This month, we’re back with the fourth episode of Put a Fork In It! The podcast dishing up fresh perspectives at the intersection of food, health, business and creativity!
This month’s featured guest is Benjamin Giardullo, a Hudson Valley-based business development consultant and entrepreneur in local agriculture, food systems and community development. He is the principal of Hudson Valley Market LLC and the co-founder and CEO of BBG Ventures LLC, currently developing a retail market and food & beverage manufacturing facility in Kingston, NY. In the past 5 years he has helped to build Hudson Valley Harvest, a distributor of meats, produce, dairy, and other farm products for approximately 100 family farms in NY. He serves as the president of the board of Common Ground Farm, a 10 acre non-profit farm focused on food access, food justice, and education programs in Beacon, NY. He is also a member of the Agriculture Advisory Board for US Congressman Maloney, and the Agricultural Working Group for US Senator Gillibrand. Previously, he held pivotal leadership positions in the global expansion of American Apparel, where he was responsible for growing the company’s most profitable region to $80M revenue, leading a team of 750 employees, and developing the company’s global operations and inventory systems.
We had a great conversation all about important issues facing our society and our food systems. Ben is actively engaged in working towards solutions in closing the gaps and improving these systems. It’s a fascinating conversation, and I definitely learned a lot. If you’ve ever heard the phrase “food system” and not quite understood, definite take a listen.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Ben’s background in farming and retail
- The basics of food distribution
- The pay gap between food costs and what farmers/farm workers are paid
- Some risks involved in running a farm
- Sample models to increase support for local farmers
- Prospective ways legalization of cannabis can help our health
- Problems with food access and education
- Consumer trends in food and health
- Ben’s philosophy on health
- and much more!
Contact Ben by email or visit his LinkedIn profile to learn more.
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If you would be interested in sponsoring the show or being featured, email me at caylena@putaforkinitpodcast.com.
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