Agriculture, Dairy Farm, Economy Solution, Harvests Innovations, Organic Food

Ep. 43 Breeding Tomatoes and Talking Co-ops – Fred Thériault, Tourne-Sol Co-operative Farm

Fred Thériault is a farmer and founding member of Tourne-Sol co-operative farm in Les Cèdres, Quebec, where they grow vegetables for 500 weekly CSA baskets and an acre of seed crops. I say “they” but I should guess I mean “we” because I farm with Fred at Tourne-Sol and we’ve been great friends for the last 25 years and have done all kinds of things together. Such as – Fred and I also co-authored the book Crop Planning for Organic Vegetable Growers.

In this episode, we talk seeds, but I also brought Fred on to explore what it’s really like to be part of a co-op. We dive into the challenges and rewards of shared decision-making, balancing individual and collective goals, and building a farm culture where collaboration supports both production and innovation. Fred shares practical insights on how cooperative structures can help farmers thrive while maintaining flexibility and creativity on the farm..

In the deep dive, we focus on on-farm tomato breeding. Fred explains how he selected the Ruby-Sol tomato from a red hybrid, honing in on earliness, yield, and flavor. We explore the trade-offs between production efficiency and experimentation, and the lessons he’s learned from years of tomato selection.

I hope you enjoy this conversation.

Support the Seed Farmer Podcast

http://spreadsheet.farm/supportpodcast

Episode links

Fred’s Farm Co-Op Academy

Watch Fred’s Free webinar: Start Your Agricultural Co‑op 101

Tourne-Sol farm’s website

Tourne-Sol on instagram

The The Seed Farmer Mentorship is open for registrations

Stay in Touch

Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram

Get my weekly seed newsletter

Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only)

Get my new book The Seed Farmer

https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook/

❤️ Thanks for listening!

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Agriculture, Dairy Farm, Economy Solution, Harvests Innovations, Organic Food

Ep. 42 Inside the Seed Farmer Mentorship

Here’s a peek inside the Seed Farmer Mentorship—a guided learning experience I’ve created to help growers build the skills, systems, and confidence to produce high-quality seed on their farms. This winter, I’ll be hosting the mentorship for the second time, and I’m excited to guide a new group of growers through hands-on learning, practical tools, and a season of intentional seed projects.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Who the Seed Farmer Mentorship is for – both new and experienced seed growers

• How the mentorship combines pre-recorded videos with interactive live sessions

• What past participants have gained from the program, including skills, confidence, and inspiration

• The value of learning alongside a community of seed growers and sharing experiences

• How this mentorship can help you take your seed projects to the next level

Here are the 7 modules we cover in the mentorship:

1 – Seed Basics & Choose Your Seed Crops

2 – Recording Keeping For Seed Harvest & Cleaning

3 – Germination Tests, Seed Storage & Inventory Management

4 – Crop Planning & Growing Seeds On A Market Garden

5 – Plant Selection & On Farm Plant Breeding

6 – Sharing & Selling Seeds

7 – Seed Harvest & Cleaning Techniques

Registration for the winter cohort is now open. If you’ve ever wanted to grow seed more intentionally and connect with other growers, this is your chance to get started.

Find out more and register the Seed Farmer Mentorship here.

Enjoy the episode!

Episode links

Support the Utopian Seed Project for matching funds

Stay in Touch

Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram

Get my weekly seed newsletter

Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only)

Get my new book The Seed Farmer

https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook/

Support the Seed Farmer Podcast

http://spreadsheet.farm/supportpodcast

❤️ Thanks for listening!

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Agriculture, Economy Solution, Organic Food

Potato Crop of Pakistan

Three potato crops are cultivated in Punjab. In the plains it has two crops i.e. spring and autumn and only one summer crop is cultivated in hilly areas. In Punjab, 75% of the potato crop is cultivated in Kasur, Okara, Depalpur, Sahiwal and Pakpattan.  It is also called as core area of potatoes.

Potato is one of the major edible and profitable crop of Pakistan. Potato is forth important crop after wheat, rice and maize. Potato can be called complete diet. It contains plenty of starch. In addition, potato also contains vitamins, minerals and proteins. Potato crop is able to produce much higher yields on a per unit area than other cereal crops. In 2018-19, the potato was cultivated on 196.2 thousand hectares with total production of 4578.9 thousand tons. About 1 million ton potato is exported from Pakistan, earning almost Rs. 20 billion after meeting domestic consumption and keeping seed potato for next cultivation. 

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