There is a farmer behind everything you choose in the grocery store. Even sugar. And the people who farm are frustrated with the guilt in the grocery.

“Pesticides, GMOs, roundup, the word natural….fear-mongering in the grocery store needs to stop. People are guilted into paying more for equally safe food due to a meaningless label,” says Michigan farmer Rita Herford – and she should know, since her products fill the grocery store.

“Farmers are not over-using pesticides; we don’t want to use them, but sometimes it is necessary. Nature is disease, fungi, bugs, and microbes trying to infest food we are trying to grow. I eat food from the grocery store, too!”

If you’re curious about crop protection and the many forces working AGAINST farmers as they work to grow the foods we buy (in many different places), listen in on Herford’s perspectives as a farmer, mom of three young daughters, and consumer. For more information on crop protection, visit https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/programs/crop-protection-pest-management-program.

As a full-time farmer (she grows sugar beets, corn, wheat, rye, and dry edible beans) and mom in the thumb of Michigan, Rita Herford wishes people would pay more attention to experts when making their food-buying purchases. A fan of American-grown groceries, she wants consumers to know that “farmer” is not synonymous with “farmers market.” 

Listen in to the Food Bullying Podcast to learn more or follow Herford on Instagram , on Facebook and on Twitter @herfordrita.