Jessica Ilyse Kurn
Jessica Ilyse Kurn is Farm Aid’s Online Communications and Marketing Manager. She’s been on staff since 2013 working on the newsletter, web and social media platforms to amplify Farm Aid’s work and expand its online engagement. She got her Masters in agriculture, food and environmental policy at Tufts University, and was a Reporter and Producer for PRI’s Living on Earth and a Producer at NPR’s On Point before coming to Farm Aid. Jessica has experience creating other podcasts such as the Tufts Nutrition Internet Radio Program and was a creator and contributor to the hyper-local podcast Hey, Shaker! Her written work has appeared on NPR, Architectural Digest, Time Out NYC and more. Jessica lives in Cleveland, Ohio with her family.
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Against the Grain is the Farm Aid podcast, designed to bring the magic of Farm Aid’s annual festival to listeners year-round. Listeners will hear from artists and farmers, advocates and food experts, activists and policymakers – all of whom are working towards building a more just and equitable farm and food system. Farm Aid’s Jessica Ilyse Kurn and Michael Stewart Foley will take you all over the country, from Farm Aid’s backstage and Homegrown Village to rural and urban farms and farmers’ markets. There, you’ll meet the extraordinary citizens who make up the Farm Aid universe, fighting the industrial agriculture giants, holding the government accountable, and shifting the culture towards a food and farm model that is better for farmers, the planet and for all of us. In Season 1, we talked to a range of farmers, organizers and artists about the most pressing issues in our farm and food systems. In Season 2, we spoke with more than two dozen artists about using their platforms to speak to social and political issues. Our upcoming season will bring us back to Minnesota, host of Farm Aid’s 40th anniversary festival, to spotlight the work of farmers and others in fighting corporate dominance of meat processing in rural Minnesota....