April 2022: Month in Review
May 01, 2022
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Love the Podcast? Please rate and review!
Let’s take a look back at our April 2022 Podcast Episodes.
April was a month filled with awareness and education, with many guests helping share how we can eradicate food insecurity, sexual harassment issues and the disconnect from farms to the meals we enjoy at home, or in restaurants. All of this information is extremely important as we try to make the world a better place for all of us, whether it’s by using Beko home appliances to keep our produce fresher, longer, or planting trees in communities that need more resources to prevent hunger and natural disasters, or even drinking upcycled whey in a delicious, healthy, vibrant beverage.
First this month we heard from Yumbrella, a company that’s replacing the need for waxy film on our fresh produce with an all natural, sustainable, transparent, odorless and tasteless coating that uses only common food ingredients. Yumbrella is increasing sustainability of growers and suppliers too by reducing how often they have to use cardboard boxes and packing materials. This spray also increases the quality of preservation and how long your produce will stay fresh, too!
April hit us with a very important discussion on sexual harassment with the Equitable Food Initiative, who’s created a free training and toolkit specifically for companies in the agricultural industry to manage sexual harassment issues in an efficient, effective manner. By providing companies with a toolkit to communicate with employees and offer a safe space for them to come forward, they can build trust, change company culture and effectively handle cases. GoodFarms is one example of this, using EFI’s guidelines to communicate with employees so they’ll open up, when many stay quiet due to cultural or language barriers.
We found out about some amazing dishes being served up in Stanislaus County thanks to the delicious, fresh, healthy, local ingredients restaurants are using from the community’s farmers and growers. We all would love to have a deeper connection to our city and county’s local farmers, growers and ranchers, which is exactly what the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau is offering. The Farm Bureau Foodies video series highlights Stanislaus County’s restaurants and the local ingredients sourced in their favorite dishes, while helping educate viewers on the sustainable, environmentally-friendly practices that go behind the entire supply chain.
Speaking of environmentally friendly, what if you never had to throw out a piece of produce again, or hand wash a casserole dish with stubborn, caked on residue? What if there was an affordable way to be sustainable and environmentally friendly with your appliances that wasn’t way out of your budget? Beko Home Appliances, a household name in Europe for decades, has recently come to America to share their incredible refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines, ovens and more. Tricking veggies into thinking they’re growing under the sun in your refrigerator and an oven that reduces preheat time are just some of the amazing things their appliances can do.
Did you know whey naturally comes in a liquid form and is used in popular, functional health drinks around the world? Superfrau is a sparkling, bubbly, functional whey beverage that uses upcycled whey from the Greek yogurt fermentation process. It’s filled with vitamins, electrolytes, nutrients and a great way to recover from workouts or replace cravings from sugar!
Kroger’s Zero Hunger Zero Waste Foundation and the Arbor Day Foundation are partnering together to help eradicate food insecurity and food deserts around the world by planting more trees where they’re needed most. By providing communities with fruit-bearing trees, the foundations are helping eliminate hunger and feed families for decades to come. Not only that, trees help clean our air, our water, keep the earth cool and prevent natural disasters, all things necessary to keep our communities stable and resilient.
April 2022 Podcast Episode 211
Enjoy fruits and vegetables that last longer than ever before with Seth Shumate CEO And Co-Founder, And Andy Tudor, Director of Marketing And Business Development At Yumbrella
We all get frustrated when we buy fruits and vegetables and throw them out because they went bad too quickly. No one wants to waste money on food, or contribute to our growing food waste problem! Did you know 40% of fruits and vegetables grown in the United States end up in the garbage? Seth Shuate and Andy Tudor at Yumbrella are eradicating this with an all-natural, transparent, odorless, tasteless coating that uses only common food ingredients and extends shelf life by protecting fruits and vegetables.
Instead of using the waxy coating we’re used to, growers and packers can increase their quality of preservation, and we as consumers can enjoy healthier produce that lasts longer and is more sustainable. When fruits and vegetables are sprayed with Yumbrella’s product, the condition of the produce is locked in from the time it was applied, retaining the quality and freshness while extending the shelf life.
April 2022 Podcast Episode 212
Learn from Amalia Lommel, Director Of Social Responsibility At Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce And LeAnne Ruzzamenti, Director Of Marketing And Communications For The Equitable Food Initiative how we can eradicate sexual harassment for good.
Sexual harassment isn’t something we want to talk about, but raising awareness about cases and how to handle them are important now more than ever. Thanks to initiatives from the Equitable Food Initiative, companies like GoodFarms are transforming their company culture, earning trust from employees and implementing effective lines of communication to handle cases in a safe and effective manner. The Equitable Food Initiative helps develop the professional skills of workers and create new forms of collaboration and communication for a healthy working environment.
The EFI has created a sexual harassment prevention curriculum design specifically for the agricultural industry that’s 100% free and available online. Amalia Lommel is a perfect example of how to implement the tools and knowledge provided by the EFI effectively. Just by changing the way she asked questions, she was able to build trust and hear stories from workers that previously wouldn’t open up. This has helped them change company culture and handle cases in a safe, effective manner.
April 2022 Podcast Episode 213
Anna Genasci from the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau is spreading the word about the amazing, local farmers, growers and ranchers that are behind Stanislaus County’s favorite restaurant meals.
It all started when Anna Genaschi asked her coworker, “wouldn’t it be great if we could take an inventory of all the restaurants in our county and see who is sourcing locally and find a way to give them a shout out?”
Anna and the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau have started the Farm Bureau Foodies video series where they are highlighting the local farmers, growers and ranchers behind Stanislaus County restaurants, which isn’t just enticing locals to enjoy delicious meals, it’s also eradicating false information that’s spread easily and is detrimental to many agricultural productions.
For example, Anna’s mom gave her a call one day after watching a news story that claimed harvesting almonds kills bees… something that’s completely false! Watching the second episode of Farm Bureau Foodies, which highlights a delicious “ammon” butter milkshake, goes into detail about how bees leave almond orchards healthier than before, important details for someone who might be on the cusp of eliminating almonds from their diet based on false information.
April 2022 Podcast Episode 214
Find out from Zach Elkin and Sazi Bugay of Beko how the Tesla of home appliances will transform your household in ways you never dreamed of.
Sustainability is something we all care about, but until you understand how it truly benefits you and your household, it might not feel as important. What if you had a dishwasher that had a casserole dish “section” so you’d never have to waste water (and time) handwashing those pesky dish corners again? Or what if your refrigerator kept your fruits and vegetables fresher, longer while retaining nutrients?
Beko home appliances has been a household name in Europe for decades and has recently moved over to America to share their incredible, energy-efficient, sustainable products. For example. Beko’s oven reduces preheat time with their proprietary air movement technology and their refrigerators have HarvestFresh and EverFresh technology that tricks fruits and vegetables to think they’re still growing under sunlight! There’s no shortage of jaw-dropping ways Beko is reducing energy expenditure and increasing efficiency all at an affordable cost.
April 2022 Podcast Episode 215
Melissa Martinelli’s Superfrau is the superfood you didn’t know you needed.
When most people hear “whey” they think about protein powders, but this superfood is so much more than that. Superfrau is a sparkling, bubbly, functional whey beverage made from fresh, upcycled whey that comes from the greek yogurt fermentation process. Melissa got the idea when having a whey drink mixed with fresh juice that is extremely popular in countries like Austria. From then on, she’s been working to perfect what Superfrau is today – a drink jam packed with vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, amino acids and so much more!
The drinks come in three delicious flavors: cucumber lime, pineapple ginger and peach mango, and are filled with vitamins like Zinc, B12, B6 and B3. A perfect recovery drink, Superfrau also has electrolytes like sodium, magnesium and phosphorus which your body needs after strenuous physical work outs. Skip the soda if you want something bubbly, or the sugary drinks advertised for “recovery” and try Superfrau instead!
APRIL 2022 Podcast Episode 216
Celebrate Arbor Day with Ali Berman, Kroger Foundation Program Manager, Bryan O’Donnell, Corporate Partnerships Manager at Arbor Day Foundation, and James Kaechele, Program Arborist at The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation.
38 million people around the world experience daily food insecurity and the amount of trees we have planted has a lot to do with it. There’s a huge connection between communities that struggle with food insecurities or food deserts and how many trees or green spaces they have. Trees help us solve our sustainability challenges, reduce carbon emissions, decrease heat waves that contribute to natural disasters, feed and beautify communities, and so much more. Kroger’s public charity Zero Hunger Zero Waste Foundation in partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation are working hard to plant more trees where they’re needed most.
The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation is contributing too, by bringing fruit bearing trees to communities around the world so families can eat healthy, fresh produce for decades to come. Too often we think of trees as a “nice to have” when building communities instead of the necessity they truly are. Think about how many environmental, social and economical issues could be aided with more trees and green spaces? Find out how you can contribute to arbor day and reduce world-wide hunger, climate change and more!
To see a list of all our past episodes, visit www.theproducemoms.com/podcast
