Regino Flores of Regino Farm

Feb 13

Growing for Good Pt 1: Regino Farms and the Ballard Food Bank

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SHOW NOTES:

In the first of this two-part series, we are highlighting Growing for Good and the relationships it fosters between farms and food banks. Since 2020, the Growing for Good Program, a partnership between PCC Community Markets, Harvest Against Hunger, and Seattle Neighborhood Farmers Markets, has provided fresh produce to hunger relief agencies and additional income for local farmers. We sat down with two of these pairings to learn more about how Growing for Good has impacted their work.

In this episode, we first hear from Regino Flores and his son Isai Flores of Regino Farms. Regino Farms is a certified organic vegetable and berry farm located in Burlington, Washington, owned and operated by Regino Flores and his wife Martina Gutierrez. After decades of working in the farming industry, they began their own venture through Viva farms’ incubator program in 2009. Since then, three of their children have joined the expanding operation which now comprises 20 acres in the Skagit Valley. Regino sells at five different farmers markets and supplies several food retailers but, more recently, has been supplying the Ballard food Bank through the Growing for Good program.

Learn More About Farm Walks:

Visit farmwalks.org to learn more about the history of Farm Walks and our pivot to a podcast and stay tuned in for the release of new episodes and interviews! You can even submit questions to farmers through the new Tilth Alliance Sustainable Ag Farmer Forum.

Contributors:

The Farm Walks Podcast is collaboratively organized by Tilth Alliance and WSU Food Systems. This episode of the Farm Walks Podcast was funded by the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

Funder:

This podcast was brought to you with funding from PCC Community Markets, Harvest Against Hunger and Neighborhood Farmers Markets.

PCC is a certified organic retailer and the nation’s largest community-owned food market with an active membership of more than 100,000 members. Through its 16 Puget Sound area stores, the co-op’s mission is to ensure that good food nourishes the communities it serves, while cultivating vibrant, local, organic food systems.

Harvest Against Hunger is a non-profit corporation and a program of Rotary District 5030, working with farmers, truckers, volunteers and others to bring valuable skills and resources to hunger relief efforts in communities across Washington state. They aim to cultivate, strengthen and connect food system partners to ensure healthy food for people in need and create an equitable and resilient food ecosystem.

Neighborhood Farmers Markets is a coalition of Seattle-area markets where Washington’s small farms and food producers can sell their goods, develop relationships with customers, and grow their capacity to produce local ingredients and artisanal products. They work with local, state, and federal entities to offer equal food and nutrition access, building a strong community food system and connecting farmers to eaters.

Disclaimer:

This is an educational podcast so the information, resources, and businesses shared and referenced during this episode are included in the show notes below for the purposes of education and are specific to the conversation that took place during this episode. The Farm Walks Podcast is not a platform to promote individual businesses, products, etc. The funders and sponsors of each episode are explicitly stated both in the episode and in the show notes.

Production Team:

Podcast hosted by Farmer Nicole Witham @farmernicole
Behind the scenes logistics and general wrangling by Kate Smith, Sage Zahorodni and Drew Corbin
Theme Music is, “Soil of Mississippi” by Abakis @abakismusic
Farm Walks website, logo, and pod art by Riled Up Goats @riledupgoats
Audio engineering and editing by Aaron Mason and Keith Bacon