy schedules to visit us.
Dirt-to-Dinner’s mission is to help you better understand how your food is grown and processed, and why this is important to you and your family. They provide the facts behind your food.
Lucy MacMillan Stitzer founded Dirt-to-Dinner to clear up food misconceptions with her friends. She learned a lot about labels and healthy food as two of her children were born with a blood disease and she had to be extra vigilant in providing them nutritious food to keep their immune systems strong. She discovered that labels aren’t always what they say, and she started asking questions, many of which were not answered online.
As an agricultural advocate, I strategically align with like-minded brands or publications that share a mission similar to that of my Farm Babe page. What made me gravitate toward Dirt-to-Dinner was the team’s overarching mission to uncover the facts behind your foods. What sets Dirt-to-Dinner apart from other agriculturally based outlets is that they do their research by talking to the top industry leaders in the ag space and beyond. Their relationships with major universities, research and development institutions, and scientists are endless. By basing each article on well-rounded, extensive scientific research, coupled with constant mindfulness for the everyday consumer, you can be sure of two things: accuracy and readability!
The women all have had interesting and varying careers and currently live in the Greenwich, Connecticut, area just outside of New York City. I was excited to have conversations with them as we have similar backgrounds and share the same goals of consumer education in the food space. Out here in rural Iowa, we don’t always hear about the latest trends and diet fads like they do in big cities. Case in point: the celery juice craze — bad science debunked from the Dirt-to-Dinner team. Read more about that here.
When asked about the future of D2D, Lucy responds with the thought of having a bigger influence with food corporations while raising awareness on the importance of food education for the end consumer. As dieting trends become more mainstream with the help of social media, food companies need to wake up to the fact we have to be more proactive, not reactive, when it comes to explaining what happens on today’s modern farms — particularly when it comes to topics like pesticides, food labels, veganism, and misleading marketing. I couldn’t agree more, which is the whole reason I started my Farm Babe blog.
With the same ideas and goals in mind, I am proud to be a social media partner of theirs to help spread the good words of all that we do in food production, every single day. For more information, check out their website, Twitter, Facebook page, Instagram, and sign up for their e-newsletter here.
Michelle Miller, the Farm Babe, is an Iowa-based farmer, public speaker, and writer, who lives and works with her boyfriend on their farm, which consists of row crops, beef cattle, and sheep. She believes education is key in bridging the gap between farmers and consumers.
