{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Regenaissance Podcast","title":"Elizabeth Collins - Becoming a Farmer At 40 | #77","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":5343,"description":"Elizabeth Collins is a first-generation farmer co-running Otter Creek Farm with Brad Wiley. Originally from Cincinnati, she moved from Lexington, KY, and now leads the farm’s livestock, regenerative operations, and Graceful Acres Farmstay.\n\nOtter Creek Farm is a 440-acre multigenerational farm in Pittstown, NY, with 200 tillable acres, 100 pasture acres, and 140 woodland acres. A former dairy farm (1937–2018), it now raises pastured poultry, pigs, grass-fed cattle, and turkeys, and hosts a 20-acre chestnut orchard run by Breadtree Farms.\n\nAlrighty, ranch 3!\nToday we speak to Elizabeth Collins. Elizabeth has an amazing story of how she battled the odds to become a farmer at age 40. We discuss:\nHow Elizabeth became a farmer in her 40s after a life in business and food advocacy\nThe role of grants and how they enable regenerative agriculture to survive\nWhy she opposes USDA slaughter rules and advocates for humane, on-farm kills\nThe legacy of Temple Grandin and how autism helped redesign slaughter systems\nWhy she nearly became vegan—and how Cowspiracy gets regenerative farming wrong\nAre co-ops viable, and what lessons she learned from working with one\nWhat regenerative ranching really means to her, and how she's living it\nTimestamps\n\n00:00:00 Why Elizabeth rejects USDA slaughter and does on-farm kills\n 00:00:30 Her awakening to food, fat, and the broken health narrative\n 00:11:15 Selling a business and moving north: the midlife pivot\n 00:15:30 Lessons from a failed co-op and how the system is broken\n 00:19:40 The visceral moment she knew she needed to farm\n 00:26:15 Interning at 40 and what the 22-year-olds taught her\n 00:40:30 Grants as a lifeline for regenerative farms—and why they're vanishing\n 00:45:00 Legal barriers and values behind her small-scale slaughter model\n 00:50:40 Temple Grandin and the redesign of humane slaughter\n 01:09:00 'Cowspiracy' and why it's irrelevant to regenerative farming\n 01:20:30 Why she can’t legally sell her own meat in her farm store...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/al8BwjjnR2m8I-3vEq0Iyx2E0FqQ9QB0aLPF4D6flnY/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS81YzE3/NmFmYjZiNmRkZDdm/Y2MwYzk5ZjI5ZjRj/YzgwZi5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}