In part two of Community Farming Podcast’s Community Agriculture in Action, we’re joined by Emmanuel Roux, founder of 15th Street Farm in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. What started as a therapeutic garden for a drug and alcohol recovery center has grown into a thriving urban organic educational farm, connecting people—especially kids—with nature, healthy food, and each other.

🔍 In This Episode, We Discuss:

• 🌱 The origin story of 15th Street Farm and its roots in recovery and healing

• 🏙️ How a half-acre urban farm became a hub for community, education, and culture

• 🍽️ The power of family-style meals and cultural culinary experiences to bring people together

• 🧑‍🌾 Their work with school gardens (15 and counting!), home garden installs, and healthy eating education

• 🌿 The importance of compost, soil health, and biologics in regenerative agriculture

• 💡 Principles of Korean Natural Farming and organic, chemical-free growing

• 🧬 “We are what we eat ATE”—rethinking nutrition from the ground up

• ♻️ How composting city yard waste helped transform nutrient-poor sand into fertile growing soil

• 🍲 The 2023 addition of a commercial kitchen and event space, now hosting themed dinners, tours, and cooking classes

• 💚 How hospitality, entrepreneurship, and community-building are core values of the farm

• 🎯 The farm’s guiding belief: “Good food is the product of healthy soil”

💥 Why This Matters:

Food is more than fuel—it’s culture, community, and connection. Emmanuel and his team are nurturing future generations by showing the deep relationship between soil health, nutrient-dense food, and wellness. Their work not only educates but empowers people to grow, cook, and enjoy food in ways that heal both body and earth.

✨ Tune in to hear how 15th Street Farm is cultivating change—one garden, one meal, and one student at a time.

To learn more about the 15th Street Farm, visit https://www.15thstfarm.com

In this special recap episode of the Modern Farming Podcast, we bring together two powerful conversations from our What Is and Isn’t in Your Food series to highlight one essential truth: you don’t have to be a farmer to care about agriculture. The health of our soil directly impacts the health of our food—and ultimately, the health of you.

Episode Highlights:

We revisit key insights from two groundbreaking episodes:

1. “What Your Food Is and Isn’t” with David R. Montgomery and Anne Bikle

This thought-provoking conversation explores how soil depletion affects crop quality, nutrient density, and public health. David and Anne walk us through how regenerative practices restore soil biology and why healthy soil isn’t just good for farms—it’s essential for long-term human well-being.

2. “Defining Nutrient Density” with Dan Kittredge

Dan breaks down the science behind nutrient-dense food—explaining why food grown in living, biologically active soil is more flavorful, more nourishing, and more resilient. Backed by ongoing research and field data from the Bionutrient Food Association, this episode showcases how soil health can be measured, improved, and made visible to consumers.

Why This Matters for Everyone—Not Just Farmers:

Whether you’re a parent, a teacher, or someone simply trying to eat well, understanding what’s in your food—and how it got there—is key to your health. These episodes emphasize that support for healthy soil is support for your own body. And this isn’t just theory—it’s supported by real data showing how soil quality influences nutrient density and food system resilience.

What You’ll Learn in This Recap:

• Why healthy soil = healthy people

• How soil biology and regenerative practices are changing the game

• How new data and technology are making food quality measurable

• Why consumers have the power to shift the system—starting with knowledge

Tune in now for a deep dive into why what’s beneath your food matters just as much as what’s on your plate.

⸻

Want more information? Check out the full episodes:

• “What Your Food Is and Isn’t” with Anne Bikle & David Montgomery - https://youtu.be/NQ-nXvE5eFI

• “What Is and Isn’t in Your Food: Defining Nutrient Density” with Dan Kittredge - https://youtu.be/mSoynEHEN-E

In this "What Is and Isn't In Your Food: Defining Nutrient Density" episode, we sit down with Dan Kittredge, a regenerative organic farmer and founder of the Bionutrient Food Association (BFA), to unpack a concept that’s changing the way we think about food: nutrient density.

Dan coined the term nutrient density back in 2007, and since then has dedicated his life to helping farmers and consumers understand what makes food truly nourishing. It’s not just about calories or labels—it’s about the flavor, aroma, and nutritive value of the food we grow and eat.

🔬 What You’ll Learn:

• What nutrient density really means, and why it matters for both human and planetary health.

• How nutrient-dense foods are:

• More flavorful and aromatic 🍓

• Healthier for consumers 💪

• More resilient to pests and diseases 🌾

• Cheaper to produce and better for farmers’ bottom lines 💰

• Linked to improved soil health, shelf life, and long-term sustainability 🌎

• Why enlightened self-interest from consumers can shift purchasing habits—and how a hand-held spectrometer (yes, a Bionutrient Meter!) could soon be integrated into your phone’s camera to measure nutrient density at the store.

• Holistic, systemic solutions emerge when we manage for nutrient-rich crops.

🧪 The Research:

Since 2016-17, Dan and his team at the Bionutrient Institute have been partnering with open-source science innovators like Our-Sci and FarmOS to:

• Measure nutrient density across diverse crops

• Understand the drivers of nutrient variation

• Build and deploy consumer-facing tech that can measure food quality on the spot

Their long-term vision? A food system where quality is transparent, regenerative practices are rewarded, and agriculture contributes to reversing both chronic disease and climate change.

🌍 About Dan Kittredge:

Dan grew up farming at Many Hands Organic Farm in Massachusetts and has spent over 30 years working on food and seed sovereignty globally. Through the BFA, he leads educational workshops, global speaking engagements, the annual Soil & Nutrition Conference, and is developing an online course to further spread knowledge about biological systems and nutrient-dense growing.

📲 Connect with BFA:

• Facebook: Bionutrient Food Association

• Instagram: @bionutrientfoodassociation

• YouTube: Bionutrient Channel

• LinkedIn: Bionutrient on LinkedIn

🔔 Subscribe to Modern Farming for more conversations that are shaping the future of food.

Have thoughts or questions about nutrient density? Tag us and Dan on social with #ModernFarmingPodcast!