"What's Eating What Radio!"
It's a fact! 100% of the men, women and children in your radio marketplace eat food, and 97.5% must buy their food from others who bring it from an average of 2,000 miles away. And so the hungry ask:
"What's in this tomato? Who planted that broccoli? Is it safe to eat genetically engineered cornmeal? Why are they irradiating meat? Are we running short of water? Why is China growing our apples? What will happen to us if we can no longer farm? How safe is our food chain?"
The Food Chain is an audience-interactive syndicated newstalk radio program airing live Saturdays from 9am to 10am Pacific time.
The Food Chain, which has been named the Ag/News Show of the Year by California's legislature, is hosted by Michael Olson, author of the Ben Franklin Book of the Year award-winning MetroFarm, a 576-page guide to metropolitan agriculture.
The Food Chain is available live via Starguide GE 8 and delayed via MP3/FTP and CD. For clearance and/or technical information, please call Michael Olson at 831-566-4209 or email michaelo@metrofarm.com
Download Broadcast Ready Food Chain Radio ProgramsLocal Commercials have been removed so that you can copy and paste your own. |
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Show #920: EXOGENOUS SEMIOTIC ENTROPYMP3 Download Now ( Right click and "Save As")Guest: Stephanie Seneff, PhD, Senior Research Scientist, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Farmers use 200 million pounds of the herbicide glyphosate (Roundup) every year to grow food without weeds. This leads us to ask… Topics include how genetically-engineered food crops have encouraged the increased use of glyphosate; why the manufacturers of glyphosate say its safe to eat; and how a metastudy of available research reveals that glyphosate is a “textbook example of exogenous semiotic entropy,” which is to say, the pathway to modern diseases. Show #919: AG GAG LAWSMP3 Download Now ( Right click and "Save As")Guests: Emily Meredith of Animal Agriculture Alliance, Paul Shapiro of The Humane Society If you want to eat the sausage, you might not want to know from what, and how, that sausage was made. This leads us to ask… Topics include how the press portrays industrial food systems; why agriculture is fighting back against this portrayal with “ag gag” laws; and whether consumers should be allowed to know how farmers grow food. Show #918: SEAWEED AS SUPERFOODMP3 Download Now ( Right click and "Save As")Guests: Scott Kennedy, FarmaSea Some claim people who eat seaweed are “the healthiest and longest living people in the history of mankind.” This claim leads us to ask… Is seaweed a good food for the human body? Topics include a look at the history of kelp as food; why so many nutritional claims are made about kelp; and whether kelp is, in fact, a good food for the human body.
Show #917: FOOD OR CASH?MP3 Download Now ( Right click and "Save As")Guests: Kathy Kozer National Family Farm Coalition, Eric Munoz Oxfam America, and Mary Kay Thatcher American Farm Bureau The U.S. government wants to change the way it aids the world’s hungry: Instead of sending its food, it wants to send its money. This leads us to ask… Should we send the hungry food or money? Topics include how the U.S. now feeds the world’s hungry by sending crops from its farmers; why some believe the U.S. should instead send money from its taxpayers; and whether its best to aid the hungry by sending them food or money.
Show #916: BOYCOTT KELLOGG'S?( Show available on request)Guest: Diana Reeves, Founder, GMO Free USA “K-e-double-l–oh–double-good Kellog’s best to you” is apparentely not good enough for some, as they are boycotting this iconic corporation. Their honk-n-waves lead us to ask… Why boycott Kellogg’s for selling GMO cereals? Topics include the extent to which GMO grains are used in the nation’s breakfast cereals; how some do not want to consume GMO breakfast cereals; and why the cereals of Kellogg’s are being targeted for a nation-wide boycott.
Show #915: GROW OUR OWN?( Show available on request)Guest: Dave DeWitt, author of Growing Medical Marijuana When it was legal, a pound cost pennies; when it was illegal, a pound cost thousands of dollars. Now that it is kinda-sorta legal, we simply must ask… Should we be allowed to grow medical marijuana? Topics include how an illegal plant became a legal medicine; how one may grow the illegal plant legally; and whether we should be allowed to grow our own medicine? Show #914: IT TAKES A GARDEN!( Show available on request)Guest: Eric Toensmeier, Author, Paradise Lot The boys turned a barren lot in the run-down neighborhood of a rust-belt city into a Garden of Eatin with wives and children, and thus lead us to ask… What else can one grow in a garden? Topics include how two young men quit chasing to start gardening; how they turned a 1/10 acre vacant lot into a paradise of food and family; and what their work might give to residents of cities. Show #641: FEEDING THE HUNGRY... BEARS( Show available on request)Guest: Bearman Kevin Sanders, Yellowstone Outdoor Adventures Subject: Unkempt and bedraggled, they shuffle in from the woods where they spend the night with a pleading look of hunger in their eyes that says, “Feed me, feed me!” And so we ask… Should we feed the hungry… bears? Topics include a look at what happens when wild bears are fed by people; the results of Yellowstone Park’s “Don’t feed the bears!” campaign; and whether civilized people should feed wild bears. Show #913: Government-Safe Food( Show available on request)Guest: Judith McGeary, Executive Director, Farm & Ranch Freedom Alliance Former Monsanto exective Michael Taylor is now the nation’s Food Safety Czar. His 1,200 pages of new food safety rules lead us to ask… What is safe food? Topics include why government issued 1,200 pages of new food safety rules; what impact the new rules will have on America’s farms; and what kind of farms, if any, will be able to grow government-safe food. Show #912: Garden in the Mind( Show available on request)Guest: Dr. Paul Lee, Author, There is a Garden in the Mind He asked the University of California, Santa Cruz for a small scrap of land to teach gardening, and then proceeded to turn the earth on agriculture. That garden leads us to ask… Why organic? Topics include a brief history of Alan Chadwick and his garden; how that garden helped give birth to organic farming and gardening; and what impact orgnanic might have on our future. Show #781: DIVINING BY DOWSING( Show available upon request)Guests: Dowsers Steve Herbert and Sue Trumpfheller With a simple forked willow, the dowser called flowing water at 365 feet, which was exactly where the well-driller eventually found it. That call leads us to ask… What else might be divined by dowsing? Topics include a look at dowsing for water; how dowsing is used to find answers to many questions from other fields of endeavor; and how dowsers answer their scientific skeptics. Show #911: Ubiquitous Soy & Precocious Puberty( Show available upon request)Guests: Nancy Chapman, Executive Director of the Soyfoods Association of North America, and Pharmacist Ben Fuchs, Host of the Bright Side radio show Its in the hamburger patty. Its in the hamburger bun. Its in the milkshake. In fact, soy is in many, if not most, of the processed foods we eat. The ubiquity of this bean leads us to ask… Could ubiquitous soy cause precocious puberty? Topics include the extent to which soy has become a major dietary ingredient; what impact eating so much soy– or any one food– might have on the development of the human body; and whether always eating soy could force children into early sexual maturity. Show #910: The Power & Protocols to Police( Show available upon request)Guest: David Runsten, Policy Director for Community Alliance of Family Farmers & Sandra Eskin, Director of Food Safety, Pew Charitable Trusts The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, under former Monsanto executive Michael Taylor, now has the power and the protocols to police food safety. This leads us to ask… Can local farmers survive the FDA’s food safety police? Topics include why Congress gave the FDA the power and protocols to police food safety; what effect these protocols will have on the nation’s farmers; and whether local agriculture can survive rules designed to police industrial agriculture. Show #909: Forgetting the Past( Show available on CD)Guest: David Buchanan, author of Taste, Memory Santayana was thinking of people when he remarked, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” But could not the same be said of plants? This thought leads us to ask… What will happen to people if plants forget their past? Topics include how plants earn the intelligence to grow and development in response to specific environments; why that specific intelligence is being threatened with elimination; and what can be done to help our plants remember their past. Show #908: A Federal Farm Fiasco( Show available on CD)Guest: Food and Agriculture Consultant Burleigh Leonard It began as an effort to help farmers farm in hard times, but grew into an effort to help just about everyone do everything for everybody all the time. This leads us to ask…. Should the U.S. eliminate its Farm Bill? Topics include a brief history of the federal government’s efforts to help farmers farm in the Depression; how that effort grew into a $300 billion a year effort to help everyone all the time; and whether the federal government should simply eliminate its Farm Bill and let farmers farm. Show #907: Nano Nano NanoFood( Show available on CD)Guest: Journalist Heather Millar A million nanoparticles could be contained on the period at the end of this sentence, which explains why some foods are now made with zillions of them. But wait… Are nanofoods safe to eat? Topics include a look at the electronmicroscope-sized nanoparticle; why nanoparticles are being used to manufacture foods; and the ethics of making and selling foods with particles so small no barrier can prevent them from entering and altering.
Show #906: LONE WOLF OF CALIFORNIA( Show available on CD)Guest: Karen Kovacs, Program Specialist, California Department of Fish & Wildlife After being collared and released into the wilds of northeast Oregon, wolf OR-7 took off on the run for northern California. His 3,000 mile run leads us to ask… What is the lone-wolf of California dreamin? Topics include why wolves were re-introduced into the American West; how the conflict between those who want wolves to run free and those who do not is mediated; and what OR-7 might be dreaming about in his 3,000 mile lone-wolf run through northern California.
NOTE: Audit of Food Chain History revealed the show number to be 906 instead of 806. (July 16, 1994 To January 26, 2013)----------------------------------------------------------------------Show #805: FOOD AS MONEY( Show available on CD)Guest: Kara Newman, Author, The Secret Financial Life of Food When government prints money by the trillions, with nothing real to back that money, it diminishes its money’s ability to buy real goods and services. Thus more money buys less food. This leads us to ask… Who should determine the value of food? Topics include a brief history of food exchanges; the natural and man-made forces that affect the value of food in those exchanges; and a discussion about who should determine the value of food. Show #804: BUSTING OUT BIG( Show available on CD)Guests: Stacey Mitchell, Institute for Self Reliance Five banks now hold 56% of all the money. One grocer now sells 25% of all the food. One website now sells 33% of everything sold online. And so we ask... Can we shop our way back to a strong local economy? Topics include how a few businesses grow to dominate commerce; what their ever increasing dominance portends for local economies; and what local economies might do to survive the competition of giants. Show #803: THE ELITE MEAT( Show available on CD)Guests: Custom Butcher Rian Rinn & EcoFarm Conference Board Member Thomas Wittman A few decades ago, we lived with the animals we ate; today, the animals we live with are pets, and the animals we eat live in giant factories thousands of miles away. This leads us to ask… Can we bring our food animals home? Topics include an overview of the meat trade; why some are looking to reestablish the trade in local meats; and how local animals are killed and processed for sale. Show #802: HAND IN HAND W/ ENVIROS & RANCHERS( Show available on CDGuests: Jeannette Tuitele-Lewis of the Sierra Foothill Conservancy and Logan Page of Sierra Lands Beef As the Hatfields and McCoys of the American West, environmentalists and ranchers seldom trod the same side of the street, so when we find them working the same piece of ground we simply must ask… Can environmentalists and ranchers work together? Topics include the long-standing animosity between environmentalists and ranchers; what happens to land when ranching is prohibited; and how environmentalists and ranchers might work together to make money and preserve the native landscape. Show #801: FARMS VRS RESTAURANTS( Show available on CDGuests: National Council of Chain Restaurants & Renewable Fuels Association We can grow corn for food, and we can grow corn for fuel; but when we grow corn for food and fuel, both will cost more. This leads us to ask… Which is most important: food or fuel? Topics include government’s Renewable Food Program; the impact this Program has on the cost of food; and, given the recent discoveries of oil and gas in the U.S., whether we should continue growing corn for fuel. Show #800: THE REALLY, REALLY BIG QUESTION( Show available on CD)Guests: Open Microphone 55.25 million people can no longer adequately feed themselves, and so rely on a government $16.3 trillion in debt, with $86.8 trillion of unfunded liabilities, in an economy that buys $500 billion a year more than it sells. These numbers lead us to ask… Who will feed the 55.25 million if government goes belly-up? Topics include why the question is being asked; whether social institutions that traditionally fed the hungry can still feed the hungry; and who will feed the 55.25 million if government goes belly-up.
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Show #799: CAN'T THEY JUST GET ALONG?( Show available on CD)Guests: Laura Batcha, Organic Trade Association & Liana Hoodes, National Organic Coalition USDA commissioned a study group, called AC21, to determine how genetically-modified crops could best co-exist with organic crops. This Rodney King effort leads us to ask… Can GMOs just get along with organics? Topics include the fundamental positions held by GMO and organic agricultures; what AC21 says each side must do to co-exist; and whether it is possible for GMO and organic agricultures to just get along. |
Show #798: CITIES GONE WILD!( Show available on CD)Guest: James Sterba, Author, Nature Wars Having discovered easy-living, wild animals have moved into town where they now pit neighbor against neighbor and lead us to ask… Should cities encourage or discourage wildlife? Topics include why so many wild animals now live in cities; why cities are so welcoming to wild animals; and how the management, or lack thereof, of city wildlife is now sparking nature wars throughout our neighborhoods. |
Show #797: FOOD FOR THOUGHT( Show available on CD)Guest: Author / Nutritionist Pam Killeen Addiction, autism, dementia… Oh me!… Fatigue, sleep disorders, ADHD… Oh my! All the mental disorders that now drive the world crazy lead us to ask…. Can we eat our way to mental health? Topics include reasons why so many people now suffer from so many mental disorders; the role food plays in the development of the brain and mind; and how what we eat might improve how we can think. |
Show #796: WHAT'S FOR SCHOOL LUNCH( Show available on CD)Guests: Chef Jamie Smith & Nutritionist Jill Troderman Government’s No Hungry Kids Act is forcing schools to feed children healthy lunches, which children throw into the garbage. This leads us to ask… What is a healthy school lunch? Topics include why the No Hungry Kids Act is changing the school lunch; how children react to government’s healthy lunches; and who can best feed children– government or parents? |
Show #795: RIGHT TO KNOW FEEDING FRENZY!( Show available on CD)Guests: Washington DC Attorney Joseph E. Sandler They are spending over $40 million to convince Californians to deny themselves the right to know about genetically-modified organisms in their food. This leads one to ask… Why should consumers not know about GMOs in their food? Topics include why some products would be legally exempt from labeling; how much legal labels would add to the costs of foods; and whether everyone will be able to sue food companies over their labeling. |
Show #794: WHO SAYS GMOS ARE SAFE?( Show available on CD)Guests: Dr. Michael Hansen, Senior Staff Scientist, Consumer's Union We have re-engineered corn plants to kill insect pests, and now have millions of acres of insect-killing corn plants growing in America’s heartland. That corn now kills insects leads us to ask… Who says genetically-modified foods are safe for people to eat? Topics include why, and how, food crops are re-engineered with genes from different species; how the safety of re-engineered foods is tested; and who is responsible for saying re-engineered foods are safe for people to eat. |
Show #793: ADDICTED TO ADRENALINE( Show available on CD)Guests: Peter M. McCarthy, author Adrenaline Nation Topics include the stack of stressors we accumulate to produce adrenaline; how continual infusions of adrenaline affect health; and ways in which stress can be managed to maintain health. Can we manage our addiction to adrenaline? Topics include the stack of stressors we accumulate to produce adrenaline; how continual infusions of adrenaline affect health; and ways in which stress can be managed to maintain health. |
Show #792: OUR RACIST, SEXIST USDA( Show available on CD)Guests: USDA and its owners For the fourth time in 15 years, USDA has confessed to practicing institutional racism and sexism. This serial discrimination, for which taxpayers must pay $5 Billion and more, leads us to ask… Should the racist, sexist USDA be eliminated? Topics include how USDA finds itself guilty of serial racism and sexism; why U.S. taxpayers must pay $5 Billion and more in reparations for the deeds of the miscreant bureaucracy; and whether an institution that practices racism and sexism should be maintained or eliminated.. |
Show #791: Growing Permanence on Shifting Sands( Show available on CD)Guests: Bioneer / Permaculturalist Trathen Heckman Sixteen trillion dollars of debt! Flash mobs of rioters! A clash of civilizations! The shifting sands of our Modern Times lead us to ask… Can we grow permanence in a world of change? Topics include the elements necessary for growing a permanent culture; how those elements might be combined to develop a garden of plenty; and how that garden might be sustained in a world of ferocious change. |
Show #773: GOD'S GREEN GAS( Show available on CD)Guest: Geologist Leighton Steward, author Fire, Ice and Paradise It is the match made in heaven: Plants breathe carbon dioxide and emit oxygen; people breathe oxygen and emit carbon dioxide. Some now say this relationship has gone astray, and so we ask… Why did God’s green gas become an official pollutant? Topics include the role carbon dioxide plays in sustaining life on earth; why some believe people emit too much carbon dioxide while others believe people emit too little; and the role politics has played in making carbon dioxide an official pollutant. |
Show #790: Yes or No on the Right to Know( Show available on CD)Guests: Professor Kent Bradford, Director, UC Davis Seed Biotechnology Center Monsanto, Dupont, Bayer, Nestle, Pepsi, Coca Cola, General Mills, Del Monte Foods, and others are putting up about $28 million to put down California’s Proposition 37 “Right to Know About GMO” initiative, which leads us to ask… Why not know about GMOs? Topics include how foods are re-engineered by grafting genes from one species to those of another; how this technology is re-engineering the business of agriculture; and why the businesses of agriculture do not want to allow the consumers of their food products to know about the re-engineered genes in those foods. |
Show #788: ANIMAL RIGHTS & WRONGS( Show available on CD)Guests: Matt Rice of Mercy For Animals, and Kay Johnson Smith, of Animal Agriculture Alliance When the video was released showing the downer cows being slaughtered inhumanely, the federal government closed the California abattoir. This leads us to ask… Can animals in agriculture be treated humanely? Topics include the rights given animals in agriculture; who gives those rights to the animals; and whether the animals can be treated humanely enough to satisfy the people who advocate for them. |
Show #787: FARM'S LABOR'S LOST, I( Show available on CD)Guest: Ann Lopez, Ph.D., Director, Center For Farmworker Families Approximately 22% are now unemployed, and yet farmers can’t find enough people to work on their farms. This leads us to ask… Where are the farmworkers? Topics include a look at the nature of farm labor; why that labor has been, and is, the province of marginalized people; and whether farm labor can be professionalized into a desirable career |
Show #739: THE MONSANTO BUG( Show available on CD)Subject: Newly discovered glysophate pathogen kills plants and causes spontaneous abortions in animal populations.Guest: Plant pathologist Dr. Don Huber, Professor Emeritus, Purdue University (Monsanto declines participation) With its roundup herbicide and roundup-ready genes, the Monsanto Corporation has made growing crops a lot easier. Some, however, say Monsanto’s technology has spawned a new pathogen that causes abortion rates of 20% to 45% in the animals that feed upon the crops. If true, we ask… What will the Monsanto Bug do to us? Topics include how we know the Monsanto Bug exists when Monsanto says it does not; what impact, if any, this pathogen has on the food chain of plants, animals and people; and why so few in authority want to consider these questions. |
Show #786: FARMING THE BIG APPLE( Show available on CD)Guest: Robin Shulman, Author, Eat the City New York City is made of asphalt, concrete, and steel, and thus not a place one would expect to find farmers. But people do farm the city, and they lead us to ask… What can be farmed in the Big Apple? Topics include a look back to when most of the foods eaten in New York City were produced within its five boroughs; how immigrants, innovators, and traditionalists continue to raise food in the city; and how foods farmed in the city can help build community in the city. |
Show #785: A BARN RAISING( Show available on CD)Guest: Jacqueline Dougan Jackson, Author, The Round Barn: A Biography of an American Farm First, there was the land. Then people came to the land and established a farm. At the center of their farm they built a barn, which leads us to ask… What did you learn in the barn? Topics include a look back at the farm of pre-industrial agriculture; why the barn was the center that farm; and stories about life and living in the barns of our youth. |
Show #784: GREEN WITHOUT BROWN?( Show available on CD)Guest: John Ikerd, Professor Emeritus, University of Missouri If nutrients are not in our soil, they will not be in our crops. If nutrients are not in our crops, they will not be in our body. This leads us to ask… Can we be green without being brown? Topics include the legacy of soil scientist William Albrecht; what happens to animals and people when they consume foods from deficient soils; and what impact deficient soils might have on the sustainability of civilization. |
Show #783: BUSINESSES OF CANNABIS( Show available on CD)Guests: John Roulac, President, Nutiva Superfoods Though cannabis– aka hemp, marijuana– has been illegal since 1937, it is now the foundation upon which many legal businesses are built. This leads us to ask… How can an illegal plant be so legal? Topics include the many historical uses of cannabis; how the uses of cannabis changed with Prohibition; and how, in spite of Prohibition, many of the traditional uses of cannabis are returning as legal businesses. |
Show #782: SPYING ON WAL-MART( Show available on CD)Guests: Tracie McMillan, Author, The American Way of Eating Wal-Mart now sells to the citizens of the United States more than one-fifth of their food, which is more than the combined sales of its three largest competitors. This leads us to ask… How did one store get so big? Topics include a brief look at the evolution of America’s supermarket; how Wal-Mart became the nation’s super supermarket; and how Wal-Mart makes so much money selling such cheap food. |
Show #781: DIVINING BY DOWSING( Show available on CD)Guests: Dowsers Steve Herbert and Sue Trumpfheller With a simple forked willow, the dowser called flowing water at 365 feet, which was exactly where the well-driller eventually found it. That call leads us to ask… What else might be divined by dowsing? Topics include a look at dowsing for water; how dowsing is used to find answers to many questions from other fields of endeavor; and how dowsers answer their scientific skeptics. |
Show #780: MYSTERY OF THE DIRTY FISH IN CLEAN WATER( Show available on CD)Guest: Jay Davis, PhD, Senior Scientist, San Francisco Estuary Institute Though they swim in the pristine waters off California’s north coast, they are contaminated with man-made pollutants like Methylmercury. This leads us to ask… Who is poisoning the fish? Topics include how fish swimming in pristine waters are contaminated with man-made pollutants; what these fish tell us about our environment; and speculation as to who is poisoning the fish in the pristine waters off California’s north coast. |
Show #779: YELLOW DRAGON DISEASE( Show available on CD)Guest: Aaron Dillon of Four Winds Nursery Seems like everything comes from Asia these days– some good, others bad. One of the bad is Huanglongbing, or Yellow Dragon Disease. This plant killer leads us to ask… Can we save the citrus? Topics include a look at the Asian citrus psyllid and the deadly vascular disease it carries; the threat this disease poses to farms and gardens; and how one state, California, is fighting this threat. |
Show #778: BIODYNAMIC LOVE APPLES( Show available on CD)Guest: Cynthia Sandberg, Love Apple Farms She was a corporate attorney, but chucked it all to become the love in Love Apple Farms, where she now grows for David Kinch’s multi-starred Manresa Restaurant. Her biodynamic incantations lead us to ask… What in soil makes the difference? Topics include why a farm and a restaurant combined their efforts to become one enterprise; why the entrepreneurs believed the farm’s biodynamic soil would result in the best restaurant cuisine; and what in biodynamic soil makes the difference. |
Show #776: FOODIE FANATICS( Show available on CD)Guests: Daniel Duane, Author, How to Cook Like a Man We all must eat to live, and so think little of the daily task of cooking up a meal. But then something happens and eating to live becomes living to eat. This leads us to ask… How can one become a foodie without going belly-up? Topics include the wisdom of cookbooks; how famous foodies like Alice Waters and Thomas Keller have turned so many others into foodies; and how one may become a foodie without going belly-up. |
Show #775: AMISH ALLERGY ANOMALY( Show available on CD)Guests: Allergist / Immunologist Dr. Mark Hobreich From Reuters: “Holbreich, an allergist in Indianapolis, has been treating Amish communities in Indiana for two decades, but he noticed that very few Amish actually had allergies.” This anomaly leads us to ask… Why do so few Amish have so few allergies? Topics include the incidence of allergies within the Amish community; speculation as to why Amish farm children have so few allergies; and what the general population might learn from the Amish about allergies. |
Show #774: AGENT ORANGE CORN( Show available on CD)Guests: Attorney Jean Sieler and food processor Steve Smith from Save Our Crops So much Monsanto herbicide was applied to so many Monsanto GE crops that weeds became resistant. Dow Chemical’s solution to the resistance is “Agent Orange Corn,” which leads us to ask… Is agriculture outsmarting itself? Topics include how Monsanto’s Roundup-Ready cropping system became a victim of its own success; how Dow Chemical is seeking approval for an Agent Orange-resistant corn; and what may happen to rural America if farmers begin covering their croplands with Agent Orange to contend with the superweeds. |
Show #773: GOD'S GREEN GAS( Show available on CD)Guest: Geologist Leighton Steward, author Fire, Ice and Paradise It is the match made in heaven: Plants breathe carbon dioxide and emit oxygen; people breathe oxygen and emit carbon dioxide. Some now say this relationship has gone astray, and so we ask… Why did God’s green gas become an official pollutant? Topics include the role carbon dioxide plays in sustaining life on earth; why some believe people emit too much carbon dioxide while others believe people emit too little; and the role politics has played in making carbon dioxide an official pollutant. |
Show #772: FAMILYLESS FARMS( Show available on CD)Guest: Kristi Boswell from the American Farm Bureau Federation The federal government is applying child labor laws to the family farm, thus making it illegal for children of farm families to do many of the chores required by their family’s farm. This leads us to ask… Can the family farm survive without the family? Topics include why the administration ordered the Labor Department to apply child labor laws to family farms; what impact these laws will have on the ability of children to work on the farm; and whether the family farm can survive without the family. |
Show #771: POLITICS OF CALORIES( Show available on CD)Guest: Marion Nestle, Professor of Food Studies, NY University Calories are the fuel for the body’s fire. When more calories are consumed than can be burned, the body stores the excess as fat. This leads us to ask… Do the politics of calories make us fat? Topics include how we have become overwhelmed by the availability of food calories; what role politics plays in making those calories so available; and whether politics can used to help us reduce our consumption of calories. |
Show #770: TO BUY A FAT HOG( Show available on CD)Guest: Walter Jeffries of Vermont’s Sugar Mountain Farm Farm animals have been taken off the farm and confined in industrial facilities controlled by a few large corporations. Given this control of the nation’s food chain, we ask… Will we be allowed to eat the neighbor’s food? Topics include how animal agriculture became concentrated in the hands of a few; why those few are threatened by the family farm; and whether we will be allowed to eat Sugar Mountain Farm’s pasture fed, free-roaming, farm-processed foods. |
Show #768: FREE GOVERNMENT LUNCH II( Show available on CD)Guests: City Schools Food Director Jamie Smith When government confiscates preschoolers’ lunches, bans private food vendors from school grounds, and funds 5 meals per day at local elementary schools, we simply must ask… Should parents be allowed to feed their children? Topics include the childhood nutrition crisis that is not being allowed to go to waste; government activity to control what children eat; and what impact this government control might have on the American family. |
Show #767: FREE GOVERNMENT LUNCH( Show available on CD)Guests: City Schools Food Director Jamie Smith When government confiscates preschoolers’ lunches, bans private food vendors from school grounds, and funds 5 meals per day at local elementary schools, we simply must ask… Should parents be allowed to feed their children? Topics include the childhood nutrition crisis that is not being allowed to go to waste; government activity to control what children eat; and what impact this government control might have on the American family. |
Show #766: GREEN PLANTS & BLUE BABIES( Show available on CD)Subject: Politics of Water Runoff Rules for FarmersGuests: Science Professor Marc Los Huertos, California State University Monterey Bay Water runs downhill. This is a problem for environmentalists and farmers. Environmentalists say water running off farms contaminates the environment and may turn babies blue; farmers say it’s impossible to prevent water from running off their farms. And so we ask… Can we grow crops and have a clean environment? Topics include a look at the chemicals farmers use to grow their crops; how those chemicals runoff the farm into the environment; and whether water runoff rules just approved will allow farmers to grow crops. |
Show #765: FARMERS THAT KILLED SOCIALISM( Show available on CD)Subject: Politics of Farmers overcomes politics of Chinese Communist PartyGuests: Profession Kate Xiao Zhou, author of "How The Farmers Changed China" In the blink of an historical eye, China went from being the world’s capital of totalitarian socialism to being the world’s capital of free-booting capitalism. This leads us to ask… How did China’s farmers kill its socialism?Topics include a look at China’s Farmers of Forty Centuries; how those farmers were forced into slavery by the totalitarian socialism of Mao’s communist regime; and how the inherent corruption of that socialism allowed farmers to win back their freedom. |
Show #764: EATING NORTH AFRICA( Show available on CD)Subject: Impact of Culture and Religion on GeographyGuests: Historian Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman While the north side of the Mediterranean basin is green and fertile, the south side is brown and barren. This leads us to ask… What ate the life out of North Africa? Topics include a look back at a verdant North Africa; the impact culture and religion had on that verdancy; and speculation as to whether culture and religion could ever undo what culture and religion have done to North Africa. |
Show #763: BILLIONS OF BUGS( Show available on CD)Subject: Genetically Modified FoodsGuests: Plant Pathologist Steve Savage The foods we eat, if not sterilized to death, contain billions and trillions and maybe even zillions of foreign microorganisms. That we consume the genes of all those bugs without harm leads some to ask… Why fear genetically modified foods? Topics include a look at the billions of organisms that we routinely eat with our living foods; what difference there may be between “natural” genes and “foreign” genes; and whether foods that have been re-engineered to contain foreign genes should be labeled as such. |
Show #762: BIG OR SMALL?( Show available on CD)Subject: Space Intensive FarmingGuests: Author / Farmer / John Jeavons For decades economists told farmers to “Get big or get out!” Others– the heretics of agriculture– told farmers to “Grow small and stand tall!” This divergence of opinion leads us to ask… Which will feed the world: big or small? Topics include a look at “Get big or get out” and “Grow small and stand tall” agricultures; how Big agriculture requires 30,000 square feet to feed one person, while Small agriculture requires only 4,000 square feet; and how Small farmers can grow so much food in so little space. |
Show #761: THIS AIN'T NORMAL( Show available on CD)Subject: Food Safety NormsGuests: Author / Farmer / Philosopher Joel Salatin They now hold farmers at gunpoint for selling fresh, whole milk and demand we to eat corn genetically modified to contain a bacterial insect disease. What was the norm is now a crime; what was a crime against nature is now the norm. This leads us to ask… What is normal food? Topics include a look at the new normal for food; what happened to make the old normal a crime, and the old crimes against nature a new norm; and how some are farming their way to a happier and healthier norm. |
Show #760: MONSANTO'S GOV MAN( Show available on CD)Subject: Food Safety Czar Michael MooreGuests: Citizen Activist Frederick Ravid In 2009, President Barack Obama selected Monsanto executive Michael Taylor to be the nation’s first food safety czar. In 2012, citizen Fredrick Ravid collected 60,000 signatures on a petition to force Taylor’s removal. All those signatures lead us to ask… Should Monsanto be in charge of America’s food safety? Topics include why the President selected Monsanto’s Michael Taylor to be the nation’s first food safety czar; what the Food and Drug administration has been doing to make food safe; and why, over the course of one weekend in January, 60,000 people signed a petition demanding Michael Taylor’s removal. |
Show #759: POPPING PILLS FOR PEACE( Show available on CD)Subject: Side Effects of Pyschoactive PharmaceuticalsGuests: Martha Rosenberg, Health Journalist Depressed, anxious, and can’t sleep, oh my! Though modern times are making us thoroughly distraught, a prescription for happy pills will help us find peace. This leads us to ask… What price do we pay for popping all those pills? Topics include what happened when government allowed pharmaceutical companies to market directly to consumers; the kinds of drugs we seek to treat mental afflictions; and a discussion of the real price we must pay for these drugs. |
Show #758: A REAL EXTRA VIRGIN( Show available on CD)Subject: Real and Fake Virgin Olive OilsGuests: Tom Mueller, author, Extra Virginity Some are virgin. Others are extra virgin. The rest are not very virgin at all. It’s difficult to tell which is which when shopping the sublime and scandalous world of olive oil, and so we ask… How can we find a real extra virgin? Topics include why olive oil became the oil of choice; the extent to which counterfeit olive oils have come to dominate the culinary marketplace; and how one might find a real extra virgin olive oil. |
Show #757: TO KNOW OR NOT TO KNOW( Show available on CD)Subject: Gentically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in the Food ChainGuests: Pamm Larry of LableGMOs.org, and Thomas Wittman of the Genetic Engineering Blog Like the Dutch boy with a finger in the dike, grandmother Pamm Larry is trying to stop the flood of genetically modified organisms washing over the land by forcing the labeling of GMO foods. This leads us to ask… Should we know, or not know, about the modified genes in food? Topics include the extent to which modified genes inhabit our foods; whether these modified genes are safe to eat; and whether we should be allowed to know if our foods contain modified genes. |
Show #756: THROUGH MF GLOBAL'S LOOKING GLASS( Show available on CD)Subject: MF Global Bankruptcy Impact on Farm EconomyGuest: Farmer / Newspaper Reporter Bryant Osborn Thousands of U.S. farmers lost over 1.2 billion dollars when MF Global’s off-balance-sheet leveraged repo-to-maturity play on foreign sovereign debt collapsed into bankruptcy. And so we ask… What will we eat when there is no money left to grow food? Topics include why MF Global went bankrupt; what could have happened to the farmers’ $1.2 billion; and what impact disappearing dollars could have on the nation’s ability to feed itself. |
Show #678: WOMEN OF THE DIRT( Show available on CD)Guests: Women of the Dirt members Jenny Sabo and LaVonne Stucky from Montana’s Gallatin Valley Subject: We look up to those who inhabit the top floors of skyscrapers for their ability to collect Other Peoples Money and hoard it for themselves. But now we must turn away from them and ask… What can we learn from the Women of the Dirt? Topics include what it takes to wake a farm from its long winter’s sleep; how physical work can earn riches money can’t buy; and how children can develop character by growing and eating real food. |
Show #706: FOUNDING FOODIES( Show available on CD)Guests: Dave DeWitt, Author, The Founding FoodiesSubject: Foods of Franklin, Jefferson and Washington When the going gets tough, the tough get going… to the kitchen for food. Then along comes the holiday season and our escapism becomes an obsession that leads us to ask… How did we become a nation of foodies? Topics include a look a Colonial era menus; the impact founders Franklin, Jefferson and Washington had on the young nation’s food chain; and how the founders began a foodie tradition that shaped the nation’s character. |
Show #755: A REVERSE ROBIN HOOD( Show available on CD)Subject: 2012 FARM BILLGuest: State University Economics Professor Bruce Babcock and Farm Bill Hackathon Hostess Beth Hoffman The federal government will soon craft a new Farm Bill that will give billions of dollars to the largest, most profitable farms in the nation. This leads us to ask… What will we get for our billions of Farm Bill bucks? Topics include why the government crafts a new Farm Bill every five years; how Farm Bills are used to govern the nation’s agriculture; and whether Farm Bills have become Reverse Robin Hoods, in which government takes from poor tax payers and gives to wealthy farmers.
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Show #754: TOO SAFE FOR FAMILIES( Show available on CD)Subject: Child Farm Labor Laws and RegulationsGuest: Oklahoma Labor Commissioner Mark Costello and Oklahoma Farmer Matt Muller In the name of safety, the federal government is establishing rules that will prohibit teens from working on family farms. This leads us to ask… Is government making the family farm too safe for families? Topics include the rules government is establishing to make life safe for teens; how the rules are likely to affect the family farm and ranch; and how the rules are likely to affect the teens who are not allowed to work. |
Show #753: THE REAL GOOD LIFE( Show available on CD)Subject: Food and the quality of lifeGuest: Ferenc Mate, author, A Real Life We took the wrong turn on the road to the good life, and now find that, as a people, we are anxious, broke, and overweight. This leads us to ask… Can what we eat help us find the happiness we seek? Topics include how, as a people, we turned away from what brought real happiness; the consequences of this turning away on our selves, families, communities, and nations; and how what we eat might help us find the happiness we seek. |
Show #752: CRUEL & UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT FOOD( Show available on CD)Subject: Prison lawsuit against soy food.Guest: Sally Fallon Morell, Co-Founder, Weston A. Price Foundation When the prison replaced meat with the nation’s most popular health food ingredient, prisoner Eric Harris sued. This leads us to ask… Is soy a cruel and unusual punishment food? Topics include why soy has become the nation’s most popular food ingredient; whether soy is a viable food; and why the Weston A. Price Foundation is backing a prisoner’s contention that being fed soy is a cruel and unusual punishment. |
Show #751: CHILDREN, WITH CHORES( Show available on CD)Subject: Government control of medical marijuanaGuests: Audrey Kohout from the K Ranch Creamery in Corsegold, California, and Nancy Vail from the Pie Ranch in Pescadero, California, When the nation was young we raised children on farms and gave them chores to do. Now we raise children in cities and give them allowances to spend. This leads us to ask… What do children with chores learn in their growing up? Topics include the kinds of chores given farm children by their family; how giving children farm chores is justified with the spirit of child labor laws; and what children with farm chores learn that children with allowances can’t learn. |
Show #750: MEDICAL MARIJUANA MAYHEM!( Show available on CD)Subject: Government control of medical marijuanaGuests: Matthew Cohen, Medocino County Medical Marijuana Farmer and Allen St. Pierre, Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), When Matthew Cohen’s crop of medical marijuana became the object of a great tug of war between Mendocino County and the United States of America, many paused to ask… Which government should be in control: local or federal? Topics include how the “medicalization” of cannabis has led to its implicit legalization in some states and counties; why the federal government is enforcing its authority over those states and counties; and whether anyone will ever be able to make cannabis a normal crop, again. |
Show #749: BAD GAS?( Show available on CD)Subject: Industrial use of methyl bromide gasGuest: Retired University of California crop scientist Art Greathead Methyl Bromide, a poison gas banned by international treaty, helped the strawberry industry grow from 2,000 acres to 26,000 acres. This leads us to ask… Can we have industry without toxicity? Topics include why pre-methyl bromide strawberry farmers were forced to be itinerants; how methyl bromide changed the nature of the industry and stimulated its growth; and whether the strawberry industry– or any industry– can survive without toxicity. |
Show #748: MALI'S GOAT & THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY( Show available on CD)Subject: Government raids threaten local food systemsGuest: Mali McGee from the Milk Mama Goat Farm Across the nation armed government SWAT teams arrest private citizens for buying and selling fresh whole foods from each other. This leads us to ask… Will feeding ourselves be the crime of the century? Topics include how private citizens are organizing to feed each other; why government is raiding these private food systems with armed SWAT teams; and how Mali’s milch goats inspired one county to recognize the right of people to grow and eat their own food. |
Show #747: FUNDING FAT( Show available on CD)Subject: Why do taxpayers subsidize corn and soy?Guest: Michael Russo, Policy Analyst for U.S. Public Interest Research Group In the last 15 years, the U.S. government used $17 billion of taxpayer money to subsidize production of corn starch, corn syrup and soy oil. This leads us to ask… Why are we funding fat? Topics include why government subsidizes farm crops; why corn and soy are subsidized while broccoli and spinach are not; and whether government subsidies are related to our pandemic of obesity. |
Show #746: FROM THEIR FARM TO OUR FORK( Show available on CD)Subject: Distance amplifies food contaminationsGuest: Andrew Monbouquette and Dan Susman, producers of the movie “Growing Cities,” The headline read, “Long Road from Farm to Fork Worsens Outbreaks,” and the story told of how distance exacerbated the recent canteloupe contamination that killed some and sickened many. And so we ask… Can we shorten the distance between farm and fork? Topics include why our food now travels so far from where it is grown to where we eat it; how some have begun to grow commercial food crops in or near the city; and what adventures one might have when searching America for metropolitan farms. |
Show #745: SAYING "NO!" TO GMO( Show available on CD)Subject: Consumer rejection of GMO foods.Guest: Andrew Kimbrell from the Center for Food Safety and Megan Westgate from the Non-GMO Project They say 80 percent of our processed foods now contain genetically modified organisms, which our government claims to be safe. This leads one to ask… Why say “No!” to GMOs foods? Topics include how many GMO crops are failing their designed purpose; what failed GMO crops might do if they do not do what they are supposed to do; and why, and how, many are saying “No!” to GMOs when our government is saying “Yes!” |
Show #744: FROM THE MANY A FEW( Show available on CD)Subject: From 7,500 apple varieties we taste only a few.Guest: Apple Farm Geri Prevedelli Where once we had hundreds of apple varieties from which to select and taste, we now have Red and Golden Delicious. This leads one to ask… Is variety no longer the spice of life? Topics include why so few apple varieties were selected for the mass marketplace; a taste of some heritage varieties that are being kept alive by small farmers and orchardists; and whether variety is, as the saying suggests, truly important to the human experience. . |
Show #743: WASTE NOT, WANT NOT( Show available on CD)Subject: The business of turning organic wastes into commercial energy, or biogas.Guest: Michael Keller, CEO of Scandanavian Biogas US It is one thing to save and recycle– to waste not; it is another thing to make profitable use of what we do recycle– to want not. This leads us to ask… Can we profitably turn waste into energy? Topics include the state of waste to energy conversion technologies; the commercial application of these technologies; and what impact the technologies might have on a community’s energy budget. . |
Show #742: TOTAL CONTROL( Show available on CD)Subject: FDA implements new controls over food supplements to comply with Codex Alimentarius.Guest: Attorney Jonathan W. Emord The FDA is reclassifying herbs, vitamins, and dietary supplements as “synthetic food preservatives,” which means many of them may be pulled off the market and the rest subjected to extreme regulation. This leads us to ask… Has the FDA sold itself to the international pharmaceutical industry? Topics include how Codex Alimentarius demands the U.S. treat its food supplements as toxins; why the U.S. government is acceding to the demands of Codex; and what this compliance will mean to those who use dietary supplements like vitamins and minerals. |
Show #741: TRY THIS COUNTRY( Show available on CD)Subject: How to eat your way around the world without leaving town.Guest: Danyelle Freeman, Author / Restaurant Critic Virginia Woolf said it, and we believe it to be true, “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” That being the case we ask… Which country will you eat for dinner tonight? Topics include why big city people, like those who inhabit NYC, dine out so frequently; whether restaurant critics should or should not make their presence known to the restaurants they critique; and which dishes are best to order when dining at ethnic restaurants. |
Show #740: REAL LIVE SUPERFOOD( Show available on CD)Subject: Sprouts contain more nutrients than any other food, and are the subject of frequent contaminations.Guest: Ken Kimes, New Natives Farm Sprouted seeds, or “sprouts” as they are commonly called, are truly the freshest of foods because they are, well, still living. Sprouts are also the frequent subjects of food contaminations, and thus lead us to ask… Is living food safe? Topics include why, ounce for ounce, sprouts provide more nutrients than any other natural food; why sprouts are frequently the subject of food contaminations, and whether living foods can be safe to eat. |
Show #739: THE MONSANTO BUG( Show available on CD)Subject: Newly discovered glysophate pathogen kills plants and causes spontaneous abortions in animal populations.Guest: Plant pathologist Dr. Don Huber, Professor Emeritus, Purdue University (Monsanto declines participation) With its roundup herbicide and roundup-ready genes, the Monsanto Corporation has made growing crops a lot easier. Some, however, say Monsanto’s technology has spawned a new pathogen that causes abortion rates of 20% to 45% in the animals that feed upon the crops. If true, we ask… What will the Monsanto Bug do to us? Topics include how we know the Monsanto Bug exists when Monsanto says it does not; what impact, if any, this pathogen has on the food chain of plants, animals and people; and why so few in authority want to consider these questions. |
Show #716: FROM GOLDEN STATE TO RED INK STATE( Show available on CD)Subject: California Agriculture LendingThe Golden State is now an estimated to be $500 billion in debt, and thus has become the Red Ink State. This transformation of California leads us to ask… What happened to all the money? Topics include how California’s financial infrastructure was built to support agriculture; how that infrastructure has been eroded; and whether next year’s farmers will be able to get money to grow crops. |
Show #738: THE GREAT TRANSITION( NOTE: DUE TO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES THIS PROGRAM IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD)Subject: The transition from hunting and gathering to agricultureGuest: Anthropologist Amanda Mummert 10,000 years ago, when we turned from feeding ourselves with nature to feeding ourselves with agriculture, we grew shorter and weaker. This leads us to ask… What did nature feed us that agriculture did not? Topics include a comparison of wild foods and cultured foods; why, when we made the transition from hunting and gathering to farming, we grew shorter and weaker; and what lessons we might learn from observations of that great transition. |
Show #737: DODGING DEATH BY FOOD( Show available on CD)Subject: Protecting against Food AllergiesGuests: Sandra Beasley, Author, "Don't Kill the Birthday Girl" 12 million Americans are allergic to food, and 6 million of them are children who cannot yet fend for themselves. Allergic reactions to food range from dermatitis to death. This leads us to ask… How should we protect children with food allergies? Topics include why some are allergic to foods; how they manage to dodge the foods they are allergic to; and how we should protect children with food allergies. |
Show #736: MEAT FOR THE ELITE?( Show available on CD)Subject: Is grass-fed beef meat for the elite?Guests: Mark and Elizabeth Shelley of Tassajara Natural Meats Before WWII, cattle were fed out on grasses like hay. Today, they are fed out on grains like corn and soy, antibiotics, and other nutritional supplements. Some are turning back to grass-fed, which leads us to ask… Is grass-fed meat for the elite? Topics include the reasons why some are turning away from feedlot foods; the taste and nutritional differences between grass and grain fed; and whether the costs of grass fed will confine it to the category of meat for the elite. |
Show #735: PRIVATE GRAZING ON PUBLIC LANDS( Show available on CD)Subject: Environmental and Economic Concerns about Private Grazing on Public LandsGuests: Author / Cowboy Bob Kinford The federal government has direct ownership of 650 million acres of the USA. Some of these public acres may be exploited by private businesses, like ranchers. This leads us to ask… Is government planning to sell our land to China? Topics include the extent of federal ownership of land in the West; why many in the private sector believe government is trying to force them off public lands; and the possibility that government might sell rights to public lands to China. |
Show #734: FUNNY MONEY( Show available on CD)Subject: Federal Reserve System vrs The Bank of North DakotaGuests: Ellen Brown, Author, The Web of Debt There is no “fed” in the Federal Reserve System. There are only private banks which loan the public funny money that the public must pay back, with interest, using real money. This web of debt leads us to ask… What can the farmers of North Dakota teach us about money? Topics include why the farmers of North Dakota started the nation’s only state-owned bank; how this bank creates the money it lends to North Dakota; and why North Dakota and the Bank of North Dakota are in the black, while almost all other states and most other banks are in the red. |
Show #733: WATER WAR( Show available on CD)Subject: Water quality rules / farmers vrs environmentalistsGuests: Jennifer Cleary, Clean Water Action & Dick Peixoto, Lakeside Organic Gardens Water makes up about 90 percent of growing plants, and thus is the lifeblood of our food chain. However, the pending implementation of new water quality rules in California leads us to ask… Can agriculture survive clean water? Topics include why the Central Coast of California is instituting tough new water quality rules; the impact those rules may have on our ability to grow crops; and whether agriculture can survive clean water. |
Show #732: BEE LISTENING!( Show available on CD)Subject: Colony Collapse DisorderGuests: Lynne Bottazo, Amen Bee Products They say bees provide for thirty percent of the food we eat. They also say more than thirty percent of our bee colonies are collapsing. This thirty percent business leads us to ask… Could what is happening to bees happen to us? Topics include a look at the different ways in which bees are kept (Lynne’s way vrs the industrial way); thoughts on why over one-third of the nation’s bee colonies are collapsing; and what lessons people might learn from the buzzing of their bees. |
Show #731: PEOPLE, PESTS & POISON( Show available on CD)Subject: Pest Control Without PoisonGuests: Stella McMillin from California Department of Fish and Game, Maggie Sergio from WildCare, and Thomas Wittman from Gophers Limited We fear dirty rats, and so endeavor to kill them with poison. Our poison, however, also kills creatures that prey on rats, which means there are ever more rats to poison, which leads us to ask… Can we control pests without poison? Topics include a look at the new poisons being used to control rodents; how those poisons are killing America’s wildlife; and methods for controlling pests without poisons. |
Show #730: E VERIFIED FOOD( Show available on CD)Subject: Illegal Immigrant Farm LaborGuest: Mark Krikorian, Executive Director, Center for Immigration Studies The Supreme Court has upheld Arizona’s law penalizing businesses that hire illegal immigrants. Georgia has passed a similar law, and other states are lining up to do the same. This leads us to ask… Who will grow our food if not illegal immigrants? Topics include why American agriculture has come to rely on illegal immigrant labor; what impact the Supreme Court’s decision to allow states to manage illegal immigrant labor will have on agriculture; and who will grow our food if not illegal immigrants? |
Show #729: THROUGH THE ROOF( Show available on CD)Subject: Food price inflationGuest: Harwood Schaffer, Research Professor at University of Tennessee In 1990, a loaf of bread cost $.70; today, the loaf costs over $3.00. Incomes, however, have not been growing at the same rate, and thus the true cost of food is going “through the roof.” This leads us to ask… Who will feed us when money will not? Topics include why the cost of food is increasing at such a rapid pace; how the money of hundreds of millions of people can no longer buy enough food; and what, if anything, can be done to insure a sufficient supply of food for the world’s hungry. |
Show #728: FOOD WITH ITS FARMERS FACE ON IT( Show available on CD)Subject: How to develop a farmers marketGuest: Catherine Barr, General Manager, Monterey Bay Area Certified Farmers Markets The farther we go from the source of our food the less control we have over what’s in our food. It follows that to get the most control we must obtain our food directly from its source. This leads us to ask… What does it take to develop a certified farmers market?Topics include the demographic, legal, and market conditions required to establish a farmers market; the right kind of farmers to recruit and how to manage them; and how to maintain a market in a highly competitive marketplace. |
Show #727: THE WHITE WAVE( Show available on CD)Subject: Prohibition of raw milkGuest: David Gumpert, author of The Raw Milk Revolution Amish farmer Dan Allgyer has been arrested by the Food and Drug Administration for selling fresh whole milk across state lines. The FDA’s police action leads us to ask… Why is government afraid of fresh, whole milk?Topics include how fresh, whole milk became an illicit substance; why some consumers prefer fresh, whole milk over that produced at conventional dairies; and who, or what, is threatened when farmers sell milk from cows to consumers. |
Show #726: GREENING THE GREEN REVOLUTION( Show available on CD)Subject: Redesigning Green Revolution AgricultureGuests: John Reganold, Regents Professor at Washington State University, and Bryce Lundberg of Lundberg Family Farms (tent.) e Norman Borlaug’s Green Revolution made possible an explosion of the world’s population. But some say there is simply not enough green in the Green Revolution, and so the whole system must be redesigned. This leads one to ask… Can we green the Green Revolution?Topics include how the Green Revolution increased the productivity of agriculture; why some believe that Green Revolution agriculture must be redesigned to address environmental concerns; and whether we can green up the Green Revolution and still maintain its productivity. |
Show #725: WHITHER ORGANIC?( Show available on CD)Subject: How organic is organic?Guests: Barney Bricmont, Founder, California Certified Organic Farmers / Mischa Popoff, author, Is It Organic? / Mark Kastel, Cornucopia Institute Some say up to 80% of the organic food in the United States is now imported from Brazil, China, Mexico and others. This leads us to ask… How organic is organic?Topics include why the term organic was adopted by alternative agriculture and then sanctioned by government; what happened to organic when it became a government-owned appellation; and what the future may hold for the organic industry. |
Show #724: STARTING ANEW!( Show available on CD)Subject: Which seedsGuests: Sedgwick, Maine residents Bob St. Peter of Saving Seeds Farm and Mia Strong of the Local Stock Food Cooperative In the name of food safety, the federal government has taken total control of what we may feed each other. Sedgewick, Maine, has rebelled and passed the nation’s first “Food Sovereignty” law. This rebellion leads us to ask… Who should control what we eat? Topics include why Sedgewick is in rebellion against the federal government; how Sedgewick’s Local Food and Self-Governance Ordinance will stand up to the fed’s Food Safety Modernization Act; and what impact Sedgwick’s rebellion will have on other communities throughout the nation. |
Show #723: LOCAL FOOD REBELLION( Show available on CD)Subject: Local Food SovereigntyGuests: Sedgwick, Maine residents Bob St. Peter of Saving Seeds Farm and Mia Strong of the Local Stock Food Cooperative In the name of food safety, the federal government has taken total control of what we may feed each other. Sedgewick, Maine, has rebelled and passed the nation’s first “Food Sovereignty” law. This rebellion leads us to ask… Who should control what we eat? Topics include why Sedgewick is in rebellion against the federal government; how Sedgewick’s Local Food and Self-Governance Ordinance will stand up to the fed’s Food Safety Modernization Act; and what impact Sedgwick’s rebellion will have on other communities throughout the nation. |
Show #722: FALL OF THE HOUSE OF BUSCH( Show available on CD)Subject: Why did the Busch family sell its Budweiser?Guests: Julie MacIntosh, author, Dethroning the King During the peak of a brutal afternoon commute, when smog oppressively cloaked the sun, I had been passing alone through a singularly dreary tract of suburb, and at length found myself, as the commute wore on, within view of a melancholy Budweiser beer plant, which lead me to wonder… Why did the Busch family sell its Budweiser? Topics include a look at the history of Budweiser beer and the Busch family; how Budweiser became the “King of Beers;” and why the Busch family lost its fight to maintain control of their iconic American beer to a foreign corporation. |
Show #721: PROPERTY IMPROPRIETY?( Show available on CD)Subject: Should one be allowed to trademark an activity?Guests: K. Ruby Blume, Director of the Institute of Urban Homesteading, and Patrick Reilly, Intellectual Property Society City folk have been “urban homesteading” since the early 1980s. But then the Dervaes family trademarked the term, and now no one else may play. This leads us to ask… Should one be able to trademark an activity? Topics include a look into the activity of urban homesteading; how this activity came to be the intellectual property of a family in Pasadena; and whether this ownership is, or is not, a property impropriety. |
Show #720: OUT OF THE FRYING PAN...( Show available on CD)Subject: How does one start a farm, and make it pay?Guest: Kurt Timmermeister, author of Growing a Farmer We have decided to quit our jobs in the city to start a farm. Now we must ask… How does one start a farm, and make it pay? Topics include why city people become captivated by the idea of starting a farm; how to buy a tractor and keep raccoons away from the chickens; and how to make a small farm pay enough to keep it going. |
Show #719: BREAD, BEER & CHANGE II( Show available on CD)Subject: Can modern agriculture allow us to escape the fate of the ancients?Guest: Thomas Sinclair, PhD, and Carol James Sinclair, authors of Bread, Beer & the Seeds of Change Santayana tells us, Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. There is much in the history of food from which we can learn, and that history leads us to ask… Will modern agriculture allow us to escape the fate of the ancients? Topics include why the agricultures of ancient civilizations failed; how modern agriculture differs from ancient agriculture; and whether modern agriculture can save us from the fate of ancient civilizations. |
Show #718: BREAD, BEER, & CHANGE I( Show available on CD)Subject: What we can learn about the future from ancient agriculture.Guest: Thomas Sinclair, PhD, and Carol James Sinclair, authors of Bread, Beer & the Seeds of Change Santayana tells us, Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. There is much in the history of food from which we can learn, and that history leads us to ask… What can beer, bread and change tell us about our future? Topics include why humans made the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture; a look at the ancient agricultures of the Sumarians, Egyptians, Chinese, Bantus and Mayans; and what beer, bread and change can tell us about our future. |
Show #717: ALONG COMES MARY( Show available on CD)Subject: Saving Delta Smelt and FarmsGuest: Retired government research biologist Mary Winfree, PhD To save the endangered Delta smelt, Judge Oliver Wanger turned off the water to California’s San Joaquin Valley, thus putting tens of thousands out of work and turning hundreds of thousands of acres into dust. But then along comes Mary, who says… To save the smelt, and California, turn the water back on! Topics include the Delta Smelt’s status as an endangered species; why baby smelt were being trapped by a pump in a man-made lake 50 miles from the Delta; and how the Delta smelt, and California’s San Joaquin Valley, might be saved by turning the pumps back on. |
Show #716: CALIFORNIA: FROM GOLDEN STATE TO RED INK STATE( Show available on CD)Subject: California Agriculture LendingThe Golden State is now an estimated to be $500 billion in debt, and thus has become the Red Ink State. This transformation of California leads us to ask… What happened to all the money? Topics include how California’s financial infrastructure was built to support agriculture; how that infrastructure has been eroded; and whether next year’s farmers will be able to get money to grow crops. |
Show #715: THAT AIN'T HAY!( Show available on CD)Subject: Genetically-Engineered AlfalfaThe Obama administration has approved the release of Monsanto’s genetically-engineered alfalfa. They say farmers will be able to grow more crops, and that ain’t hay! But GE Alfalfa leads us to ask… What will become of organic meat and dairy foods? Topics include the safety of GE foods; the impact GE alfalfa will have on the nation’s alfalfa crop; and whether organic meat and dairy will survive the release of GE alfalfa. |
Show #714: AMERICA'S FIRST CROP( Show available on CD)Subject: From Ancient Tobacco to the Modern CigaretteTobacco was America’s first cash crop, and in fact, was the object of trade long before there was an America. Then tobacco became the scourge of millions, which leads us to ask… What do tobacco companies put in cigarettes? Topics include a look at tobacco use in pre-Columbian America; how tobacco became the object of world trade; and what modern industry puts in cigarettes to make them so… needed. |
Show #712: SAYING NO TO BIG BRO( Show available on CD)Subject: Food Safety Modernization ActFarmers and consumers in the tiny, landlocked state of Vermont have initiated a petition drive to reject the Federal government’s Food Safety Modernization Act. This leads us to ask… What could be wrong with government safe food? Topics include a taste of Vermont’s local foods; why the Coalition believes Vermont’s local foods are threatened by the government’s Food Safety Modernization Act; and whether the food loving people of tiny Vermont will be able to stand down the federal government’s new army of food safety regulators. |
Show #711: EATING FOR AGING( Show available on CD)Subject: Eating for Aging When young we eat and grow tall, but when middle-aged we eat and grow out. This leads many, if not most, middle-aged people to ask… What can we do about the beer belly blues? Topics include the body chemistry changes of aging and the physical manifestations of those changes; how physical changes are exacerbated by food and drink; and what we can eat and drink, as aging adults, to maintain a youthful figure and vigor. |
Show #710: EMBASSY OF FOOD( Show available on CD)Guests: Summer Whitford, Author, Join us at the EmbassySubject: Selling with Food If the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, then the way to the world’s affection must be through its stomach. This thought leads us to ask… Which foods would you serve as Ambassador to the World? Topics include how ambassadors use food to present their countries in foreign capitals; what a country’s traditional foods can say about that country; and a tour of some of the best embassy meals the world has to offer. |
Show #709: WAR OF THE WORD( Show available on CD)Guests: Linda Brown of Scientific Certification Services and Bob Young of the American Farm Bureau FederationSubject: Sustainable Agriculture Standard Words have meaning and names have power. “Sustainable” is a word that is trying to become a name, which leads us to ask… What does sustainable mean and how much power can it have? Topics include what an official meaning of “sustainable” might be; how much power would be given those deemed “sustainable;” and why some proponents of establishing the Sustainable Standard have quit the effort. |
Show #708: TESTING TESTOR'S S510( Show available on CD)Guests: Montana Senator Jon Tester and Western Growers Association Vice President Cathy EnrightSubject: S510 The Food Safety Modernization Act Some say S510, The Food Safety Modernization Act, is so onerous it will destroy our nation’s small farms, and so are trying to amend the Act to protect small farms. Others say “A microbe is a microbe,” and all should abide by the law, regardless of size. And so we ask… For whom will S510 make food safe? Topics include how S510 purports to make food safe; whether it is fair to include or exclude farmers and processors from this Act by virtue of their size; and what impact The Food Safety Modernization Act will have on our food chain. |
Show #707: FOOD FOR SKIN( Show available on CD)Guests: Compounding Pharmacist Ben FuchsSubject: skin care, cosmetics, food for skin Government is now restricting what we may eat, but is leaving us free to glop 10,500 chemicals on to make our skin look good. This leads us to ask… Which is best for healthy skin: cosmetics or food? Topics include the chemicals used in popular cosmetics; what impact those chemicals might have on our body chemistry; and how to eat for healthy skin. |
Show #706: FOUNDING FOODIES( Show available on CD)Guests: Dave DeWitt, Author, The Founding FoodiesSubject: Foods of Franklin, Jefferson and Washington When the going gets tough, the tough get going… to the kitchen for food. Then along comes the holiday season and our escapism becomes an obsession that leads us to ask… How did we become a nation of foodies? Topics include a look a Colonial era menus; the impact founders Franklin, Jefferson and Washington had on the young nation’s food chain; and how the founders began a foodie tradition that shaped the nation’s character. |
Show #705: BIOMASS COWBOYS( Show available on CD)Guests: biomass energy consultant Michael KellerSubject: Biomass to energy conversion California has elected to reduce its carbon emissions by up to 30% beginning in 2012. This decision has sparked a stampede to figure out how, which leads us to ask…. Can we farm our way to clean air and energy independence? Topics include products that can be derived from living crops; the state of biomass to energy conversion technology; and whether it is possible to combine farmers, technicians, and investors to generate a steady, reliable flow of clean energy. |
Show #704: SLAVES TO FOOD( Show available on CD)Guests: Andrew Rimas, co-author, Empires of Food: Feast, Famine and the Rise and Fall of CivilizationsSubject: Food and Civilization History tells us when the harvest is good, civilization expands, but when the harvest is poor, civilization contracts. This lesson leads us to ask… What does the harvest portend for our civilization? Topics include a look at what happened to some of history’s great civilizations; how the food chain governed the expansion and contraction of those civilizations; and what the harvest portends for our civilization. |
Show #703: THE GREEN MACHINE( Show available on CD)Guests: Anita Mangels, Yes on Proposition 19, Renata Brillinger, No on 19.Subject: Delaying the implementation of California's Global Warming Act of 2006 When times were good, California voted to reduce its emissions of carbon dioxide to fight global warming. But unemployment is now at 22% and the state is reconsidering its vote, which leads us to ask… Can we end global warming and work the farm? Topics include why California voted to reduce its emissions of carbon dioxide in 2006; what impact the state’s Global Warming Act will have on its agriculture; and whether California can reduce its emissions of CO2 and maintain a profitable agriculture. |
Show #702: UP IN SMOKE( Show available on CD)NOTE: THIS PROGRAM IS 1 MINUTE 30 SECONDS SHORTGuests: James Rigdon, Yes on Proposition 19 / Roger Salazar, No on Proposition 19 Subject: Legalization of Cannabis (marijuana) via California's Proposition 19, The Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 California’s illicit cannabis crop is worth $14 billion and the state’s politicians can get their hands on that money by making the crop legal. This proposition leads us to ask… What happens to the money when cannabis becomes legal? Topics include why cannabis was made illegal in 1937; what the consequences of that prohibition have been; and what will happen to the cannabis industry should the crop be made legal. |
Show #701: BITE OF THE BEDBUG( Show available on CD)Guests: Entomologist Dr. Susan Jones, Ohio State University Subject: Invasion of the Bedbugs Sometimes the big eat the small; other times the small eat the big. This time small bedbugs are eating big cities, and they are coming to our city soon. The freckle-sized monsters lead us to ask… Can we prevent bedbugs from biting? Topics include a historical overview of mankind’s relationship bedbugs; why bedbugs have invaded our big cities; and what we can do to “Don’t let the bedbugs bite!” |
Show #700: FROM FOOD TO FREEDOM( Show available on CD)Guests: Host Michael Olson becomes guest Michael Olson. Subject: From Food to Freedom Every once in awhile, like when you get to be 700, you should celebrate by doing something special. And so… The secret to economic viability is simple: Become a producer in a nation of consumers! And what could all those consumers want more than fresh, whole food? This chain of thought leads us to ask… Can we eat our way to economic security and personal freedom? Topics include the emerging conflict between industrial and local foods; government’s participation in this conflict; and how, despite government, we can simply eat our way to economic security and personal freedom. |
Show #699: GODS THAT DAMN FOODPART II: THE KILL( Show available on CD)Guests: Judith McGeary from Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, Dr. Shiv Chopra from Health Canada, (Senator Richard Durbin declined to participate) Subject: “You never let a serious crisis go to waste.” Rahm Emanuel And so, to protect us from contaminated foods that come from thousands of miles away, government is passing truckloads of food safety legislation. But government intentions lead us to ask… Will food safety legislation kill local food? Topics include a look at what foods are in crisis; who is telling government how to make food safe; and what impact S510 and related food safety legislation will have on our access to food. |
Show #698: GODS THAT DAMN FOODPART II: THE ATTACK( Show available on CD)Guests: Brigette Ruthman of Joshua’s Farm in Massachusetts, and Aajonus Vonderplanitz of the Rawsome Food Coop in Los Angeles Subject: “You never let a serious crisis go to waste.” Rahm Emanuel Two giant farms sold us a half-billion rotten eggs, and so agents of the government, with guns drawn and warrants in hand, are breaking down the doors of the little people who sell fresh, whole foods to their neighbors. But… Why is government attacking little people with no problems instead of big people with lots of problems? Topics include a look at government enforcement actions against the purveyors of fresh, whole foods; why government is attacking small producers with little or no food safety problems, while ignoring giant producers with huge food safety problems; and what government hopes to accomplish by attacking the little people. |
Show #697: GODS THAT DAMN FOODPART I: THE CRISIS( Show available on CD)Guests: Sally Fallon Morell, Weston A. Price Foundation, and Pete Kennedy, Farm to Consumer Legal Defence Fund (CDC pending) Subject: “You never let a serious crisis go to waste.” Rahm Emanuel The United States has a serious food safety crisis, and so its agents, with guns drawn and warrants in hand, are breaking down the doors of the little people who sell food to their neighbors. But wait… Which is in crisis: local food or industrial food? Topics include how fresh whole milk has become the battleground of food safety; why government has become so frightened of fresh whole milk; and why government is telling us, “You have no absolute right to consume any particular food.” |
Show #696: FOOD WITHOUT ELECTRICITY( Show available on CD)Guest: Jennifer Megyesi, Author, Root Cellar Subject: Now this will likely come as a surprise to many, but its true! Before we had refrigerators, we had food! On behalf of all the surprised, we ask... … How did we preserve food without electricity? Topics include a look into our grandmothers' root cellars; preservation techniques for meat, dairy and vegetables; and ways city people can cultivate a closer relationship with the foods we eat. |
Show #695: DOCTOR OF ASHES( Show available on CD)Guest: Dr. Joel Wallach, author of Immortality Subject: Those who live in some undeveloped nations are ten times more likely to live over 100 years than those who live in developed nations. Their diet of ashes leads us to ask… Why do they lead long, healthy lives while we do not? Topics include the relationship of soil to health; what happens when our relationship to the soil is severed; and why some live long, healthy lives by eating ashes. |
Show #694: ANOTHER AUTISM ANOMALY( Show available on CD)Guest: Dr. Mayer Eisenstein, Homefirst Health Services Subject: The rate of autism among the general population, according to the CDC, is one in 110. The rate of autism among the population of Chicago’s Homefirst Health Services is zero. And so we ask… Why do we have autism and they don’t? Topics include the disparity between the rate of autism in the general population and that of Homefirst patients (30,000+); speculation as to why this disparity exists; and why no money has been dedicated to researching the reason for this autism anomaly. |
Show #693: THE ORGANIC POLICE( Show available on CD)Guest: Sharon Grossi, Valley End Farm Subject: When it comes to organic, they say, “Everybody’s got to play by the rules, whether they sell $1 or $10 million of product.” Their declaration leads us to ask… Why is the government going after the little gal? Topics include why small farms and their customers gave the word “organic” to the government; what happened to “organic” when it became a property of the government; and why the government is now going after the little gal instead of the big guys. |
Show #692: THE LAST WILD FOOD( Show available on CD)Guest: Paul Greenberg, author of Four Fish Subject: I went fishing with fellow foodie Thomas in the beautiful waters of the Monterey Bay. We caught two healthy lingcod, which became the object of some magnificent meals. But those meals lead us to ask… Will our grandchildren taste wild fish? Topics include why we have selected four fish from the thousands that swim the sea; how we are working to domesticate these four fish; and whether wild populations of these fish can survive for our grandchildren to enjoy. |
Show #691: BRIDGES OF FOOD( Show available on CD)Guest: Burt & Lois Muhly, and a representative of the Bainbridge-Ometepe Sister Island Association Subject: While purchasing a cup of coffee from the booth at my local farmers market, I noticed that the proprietors, a husband and wife team of smiling seniors, were also selling world peace. And so I ask… How fair is fair trade? Topics include how suitcases of coffee beans were used to bridge an island in the Pacific Northwest with an island in Central America; how those coffee beans were used to move surplus prosperity from one island to the other; and whether food can bring peace when politics fails. |
Show #690: ON THE RUN!( Show available on CD)Guest: Carolyn Sime, wolf program director for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Subject: Wolf number 690 lost her pack to disease and was forced to flee the protected confines of Yellowstone Park for the wilds of private property. Her flight leads us to ask… Who's afraid of the big bad wolf? Topics include the reintroduction of wolves into the American West; what happens when the needs of wolves conflict with the needs of people; and whether wolves can be managed outside of the protected confines of Yellowstone Park. |
Show #689: ANTIDOTE FOR HARD TIMES( Show available on CD)Guest: Charles Gourlis, author of The Seen But Unheard Garden, and Trent McNair from the Aptos Community Garden Subject: When the going gets tough, the tough get growing. And what better way to grow than with friends and neighbors in a community garden. But all those community gardens sprouting up lead us to ask… Who puts the community in community gardens? Topics include what role the community plays in a community garden; how society is structured in community gardens; and what plants might say about their community gardeners. |
Show #688: LOST FOODS( Show available on CD)Guest: Andrew Beahrs, author of Twain’s Feast Subject: Now that food is produced in giant factories far, far away, it tastes like food produced in giant factories far, far away. But we remember what food tasted like when it was wild and free, and so we ask… Which wild foods do you miss most? Topics include a look back at some of our favorite wild foods; what we lost when we lost those wild foods; and what we might gain by reintroducing a little wildness into our industrialized food chain. |
Show #687: THE PINK GOLD OF VEGAS( Show available on CD)Guest: Bob Combs, R.C. Farms, Las Vegas, Nevada Subject: This little pig went to market. This little pig stayed home. This little pig went to Las Vegas for a taste of filet mignon. Those pink porkers of Vegas lead us to ask… What should we do with our leftovers? Topics include why organic wastes have traditionally been valued as a resource; why we city folk have devalued organic wastes into garbage; and how R.C. Farms turns leftovers from Vegas casinos into pink gold. |
Show #686: IMMIGRATION REFORM II( Show available on CD)Guest: Craig Regelbrugge, Co-Chair, Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform Subject: They sneak across the border by the millions to work in our fields, thus you and I can eat cheap food. But our reliance on cheap labor leads us to ask… Can we eat with illegal immigrants? Topics include the extent to which agriculture has come to rely on immigrant labor; why this labor tends to be illegal immigrant labor; and whether we can feed ourselves without a never-ending stream of illegal immigrant labor to work in our fields. |
Show #685: BUGS THAT BUG US( Show available on CD)Guest: Hugh Raffles, Author, Insectopedia Subject: There are mega trillions of them, and they are everywhere– in our hair, on our food, in our mattress. But after we smash one with enough force to knock over a baby elephant, we ask… Can insects be sentient? Topics include a brief look at the kingdom of insects; accounts from a round-the-world quest to chronicle the story of humans and their insects; and a discussion as to whether insects can be sentient. |
Show #684: ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL( Show available on CD)Guest: Michigan farmer Paul Keiser and Washington State farmer Bruce Dunlop Subject: “All animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” If what Napolean suggests in Orwell’s Animal Farm is true, we wonder… Which animal would you take with you to the New World? Topics include a brief look at popular food animals; an exploration of why some animals are more proficient food producers than others; and which farm animal well be the first among equals when it comes to helping us survive. |
Show #683: THE RIGHT TO EAT FOOD( Show available on CD)Guest: Scott Tips, President of the National Health Federation Subject: As living beings, nature gives us the right to eat food. But as citizens, government legislates what foods we have the right to eat. Given all the food laws now being passed, we must ask… What foods will government give us the right to eat? Topics include how government is acting to restrict our right to eat vitamins, minerals and local foods; why legislation is being passed to harmonize our food laws with the food laws of others; and what foods the government will give us the right to eat. |
Show #682: THE HANDS OF CHILDREN( Show available on CD)Guests: Zama Coursen-Neff from Human Rights Watch and Ronald Gaskill from the American Farm Bureau Federation, Subject: Some say they are too young to work and must be protected with federal legislation until they grow up; others suggest if they are deprived of that work they may never grow up. And so we ask… Should children be allowed to work on farms? Topics include what work children may or may not do on the farm; why some see current rules as too weak and in need of fresh legislation, while others do not; and whether children 12 to 17 should be allowed to work on farms. |
Show #681: OLLY OLLY OXEN FREE( Show available on CD)Guest: Deborah Notkin, Past President, American Immigration Lawyers Association Subject: They sneak across the border to work in our fields. After tasting our Great American way, they’re here to stay, by the millions. So we ask… Should immigration be reformed? Topics include why there appears to be no government sanctions against illegal immigration into the United States; a look at the costs of immigrant farm labor; and what directions immigration reform might take. |
Show #680: ALL WE CAN EAT SHRIMP( Show available on CD)Guests: Taras Grescoe, Author, Bottomfeeder Subject: The bite is on… We heard it on the radio: “All you can eat shrimp. Come and get em!” And so, mouths watering in anticipation, we stampede across the floor and out the door for… But wait… How can they afford to feed us all-we-can-eat shrimp? Topics include the special relationship of seafood to the human mind; how we humans are eating our way down the fish food chain; and whether will we will develop a sustainable fishery, or eat the seas to death. |
Show #679: GOVERNMENT SAFE FOOD( Show available on CD)Guests: Mark Kastel, Cornucopia Institute; Judith McGeary, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance; Fran Schaul, Attorney / Local Food Advocate Subject: Government-guaranteed safe food is coming, so get ready for brightly-packaged cake manufactured from GE soybeans, fortified with Chinese-made vitamins, flavored with nano grey goo of choice, and of course, colored green for sensitivity. But we ask… Who is government going to make safe: Them or Us? Topics include why the government finds it necessary to take control of the nation’s food chain; how government control protects producers of industrial foods; and how government control threatens producers of local foods. |
Show #678: WOMEN OF THE DIRT( Show available on CD)Guests: Women of the Dirt members Jenny Sabo and LaVonne Stucky from Montana’s Gallatin Valley Subject: We look up to those who inhabit the top floors of skyscrapers for their ability to collect Other Peoples Money and hoard it for themselves. But now we must turn away from them and ask… What can we learn from the Women of the Dirt? Topics include what it takes to wake a farm from its long winter’s sleep; how physical work can earn riches money can’t buy; and how children can develop character by growing and eating real food. |
Show #677: HOW ORGANIC IS ORGANIC?( Show available on CD)Guest: Fred Kirschenmann, Kirschenmann Family Farms Subject: The giants of industrial agriculture saw the light and became organic. To determine how organic they became, the government audited its National Organic Program. This audit leads us to ask… How organic is organic? Topics include what happened when the government became the sponsor of organic agriculture; how the government’s organic rules came to allow for industrial technologies; and what the government’s audit portends for the future of organic food. |
Show #676: RUNAWAY DEBT TRAIN( Show available on CD)Guest: Tony Livoti, Director, Monterey Bay International Trade Association; Lynn Reaser, President, National Association of Business Economics Subject: We are riding a runaway train of debt, and this train is accelerating faster and faster along tracks that will end down the line, somewhere. This wild ride leads us to ask… Can we rescue ourselves by selling more than we buy? Topics include how a nation of producers became a nation of consumers; how much foreign trade contributes to the national debt; and whether we can rescue our grandchildren from pecuniary slavery by once again selling more than we buy. |
Show #675: BIG VRS SMALL( Show available on CD)Guest: Nettie Wiebe from Via Campesina Subject: Agriculture, like most industries, appears to be growing in two directions: very big and very small. This observation leads us to ask… Which will survive to feed us: big farms or small farms? Topics include why medium-size farms are disappearing; the role small agriculture plays in the world’s food chain; and whether big agriculture and small agriculture will co-exist, or fight each other to until one or the other disappears. |
Show #674: BLACK REPARATIONS( Show available on CD)Guest: Carl Horowitz, National Legal and Policy Center Subject: The Federal Government has admitted to discriminating against black farmers and taxpayers must now pay $1,250,000,000 to make good. These reparations lead us to ask… Can a lender discriminate without discriminating? Topics include why government confessed to discrimination in its lending to black farmers; who will get the $1.25 Billion dollars; and what future impact these reparations might have for taxpayers. |
Show #673: PERCY VRS MONSANTO( Show available on CD)Guests: Farmer Percy Schmeiser Subject: Twice he took on the icy summit of Mt. Everest, and then he went after the biggest mountain of all, the Monsanto Corporation. And so we ask… Did Percy steal Monsanto’s seeds, or did Monsanto’s seeds steal Percy’s farm? Topics include how Percy woke to find Monsanto’s GE canola growing in his roadside ditch; how Monsanto took Percy to court for stealing canola and won, and how Percy fought back and won; and why the fight between Percy and Monsanto goes on, and on, and on. |
Show #672: FOLLOW THE MONEY( Show available on CD)Guests: Erin Fitzpatrick, Assistant Vice President, Rabobank Subject: To be a successful banker, one must learn how to see into the future. And so we ask one of the world’s largest lenders to agriculture Will farmers earn enough to grow our food? Topics include how bankers evaluate the consequences of their lending; what impact the current economy is having on consumer demand and producer supply; and whether the economy of the next few years will allow farmers to earn enough to grow our food. |
Show #671: SAVINGS THE SEEDS( Show available on CD)Guests: John Torgrimson, Editor, Seed Savers Exchange Subject: Where there were many seed companies, there are now but few. Their consolidation of the gene pool leads us to ask… Why save the many when a few might do? Topics include how heritage seeds differ from hybridized and engineered seeds; why some believe it is important to save the genetics embodied in heirloom seeds; and how heirloom seeds can be saved and exchanged. |
Show #670: CANNABIS CHAOS( Show available on CD)Guests: Stanford Franklin from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Subject: It was a weed that became fashionable, and so was made illegal, and then medicinal, and is now, though still illegal, the nation’s most lucrative cash crop. This leads us to ask… Should we end the prohibition of cannabis? Topics include why cannabis was made illegal in 1937; how the illegal weed became a medicinal herb; and whether the prohibition of cannabis should be ended. |
Show #669: FOOD SAFETY TOTALITARIANS( Show available on CD)Guests: Citizen Journalist Nicole Johnson Subject: He said, “Never let a serious crisis go to waste!” and so they are using tainted hamburger, peanut butter and spinach to take total control of the nation’s food chain. Their legislation leads us to ask… What will the Food Safety Totalitarians allow us to eat? Topics include how food scares are being used to gain total control of the nation’s food chain; who will tell the government which foods to produce and how to produce them safely; and which safe foods the government will allow us to eat. |
Show #668: DRUGS IN THE DRINK( Show available on CD)Guests: Alan Roberson from the American Water Works Association and George Mannina, Esq. with Nossaman Law Subject: We are a nation of drug users. We take them in the morning to wake up, at midday to stay awake, and at night to sleep. Our use leads us to ask… What happens to the drugs when we are finished with them? Topics include how pharmaceuticals get into our drinking water; what impact those drugs might have on our bodies; and what can be done to mitigate the impact. |
Show #667: THE RIGHT TO RAW( Show available on CD)Guest: David Gumpert, Author, The Raw Milk Revolution Subject: In 2006, government launched a campaign to eliminate raw milk. In 2010, raw almonds have been banned from the shelves of grocery stores. Today we ask… Should we have the right to eat raw food? Topics include why some prefer raw foods over processed and packaged foods; why government insists that raw foods be totally controlled, if not eliminated; and whether we should have the right to raw foods. |
Show #666: LIONS IN THE HOOD( Show available on CD)Guest: UC Wildlife Ecologist Chris Wilmers Subject: There are lions in the neighborhood. My daughter saw one across the street in the playground of the elementary school. Their presence leads us to ask… Can the wild and the tame just get along? Topics include why reclusive mountain lions, and other wildlife, are becoming less reclusive; how lions can live within the fringes of metropolitan areas; and whether the wildest of the wild can get along with the tamest of the tame. |
Show #665: EATING OUR WAY TO HAPPINESS( Show available on CD)Guest: Dietician-Author Elizabeth Somer Subject: We try to eat our way to happiness, only to become fat and sad. The length of our waistlines, and our sleepless nights, leads us to ask… Can we eat our way to happiness? Topics include the relationship between food, mood and weight; why we crave foods that make us fat and sad; and how we can eat foods that make us lean and happy. |
Show #664: WILL CALIFORNIA SURVIVE?( Show available on CD)Guest: Environmental attorney Andy Hitchings (Natural Resources Defense Council, San Francisco Baykeeper and Earthjustice have been invited to participate) Subject: They turned off the water to the San Joaquin Valley, putting hundreds of thousands of acres and tens of thousands of people out of work. Now they are challenging Sacramento Valley water contracts dating back to the 1880s. Their work on behalf of endangered species leads us to ask… Will the State of California survive? Topics include how the Endangered Species Act is used to take water away from California’s agriculture; what impact the loss of water might have on the industry of agriculture; and speculation about how the State of California might survive without its agriculture. |
Show #663: GE ORGANIC!( Show available on CD)Guest: Pamela Ronald, Director, UC Davis Plant Genetics & Raoul Adamchak, Instructor of Organic Agriculture at UC Davis Subject: They are married with children: She is the chair of the UC Davis Plant Genetics Lab and he teaches at the UC Davis Organic Farm. Their suggestion of a future filled with genetically-engineered organic foods leads us to ask… Should we allow genetic engineering into organic agriculture?Topics include why genetic engineering and organic agriculture have been legally separated by the Federal government; what opportunities allowing the technologies to commingle would provide; and given the traditional antipathies involved, how such an allowance could be made. |
Show #662: AMISH AUTISM ANOMALY( Show available on CD)Guest: Investigative Reporter Dan Olmsted Subject: Consider: Whereas the rate of autism in the general population is 1 child in 166, the rate among the Amish is 1 in 15,000. This anomaly leads us to ask… Why do we have 90 times more autism than the Amish? Topics include a profile of autism; how the incidence of autism appears to be growing among the general population; and why so few Amish are afflicted. |
Show #525: ANOTHER MAGIC MUSHROOM( Show available on CD)Guest: Author / Mycologist Paul Stamets Subject: 600,000 homes are attacked by termites each year, costing U.S. homeowners about $1.5 billion. The answer to date has been ozone-depleting methyl bromide. This leads us to ask, Can nature provide a better answer? Topics include a brief look into the world of mycelium; how Stamets discovered that spores from certain mycelium could allow for the control of ants and termites; and how this discovery might lead to a healthier environment. |
Show #661: WHERE IS CUBA LIBRE?( Show available on CD)Guest: Bill Messina, Professor of Ag Economics at the University of Florida Subject: When the Cuban government allowed for free farmers markets, citizens got food and farmers earned money. Now Cuba is shutting the markets down, which leads us to ask… Where is Cuba Libre? Topics include how Cuban agriculture is supposed to work; why free markets were allowed in that controlled economy; and why Cuba is now moving to close the free markets down again. |
Show #660: GALLO BE THY NAME( Show available on CD)Guest: Jerome Tuccille, author, Gallo Be Thy Name Subject: The family enterprise began, like many others, in the black market and, when sufficient cash accrued, grew into respectability. This history leads us to ask… What’s in that jug of Gallo? Topics include why immigrants like Al Capone and Joe Gallo turned to crime for work; how prohibition provided the Gallo family with a springboard to respectability; and how the Gallos grew their family business into a world-class empire. |
Show #659: THE SEED GIANTS( Show available on CD)Guest: Steve Hixson from Steve’s Seed Conditioning in Claremont, Illinois Subject: Four seed companies now control 75% of the seed marketplace, and two of them– Monsanto and DuPont– are at slugging each other out in court for more. The concentration of seeds in the hands of these giants leads us to ask… Do the seed giants strengthen or weaken our food chain? Topics include how four companies came to control so much of the nation’s seeds; how those giant companies control the competition for seed dollars; and why the USDA is holding public hearings on this consolidation. |
Show #658: POLITICS OF SCARCITY( Show available on CD)Guest: Professor Mauricio Borrero, author of Hungry Moscow, Subject: The Man of Steel’s plan: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. To enforce this plan on a population of recalcitrant city people, Joseph Stalin used the ultimate weapon– food. And so we ask… Could the politics of scarcity be used again? Topics include a brief history of Russian agriculture; why food shortages developed in the early years of the USSR; and how those food shortages were used to starve the population into submission. |
Show #657: FARMS OR FISH?( Show available on CD)Guest: Sarah Woolf, Westlands Water District, and Dick Pool, Water 4 Fish Subject: The fight is on for California’s water, with the salmon fishery extinct, 600,000 acres of prime farmland abandoned, tens of thousands out of work, and food banks distributing food from China. And so we ask… Farms or Fish? Topics include a recent history of California’s water fight; how a Federal judge turned the spigot off for farms and on for fish; and whether there can ever be enough water for farms and fish. |
Show #656: SQUEEZED FRESH( Show available on CD)Guest: Alissa Hamilton, PhD, Author, Squeezed: Everything You Don't Know About Orange Juice Subject: It’s pure, and natural, and squeezed fresh. And so we buy the orange juice and drink it to break our fast and start our day. Still, we wonder… What do they mean by “squeezed fresh?” Topics include a history of how orange juice became a staple of the American breakfast; the technologies that make it possible to get juice from oranges off the tree in Brazil and onto a table in Peoria; and how juice a year old can be sold to us as squeezed fresh. |
Show #655: PLANT PILLOW TALK( Show available on CD)Guest: Bruce McClure, PhD, University of Missiouri Interdisciplinary Plant Group Subject: Two decades after the Prince of Wales was scorned for suggesting plants can respond to human speech, science is proving plants can actually talk. And so we ask… If plants can talk, can they also flirt? Topics include why plants must comply with the same rules of procreation as people; how plants communicate their availability with each other; and whether, in all their socializing, plants can become sentient. |
Show #654: THE FOOD PIRATES( Show available on CD)Guest: Author / Journalist Dr. Devinder Sharma Subject: Though seven out of every ten Indians depend on income from farms, they are selling off their farmland to the world’s corporations. This leads us to ask… What will happen to the poor when they can no longer farm? Topics include why some of the world’s biggest corporations are buying up some of the world’s best farmlands; how government and industry work hand-in-hand to drive farmers out of farming; what this concentration of land-holding means for the world’s poor. |
Show #653: LEAFY GREEN DISAGREEMENT( Show available on CD)Guests: Patty Lovera, Food & Water Watch and Paul Simonds from the Western Growers Association Subject: Some say a national Leafy Green Marketing Agreement would protect against harmful micro buggies like E. coli 0157; but others say the agreement could destroy America’s small farms. And so we ask… Would a national Leafy Green Marketing Agreement strengthen or weaken our food chain? Topics include the provisions of a national Leafy Green Marketing Agreement; what impact these provisions would have on industrial and family-farm agriculture; and whether the agreement would strengthen or weaken the nation’s food chain. |
Show #652: AMAZON ESSENCE( Show available on CD)Guests: Grandmother Maria Alice, Amazon Curendera Subject: 2,500 years ago, Hippocrates said, "Let your food be your medicine." There is still one place where food is the only medicine, which leads us to ask... Can flowers from the Amazon cure what ails us? Topic include what is in wild plants that is not in cultivated plants; the difference between using plants as medicine and drugs as medicine; and what lessons we who live in the civilized world can learn from those who live in a primitive world. |
Show #651: PAVLOV'S GOAT( Show available on CD)Guests: Dr. Fred Provenza, from the University of Utah, Department of Wildland Resources Subject: When his goats ate the woodrat houses, instead of blackbrush shrubs, and became high-performace goats, Fred asked… Can the nutrient wisdom of animals help us manage the environment? Topics include whether animals know what nutrients their bodies need; how this nutrient wisdom enables them to adapt to the environment; and how this behavior can be used to help better manage natural resources. |
Show #650: MARK ON THE BEAST V( Show available on CD)Guests: Jay Platt, Region Director, R-CALF USA & Sharon Zecchinelli, Author, First They Came for the Cows Subject: Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you! And so we pause to ask…. Who is behind the National Animal Identification System? Topics include who wants the government to register and track every farm animal in the US; how the National Animal Registration System would operate; and who wins and who loses under this system. |
Show #649: BORROWED MONEY( Show available on CD)Guests: Ag Lending Specialist Pete Graff, PhD Subject: The government appears to be changing its agriculture lending policy so that only farmers who do not need money get money. This new policy leads us to ask… If farmers can’t get money, will we get food? Topics include how commercial growers use borrowed money to grow their crops; how, in the past, government has guaranteed their loans; and what impact a change in this policy might have for the production of crops and the availability of food. |
Show #648: THE PERFECT FRUIT( Show available on CD)Guests: Chip Brantley, author of The Perfect Fruit Subject: Mother nature never does get it just right, and so we keep fiddling with her work until we can grow the perfect fruit—one that could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars. This leads us to ask… What two fruits would you combine to make the perfect fruit? Topics include the work of the legendary fruit developer Floyd Zaiger; how Zaiger crossed the plum and apricot to create the sweet-tasting pluot; and how the pluot found its way into the commercial marketplace. |
Show #647: THE RENEGADE LUNCH LADY( Show available on CD)Guests: Author / Chef / Renegade Lunch Lady Ann Cooper Subject: Fish sticks, tater tots, and sloppy joes… If we are what we eat, then what have school lunches allowed us to become? And looking to our future… Can schools serve good food in hard times? Topics include the economic and political ingredients of the typical school lunch; how some schools are bringing fresh, local foods into the cafeteria; and why some believe the school lunch to be the social justice issue of our time. |
Show #646: THE 99 CENT GOURMET( Show available on CD)Guests: Author / Chef Mike Rounds Subject: Michael Olson’s 3rd Law of the Food Chain: Cheap food Isn’t! In fact, cheap food can cost more and take longer to prepare. This leads us to ask… Can we feed a family of four good food for less than $10? Topics include what goes into the cost of food and how to control those costs; why cooking at home is faster and less expensive than eating out; how to get the most for our money when shopping for food. |
Show #645: CHEAP LABOR( Show available on CD)Guests: Ted Hilton from the California Taxpayer Protection Act 2010 initiative, and a spokesperson from the United Farmworker Union (tent), Subject: An estimated 50% of the farm workers in the U.S. are without documentation. One way for them to gain some legitimacy is to have an American-born child. This strategy leads us to ask… Who should pay the other costs of undocumented farmworkers? Topics include a look at the other costs of undocumented farm labor; who is forced to pay those costs; and how immigration reform might reshape the future of the nation’s food chain. |
Show #644: CAP AND TRADE AND FOOD( Show available on CD)Guests: Rick Krause from the American Farm Bureau Federation and a spokesperson from the National Farmers Union Subject: Take a big deep breath and hold it. Now, the Incorrect among us will exhale too much CO2. Their exhalations will therefore be capped and they forced to trade with the Correct among us for the right to exhale more. This heavy breathing leads us to ask… Who will win, and who will lose, with Cap and Trade? Topics include a look at the restrictions Cap and Trade will place on agriculture and industry; who will decide who may emit and who may not; and who will win and who will lose as a consequence of the new rules. |
Show #643: GOVERNMENT SAFE FOOD( Show available on CD)Guests: Peter Kennedy from the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund,Tami Wahl from the American Association of Health Freedom, Representative Henry Waxman D-CA (tent) Subject: The Federal government intends to make all food safe with HR 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009. This legislation leads us to ask… For whom does the government want to make food safe? Topics include a look at the new rules and regulations 2749 will place on family-scale agriculture; what impact those rules will have on the nation’s food chain; and whether only industrial-scaled producers of processed foods will be able to survive 2749. |
Show #642: HOW SWEET IS IT?( Show available on CD)Guest: Dr. Betty Martini, Founder, Mission Possible International, a representative from the International Sweetener Association Subject: The marauding bears had their choice between the regular and diet sodas left behind in the refrigerator. They left the diet sodas untouched. Those bears lead us to ask… Should we eat and drink artificial sweeteners? Topics include a look at why artificial sweeteners came to sweeten our food chain; what impact those sweeteners have on the human body; and why the bears would not drink the diet sodas. |
Show #641: FEEDING THE HUNGRY... BEARS( Show available on CD)Guest: Bearman Kevin Sanders, Yellowstone Outdoor Adventures Subject: Unkempt and bedraggled, they shuffle in from the woods where they spend the night with a pleading look of hunger in their eyes that says, “Feed me, feed me!” And so we ask… Should we feed the hungry… bears? Topics include a look at what happens when wild bears are fed by people; the results of Yellowstone Park’s “Don’t feed the bears!” campaign; and whether civilized people should feed wild bears. |
Show #640: NOT BY BREAD ALONE( Show available on CD)Guest: Professor Melissa Caldwell, Author of Not by Bread Alone Subject: The equation was simple: From each according to his abililty, to each according to his need. But there was not enough ability, or too much need, and the USSR collapsed into ruin, which leads us to ask… Who feeds the hungry when the government falls? Topics include a look at how the hungry were fed in the socialist USSR; what happened to the hungry when that government failed; and who fed the hungry when there was no government help. |
Show #638: CHEAP FOOD FROM CHINA( Show available on CD)Guest: Open Microphone Subject: There are three frightening ironies within the three simple sentences of this Chico Enterprise-Record letter to the editor: “Today when I paid for my child’s lunch at school, I asked about the food that was being served. The lunch lady explained that all the canned food is from China because it is really cheap. She showed me the cans and verified the truth.” Can you identify three ironies in this letter to the editor? Topics include why Chico, California must feed its school children cheap food from China; the true costs of buying that cheap food; and the consequences of forcing food production off shore. |
Show #637: NANO FOOD( Show available on CD)Guest: Dr. Shane Journeay, CEO, Nanotechnology Toxiology Consulting and Training Subject: To feed our future, we will need to produce more food with less natural resources. Some point to the technology of the nano and say, “Salvation is on the way!” And so we ask… Can nanotechnology feed our future?Topics include a brief survey of nanotechnology; how this technology will be used in the production and processing of food; and whether the nano will enable us to feed our future. |
Show #636: KILLING THEM SOFTLY II( Show available on CD)Guest: Open Microphone Subject: This from a concerned listener: “No… Don’t spray! Just do not spray! No more chemicals. No pesticides. No bad stuff on my food, our community, our health.” Okay. But wait! What about the pests? Can pests be managed humanely? Topics include whether pests should, or should not, be managed; favorite techniques for managing animals pests; and whether pests can be managed “humanely.” |
Show #635: CHILD FARM LABOR( Show available on CD)Guest: David Strauss, Executive Director, Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs Subject: They say, “For decades, U.S. children, some as young as 10 years old, have been working in the fields with grave consequences for their health, education, and personal development.” They lead us to ask… Should children work on farms? Topics include a look at who does the work on the nation’s farms; why their children are not afforded the same protection as others under the Fair Labor Standards Act; and whether children should be allowed to work on farms. |
Show #634: THE TWINKIES OFFENSE( Show available on CD)Guest: Steve Ettlinger, Author, Twinkies, Deconstructed Subject: They became famous as a defense strategy in the San Francisco murder trial of Dan White. Fifteen billion golden cakes later we pause to ask… What’s in a Twinkie? Topics include why we eat 500 million Twinkies every year; what ingredients go into the making of Twinkies; and why Twinkies, like many industrial foods, no longer have terroir. |
Show #633: DO IT YOURSELF LIFE( Show available on CD)Guest: MacKenzie Cowell, Founder of DIYbio; Computer Scientist Meredith Patterson Subject: Scientists in laboratories can take apart two living things and recombine them into a new living thing. Individuals in basements and garages now say, “Me too!” This leads us to ask… Should life be free for the making? Topics include a brief overview of how life may be re-engineered; why this technology should taken out of the laboratory and used by “hackers;” and what might come if life is free for the making. |
Show #632: PASSING FARMING'S BAD GAS( Show available on CD)Guest: Gerald Nelson, Ph.D, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute Subject: Farming, they say, accounts for too much greenhouse gas and should be reformed. This leads us to ask… Can agriculture clean up its bad gas? Topics include how much food production contributes to global warming; what can be done to reduce agriculture’s green house gasses; and who should pay for farmers’ greenhouse gasses? |
Show #631: LAWYERING UP( Show available on CD)Guest: Food Poisoning Lawyer Bill Marler, Marler Clark Subject: Campylobacter, E. coli, hepatitis A, listeria, norovirus, salmonella, and shigella are some of the food borne pathogens that lead us to ask… Can the law protect us from bad food? Topics include why good food goes bad; recent food poisoning incidents and what caused them; and what the law can and cannot do to protect us from poisoned foods. |
Show #630: PLAYING CHICKEN( Show available on CD)Guest: Chicken farmer Jennifer Megyesi, Author of "The Joy of Keeping Chickens" Subject: Before radio, television or the internet, there were chickens, which came in hundreds of colors, shapes, and sizes, and were kept in flocks at family farms and city homes. This history leads us to ask… Can we bring chickens home from the factory? Topics include a brief history of the domestic chicken; why the chicken ended up in a factory instead of a back yard coop; and what obstacles must be overcome to raise chickens for fun or profit. |
Show #629: RIGHTEOUS ANIMALS( Show available on CD)Guests: Rancher Bill Niman and Rancher, Lawyer, Author Nicolette Hahn Niman Subject: They moved the animal farm into a factory so we could have cheap food. But Michael Olson’s Third Law of the Food Chain says Cheap food isn’t! And so we wonder… Is there a viable alternative to the factory farm? Topics include how Bill Niman built a $65 million dollar business on the principal of righteous animal husbandry; how Nicolette Hahn Niman waged war with factory farms as an attorney with Bobby Kennedy’s Waterkeeper Alliance; and whether there is an economically viable alternative to industrial animal husbandry. |
Show #628: FEDERALIZING FARMS( Show available on CD)Guests: Pete Kennedy, Acting President of the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund Subject: They tell us it is for our own good, that they are simply trying to help, that we should trust them to do what we cannot do for ourselves. They lead us to ask… Will House Bill 875 federalize all farms and ranches in the USA? Topics include how HB 875 would place every farm and ranch under the direct supervision of a new federal Food Safety Administration (FSA); how the FSA would have the power to access and inspect every farm in the United States, as well as the customer list of each of those farms; and whether the federalization of the entire food chain would make for a safer food supply. |
Show #627: LANDS OF LINCOLN( Show available on CD)Guests: History Professor Kurt W. Peterson from North Park University Subject: Abraham Lincoln spent his first 21 years on the dirt-poor farmlands of the young nation’s frontier. His upbringing leads us to ask: How did the farm shape the character? Topics include a look at the poor childhood of the nation’s 16th President; what impact those tough times had on the development of Lincoln’s character; and what impact, if any, Lincoln’s character had on the development of the United States. |
Show #626: THE GRANDMOTHER PLANT( Show available on CD)Guests: Curandera and Grandmother Flordemayo Subject: Some look to doctors and hospitals for healing and hope; others look to the smiling faces in Washington, DC. But a few still look to the wisdom of grandmothers, and they lead us to ask…. Can we find healing and hope in the Grandmother Plant? Topics include a look at the traditional healing practices of curanderismo; why grandmothers are often the curators of this knowledge; and how curanderismo healing is brought into Modern Times via the Grandmother Plant. |
Show #625: GAMING CORN( Show available on CD)Guests: Reporter Jessica Resnick-Ault from Dow Jones Newswire and David Blume, Author of Alcohol Can Be A Gas Subject: The good news is the price oil has returned to the $35 a barrel range. The bad news is the nation’s ethanol industry is going bankrupt and being purchased by oil companies. This leads us to ask… What happened to biofuels? Topics include the pending bankruptcy of approximately 25% of the nation’s ethanol refining industry; how the ethanol industry was played through the trading of commodity futures; and how large sectors of the biofuel industry are now being purchased pennies-on-the-dollar by oil companies. |
Show #624: THE REAL DEAL?( Show available on CD)Guests: Jason Hill, PhD, from the University of Minnesota’s Department of Applied Economics Subject: To calculate the true cost of a gallon of gasoline, we must add a dollar a gallon for environmental and health costs. This additional dollar per gallon is paid by taxpayers, which leads us to ask… Is there a real alternative to gasoline? Topics include a comparison of the true costs of gasoline and biofuels; the impact these fuels have on environment and human health; and whether it is possible to grow ourselves into a less expensive energy future. |
Show #623: THE FOOD IN OUR FOOD( Show available on CD)Guests: Professor Donald R. Davis from the Biochemical Institute at the University of Texas Subject: A substantial percentage of the minerals, vitamins and protein in our food crops has simply disappeared over the past 50 years. This leads us to ask… What happened to the food in our food? Topics include how, since the 1940’s, we have been aware of the diminishing mineral, vitamin and protein content of our food crops; the reasons why there is less food in our foods; and what the future holds if the nutrients in our food continue to disappear. |
Show #622: WENDELL & WES ON HOPE( Show available on CD)Guests: author, professor, poet and Kentucky farmer Wendell Berry, and author, professor, and founder of the Land Institute in Kansas, Wes Jackson, Ph.D. Subject: During the Great Depression, wind picked up the nation’s cropland and carried it away in great, suffocating clouds of dust. Where there were no crops, there was no hope. Some say a succession of five-year Farm Bills may cause the same kind of destruction, and so we ask… Can a 50-year Farm Bill save our cropland? Topics include why cropland blew away during the years of the Great Depression; why a succession of five-year Farm Bills appears to be causing the same kind of devastation; and how a 50-year Farm Bill might save our cropland, and our hope. |
Show #621: FOOD AS MEDICINE( Show available on CD)Guests: UC Medical Anthropologist Nancy Chen, Ph.D. Subject: Hippocrates said, “Let your medicine be your food, and let your food be your medicine.” But Hippocrates was yesterday. Today we take pharmaceutical medicines, and they lead us to ask…. Why did we separate our food from our medicine? Topics include a look at cultures in which food is still being used as medicine; the impact government and industry have on the use of food as medicine; and how foods and medicines are coming back together as nutraceuticals and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). |
Show #620: A WHITE HOUSE FARM( Show available on CD)Guests: Daniel Bowman Simon and Casey Gustowarow (tent.) from the White House Farm Project. Subject: Daniel Bowman Simon and Casey Gustowarow are on a cross country mission in a topsy turvy bus to convince the new President to establish an organic farm at the White House. Their mission leads us to ask…. What do you want the new President to do for the food chain? Topics include a look at the history of growing food at the White House; why Simon and Gustowarow have taken it upon themselves to convince the new President to establish an organic farm at the White House; and tales from the road to the White House Farm. |
Show #619: TWO ACRES A MINUTE( Show available on CD)Guests: Ellie Kastanopolous from Equity Trust and Jody Bolluyt from Hudson Valley’s Roxbury Farm Subject: Cities are eating up our prime farmland at the rate of two acres per minute 24-7-365. This loss of farmland leads us to ask… How can we save enough farmland to maintain our food chain? Topics include whether enough privately-owned farmland can be saved to maintain the nation’s food chain; what alternatives exist to private ownership of farmland; and what results to these alternatives yield? |
Show #618: SECURING THE FOOD CHAIN( Show available on CD)Guests: Open Microphone Subject: Congratulations! You have been appointed Secretary of Agriculture for the United States of America. Your appointment leads us to ask… What policy will you enact to guarantee a safe and secure food chain?Topics include a listener’s observation about what happens when the food chain breaks, as in her former Soviet Union; which policy you believe will ensure a secure food chain; and host Olson’s revolutionary policy to achieve food security. |
Show #617: SWATTING FARMERS( Show available on CD)Guests: Attorney Scott Bemis, Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund Subject: The SWAT team held the Stowers family with assault weapons for nine hours while tearing their farmhouse apart looking for evidence. The Stowers’ crime? Selling farm-fresh foods to friends and neighbors! This SWATTING of farmers leads us to ask… Should farmers be allowed to sell us their foods, or should we be forced to buy their foods from government-sanctioned corporations? Topics include why the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund exists; why governments of all shapes and sizes appear to be taking out farmers who sell farm fresh foods direct to consumers; and whether farmers should, or should not, be allowed to sell us farm fresh foods. |
Show #616: THE DENIALISTS II( Show available on CD)Guests: Celia Farber, author of Serious Adverse Events: An Uncensored History of AIDS Subject: The cluster of diseases known as AIDS has killed over 25 million people around the world. AIDS is said to be caused by the HIV virus, and thus to prevent AIDS one must manage HIV. Yet an increasing number are denying the efficacy of this claim, which leads us to ask: Which causes AIDS: HIV or poverty? Topics include why so many HIV positive people can survive on drug “cocktails” without contracting AIDS; what causes AIDS if not the HIV virus; why some believe food and nutrition might be more effective in controlling AIDS than drugs. |
Show #615: THE DENIALISTS I( Show available on CD)Guests: Celia Farber, author of Serious Adverse Events: An Uncensored History of AIDS Subject: HIV / AIDS currently accounts for an estimated 80 percent of all American financial aid to world health and population issues. Yet an increasing number are denying the efficacy of this food chain, which leads us to ask: Should denialists be denied? Topics include why some deny commonly held assumptions about HIV / AIDS; what happens to those who deny the commonly held assumptions; and whether denialists should be denied their opinions on HIV / AIDS. |
Show #614: LA DOLCE VITA( Show available on CD)Guests: Ian D’Agata, Director, International Wine Academy, and author of The Guide to the Best Wines of Italy Subject: Sometimes we simply must break away and go to someplace really special, like Italy, and do something special, like discover the best wines of Italy. And so let’s break away and discover… Which are the best wines of Italy?Topics include why Italy, which at one time was the epicenter of the world’s wine trade, became a second-string player in that trade; how the diversity of Italian varieties, vintners and terroir affects the selection of its wines; and how to taste and evaluate Italian wines. |
Show #613: THE GREAT DEPRESSION( Show available on CD)Guests: Paul Bonnifield, PhD, author, The Dust Bowl: Dirt, Dust and Depression Subject: Ask any of those who survived the Great Depression in the 1930s what they ate for dinner and you’ll likely get an ear full, if not a belly full. Their stories lead one to ask… Who fed the nation during the Great Depression? Topics include what happened to farmers when the nation’s economy collapsed; how did people feed their families when there was no money; and the difference between the agricultures of then and now. |
Show #612: THE LAND SNATCHERS( Show available on CD)Guests: Ecologist Virginia Moran Subject: Foreigners are sneaking in through the wide-open borders of the new world order. Some say the visitors are “invasive” and should be removed; others say there is nothing that can be done about them and we must therefore accept them. This leads us to ask… Should we tolerate non-native plants? Topics include whether non-native plant species should be called “invasive;” what kinds of impact non-native species can have on native environments; and whether non-native species should be tolerated or eliminated. |
Show #578: BEYOND THAT KITCHEN DOOR( Show available on CD) Guests: Retired restaurant inspector Roger Houston and restaurateurs Michael Clark and Chip Kirchner Subject: Trust is something we all do when we eat out. We trust that whoever is beyond that kitchen door is going to respect us as they prepare our food. But trust, like respect, must be earned. And so we ask, “How can we verify?” Topics include a 38-year history of restaurant inspections; common and uncommon kitchen faults; and how restaurant inspectors decide where to eat when they eat out. |
Show #611: A WILDLIFE GENOCIDE( Show available on CD)Guests: Scott Horsfall, CEO of the California Leafy Green Products Handlers Marketing Agreement and Jo Ann Baumgartner, Director of the Wild Farm Alliance Subject: In the leafy green fields of the nation’s salad bowl, growers are killing off wildlife. One grower was reported to have poisoned his ponds to prevent frogs from hopping around his fields. This leads us to ask… Can wildlife be allowed to exist in agriculture? Topics include how E. Coli changed agriculture in the nation’s salad bowl; why growers of leafy green foods are killing off wildlife; and whether wildlife can be allowed to exist in agriculture. |
Show #610: THE $10 TRILLION BILL( Show available on CD)Guests: Vicky Markham, Director of the Center for Environment and Population, and Steven Mosher, President of the Population Research Institute Subject: We have spent more than we earned and now must borrow $10 trillion from our children to keep from going belly up. To make it easier for children to pay our bill, we could have more children, and allow for more immigration. This leads us to ask… How will we feed all those people? Topics include how a growing population can rescue a sick economy; what happens to individuals when a country manages its population; and what can happen to a culture when population is not managed. |
Show #609: THE HOWLING( Show available on CD)Guests: Jay Bodner, Natural Resources Director of the Montana Stockgrowers Association, and Suzanne Asha Stone from Defenders of Wildlife Subject: The howling of the wolves is both exhilarating and terrifying: exhilarating if you are a city person in need of the wild; terrifying if you are a country person in need of the civil. This howling leads us to ask… Can wolves co-exist with livestock Topics include the re-introduction of wolves into the American West; the listing, de-listing, and re-listing of those wolves as endangered species; and whether wolves can co-exist with domestic animals and the people who raise them. |
Show #608: GUERRILLA GARDENERS( Show available on CD)Guests: Mr. Stamen, from LA Guerilla Gardening and Steve Frillman, from New York City Green Subject: Cities, like forest fires, grow out from an ignition point, consuming land. Unlike burned forests, however, new growth does not willingly spring from inner cities. Enter gardeners who, with or without permission, plant new life in that no man’s land. These green guerrillas lead us to ask… Who owns the city’s no-man’s land? Topics include why inner cities become stagnant; what gardens bring to neglected cityscapes; and what right, if any, do individuals have to plant gardens in the neglected property of others. |
Show #607: WAYNE HAGE'S WAR( Show available on CD)Guests: Wayne Hage’s daughter, Rebecca Morrison, and a representative from the Sierra Club Subject: The federal government owns approximately one-third of the land in the United States. One day, rancher Wayne Hage went to war with the government over his right to graze livestock on that public land. Wayne Hage’s war leads us to ask… Should private property be allowed use of public lands? Topics include why a property dispute between a Nevada rancher and the federal government turned into a 30-year war over property rights; what impact this war has on the private use of public property; and whether private parties should be able to use public property. |
Show #606:POLITICS TRUMPS SCIENCE( Show available on CD)Guests: Gary Paul Nabhan, author of Where Our Food Food Comes From: Retracing Nikolay Vavilov's Quest to End Famine Subject: Sometimes politics trumps science. It happened during Stalin’s “Land Reform” and Mao’s “Great Leap Forward.” Fortunately, it can’t happen here! Nonetheless, we pause to ask… What happens when politics trumps science? Topics include a profile of Russia’s legendary seed collector Nikolai Vavilov; what happened when Vavilov was trumped by Stalin’s Agriculture Secretary, Trofim Lysenko; and what you and I might learn from one of history’s great starvations. |
Show #605: A BOOM IN THE GLOOM( Show available on CD)Guests: Elizabethtown College Professor Don Kraybill and carpenter Emmanuel Schwartz Subject: While we pull our plows with giant diesel-burning tractors, they pull theirs with teams of grass-eating horses. Speeding by, we look out the window and think, ‘How quaint.’ But somewhere down the road we pause to ask…. Why the Amish boom midst all our secular gloom? Topics include a brief look at the culture of the Amish; why the Amish community has doubled its population in the last 16 years; and what lessons, if any, we city people can learn from the Amish. |
Show #604: A MATTER OF INCHES( Show available on CD)Guests: Paul Shapiro from Yes on California Proposition 2 and Bob Perkins, Executive Director, Monterey County Farm Bureau Subject: Some say its best to raise food animals in cages. Others say cages are cruel and should be enlarged. In California, this matter-of-inches debate is coming up for a vote. And so we ask… Should animal cages be enlarged? Topics include how animal husbandry has evolved into an industry that produces a large amount of food from a small amount of space; why some believe this model ethical, while others think it cruel; and what might happen to the industrial model if a law is passed to enlarge the cages. |
Show #603: GAMMA GOOD FOOD( Show available on CD)Guests: Center for Science in the Public Interest’s Sarah Klein, and Food and Water Watch’s Tony Corbo Subject: The Food and Drug Administration will now allow for the bombardment of of fresh spinach and iceberg lettuce with gamma rays, thus allowing you and I to safely eat greens grown thousands of miles away. Some protest this move by the FDA, and so we ask... What’s wrong with irradiation? Topics include how deadly pathogens enter our food chain via fresh greens to sicken and kill; how radio active gamma radiation will be used to kill the deadly pathogens, thus making infested foods safe to eat; and why some object to irradiation. |
Show #602: DEFIANT GARDENERS( Show available on CD)Guests: University of Oregon Professor Kenneth Helphand, author of Defiant Gardens Subject: When times get tough, the tough get growing… gardens. From the trenches of World War I, to the Warsaw ghetto and Japanese internment camps of World War II, to the desert sands of Iraq, individuals have turned ruin into garden. And so we ask… What else grows in gardens? Topics include how some individuals defy war by planting gardens; a look at some of the defiant gardens of World Wars I and II, and of the recent conflicts of the Middle East; and what else grows in gardens besides plants. |
Show #601: BLUEFIN: COCAINE OF THE SEAS( Show available on CD)Guests: Richard Ellis, author, Tuna: A Love Story Subject: Recently, a Hong Kong restaurateur purchased one fish for $55,700 at a Tokyo fish market. This kind of feeding frenzy led Marine Biologist Barbara Tuck to call bluefin tuna the “cocaine of the seas,” and leads us to ask… Can farming save our wild fish? Topics include a look at one of the most magnificent fish in the sea; how that fish came to be worth tens of thousands of dollars each; and what we the people can do, if anything, to keep from killing the thing we love. |
Show #600: WHO WILL FEED US?( Show available on CD)Guests: Open Microphone / Audience Participation Subject: Special occasions are cause to pause for reflection. And so, on the occasion of our 600th edition of the Food Chain Radio program, we pause to reflect on… Who will feed us in 25 years? Topics include how we, as observers of the food chain, think events now shaping news will affect the future of food; what changes we think might come to change the productivity of the food chain; and who will feed us in 25 years. |
Show #599: AN EXTRA EFFORT?( Show available on CD)Guests: University of Minnesota Professor Jeff Gillman, author of The Truth about Organic Gardening Subject: One study says organic food is better than conventional food. The next study says there is no difference between organic and conventional. These studies lead us to ask… Is organic food worth the extra effort? Topics include what differences exist, if any, between organic and conventional production technologies; why so many scientific studies on organics point in so many different directions; and whether organic food is, or is not, worth the extra effort. |
Show #598: A WAITER'S RANT!( Show available on CD)Guests: The Waiter of Waiter Rant Subject: We all enjoy having someone tend to our every need while dining out with family or friends. But who are those people who reach into our intimacies with a butter dish? And, hey… How much should we tip the waiter? Topics include outrageous behaviors of restaurant owners, managers, staff, and customers; how to get good service and food when dining out; and how to ensure a saliva-free entrée. |
Show #597: IS SMOKEY HOKEY?( Show available on CD)Guests: David Carle, author of Introduction to Fire Subject: “Fire is a natural part of the environment, about as important as rain and sunshine. Fire has always been here and everything good evolved from it.” - Dr. Harold Biswell Dr. Biswell leads us to ask… Should we prevent forest fires? Topics include a brief discussion about the nature of fire; how fire was used throughout history to manage the environment; and whether we should, or should not, prevent forest fires. |
Show #596: FUTURE OF FOOD( Show available on CD)Guests: Paul Roberts, author of The End of Food, and Mark Winne, author of Closing the Food Gap Subject: We now live in a world where everything costs much more today than it did yesterday. This leads us to ask, Who will feed us tomorrow? Topics include how rapidly inflating prices will affect the food production systems of agriculture; which population segments might suffer food shortages; and what can be done today to ensure a secure food chain for tomorrow. |
Show #595: MIND OR STOMACH?( Show available on CD)Guests: Fredrick Kaufman, Author, A Short History of the American Stomach Subject: They say you can tell a lot about a person by the way they eat their food. If such is the case, we must be able to tell a lot about a nation by the history of its stomach. This leads us to ask, Which has exerted the most control over our nation’s history: mind or stomach? Topics include how the Puritans used hunger to effect social control; the conflict between the mind in our brain and the mind in our stomach; and reasons why we Americans have become so obsessed with our food. |
Show #594: TED'S SEARCH FOR FOOD( Show available on CD)Guests: California restaurateur, and National Restaurant Association board member, Ted Burke Subject: When the U.S. Air Force wanted to determine which of its dining facilities was best, it called on California restaurateur Ted Burke, and made him, for the moment at least, the equivalent of a major general. This leads us to ask… Can an institution serve good food? Topics include Burke’s world-wide search for the best Air Force dining facility; the differences between institution and restaurant dining; and whether an institution can overcome its institutionalism and serve good food. |
Show #593: THE 1.3 BILLION PERSON APPETITE( Show available on CD)Guests: Harwood Schaffer, Research Associate with University of Tennessee’s Agriculture Policy Analysis Center Subject: We have, for the most, lost the ability to make things for ourselves, and so must buy those things from China. Flush with our cash, the people of China can now afford to buy the foods that have made us tall and strong. This leads us to ask… How will China's 1.3 billiion person appetite affect our food chain? Topics include the emergence of China as a force in the marketplace for the world’s natural resources; the impact China will likely have on world food prices; and how debtor nations will be able to compete with creditor nations for the world’s food. |
Show #592: FOOD OR FUEL II( Show available on CD)Guests: David Blume, author of Alcohol Can Be A Gas, and Ohio State Professor of Natural Resources Rattan Lal Subject: As the world’s oil cartels squeeze us for our last dime, we look for relief to an economy fueled by carbohydrates instead of hydrocarbons. But this leads us to ask, “Which is first, food or fuel?” Topics include a look at whether corn ethanol can save our economy; what alternatives there might be to corn ethanol; and whether we should use food as fuel. |
Show #525: Another Magic of Mushrooms( Show available on CD)Guests: Author and Mycologist Paul Stamets Subject: 600,000 homes are attacked by termites each year, costing U.S. homeowners about $1.5 billion. The answer to date has been ozone-depleting methyl bromide. This leads us to ask, “Can nature provide a better answer?” Topics include a brief look into the world of mycelium; how Stamets discovered that spores from certain mycelium could allow for the control of ants and termites; and how this discovery might lead to a healthier environment. |
Show #591: BIG CITY BEES( Show available on CD)Guests: Urban Beekeeper Kirk Anderson Subject: Bees are so sensitive they appear to die at the first sign of trouble. As such, they have become the canaries in the mine of our environment. But this leads us to ask, “Why are bees thriving in the unnatural environment of Los Angeles?” Topics include the difference between keeping bees in the city and in the country; how urban bee keepers are creating communities of bee people in cities around the world; and what it takes to become involved in urban bee keeping. |
Show #590: SEASONS OF THE FATS( Show available on CD)Guests: Susan Allport, Author, The Queen of Fats Subject: Some time ago, omega-3 fatty acids were removed from the Western diet. As these fatty acids are an essential part of our body’s chemistry, we now suffer accordingly. And so we ask, “What happened to omega-3’s?” Topics include the relationship of essential fatty acids and the seasons of the sun; why omega-3 fatty acids were removed from the western diet and the consequence of that loss; and what, if anything, can be done to return this essential nutrient to our diet without depleting the oceans of fish. |
Show #589: A FAILING FOUNDATION( Show available on CD)Guests: Ray Cesca, President of the World Agriculture Forum, and Rav Patel, author of Stuffed & Starved Subject: Agriculture is the foundation upon which we build all our sandcastles. This foundation appears to be failing as the hungry riot for food in 37 developing nations. And so we ask, “Why can’t the world’s hungry feed themselves?” Topics include the causes of the world’s food shortage and the extent thereof; the impact food shortages have on society; and what, if anything, can be done to feed the hungry. |
Show #588: OUT TO DINNER( Show available on CD)Guests: Bill & Cheryl Jamison, Around the World in 80 Days Subject: Sometimes we simply must get away, and what better way, to get away, then to eat our way around the world? Topics include how a meal’s set and setting affect how we experience that meal; what to watch out for when out around the world; and some memorable meals in exotic locations. |
Show #587: MEXIFORNIA( Show available on CD)Guests: Historian / Author Victor Davis Hanson Subject: We feed ourselves with the cheap labor of foreign hands. But this leads us to ask, “How expensive is cheap labor?” Topics include how immigration is changing the social fabric of California and the United States, how immigrant labor from Latin America is different than immigrant labor from other parts of the world; and what our future might be as we continue to feed ourselves with the cheap labor of foreign hands. |
Show #586: METRO LIVESTOCK( Show available on CD)Guests: Human Geographer Jennifer Blecha, Animal Breeder Richard Gradwohl Subject: The price city people pay for animal protein is going through the roof. And so we ask, “Can livestock be raised in the city?” Topics include the emerging trend of raising animals for food in the city; which animals are most conducive to being raised in a metropolitan environment; and the obstacles municipalities construct to obstruct the raising of animals for food. |
Show #585: CHEAP FOOD( Show available on CD)Guests: Paul Elerick, International Food Broker Subject: Money is down. Food is up. Riots are hot! And so we ask, “What happened to cheap food?” Topics include how the dollar is losing its value along the world’s food chain; why the price of the world’s food has risen an estimated 83% in three years; and how, as some predict, half the world’s population may soon go hungry. |
Show #584: INVASION OF THE INVASIVES( Show available on CD)Guests: David Theodoropoulos, author of Invasion Biology, and Lori Williams, Executive Director of the National Invasive Species Council Subject: It seems as though invasive species are finding their way everywhere in our new world order of wide-open borders. This leads us to ask, “Should we tolerate or eliminate?” Topics include whether non-native species should be called “invasive species;” whether non-native species can wreak irrevocable harm on native environments; and whether invasive species should be tolerated or eliminated. |
Show #583: KILLING THEM SOFTLY( Show available on CD)Guests: Thomas Wittman, President of Gophers Limited and Dr. Myles Bader, author of Club the Bugs and Scare the Critters Subject: This from a concerned citizen: “No… Don’t spray! Just do not spray. No more chemicals. No pesticides. No bad stuff on my food, our community, our health!” Okay. But wait! What about the pests? Topics include whether pests should, or should not, be managed; how agriculture, horticulture and home gardening has come to parting of the ways on how to manage pests; and whether pests can be managed “humanely.” |
Show #582: TO SPRAY OR NOT TO SPRAY?( Show available on CD)Guests: California Department of Food and Agriculure Secretary AG Kawamura and CDFA entomologist Dr. Bob Dowell Subject: To spray or not to spray: that is the question. Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the insatiable appetites of outrageous apple moths or, by opposing them with synthetic pheromones, end them. Topics include why controlling the LBAM has become so problematic for CDFA; how CDFA will attempt to operate within the competing demands of federal and local governments, and national and international markets; and what might happen to the nation’s salad bowl should CDFA fail in its attempt to manage the LBAM. |
Show #581: WHICH WAY TO GROW?( Show available on CD)Guests: Judith Redmond from the Community Alliance with Family Farmers and a spokesperson from the Specialty Crops Farm Bill Alliance Subject: One side says we must eliminate all of the natural elements that can harbor deadly E. coli 0157:H7. The other side says we must encourage those natural elements to grow healthier food. This leads us to ask: “Which way should we grow?” Topics include why we came to a fork in the road to growing leafy greens in the nation’s salad bowl; why the 2007 Farm Bill has become the focal point in determining which way we will grow; and what the decision will mean to the nation’s leafy green farmers and consumers. |
Show #580: CONFINED FOR LIFE( Show available on CD)Guests: Anita Mengels from Californians for Sound Farm Animal Agriculture and Paul Shapiro from the Humane Society’s Factory Farming Project Subject: We have learned to raise more animals in less space by confining them in ever-smaller cages. Some now say we are confining animals in cages that are simply too small. This leads us to ask: “How small is too small?” Topics include the evolution of animal agriculture from farm to factory; the ethics of raising animals in cages; and who, or what, should govern the size of those cages. |
Show #579: FARMS IN THE CITY( Show available on CD)Guests: Milwaukee’s Grow Urban and New York City’s Make Brooklyn Bloom farm conferences Subject: Six decades ago, farms began leaving the city for greener pastures. Today they are returning. This leads us to ask: “Can farms and cities prosper together?” Topics include reasons why farms locate in or near a city; why cities tolerate the growth of crops in their midst; and whether farms and cities can indeed prosper together. |
Show #578: BEYOND THAT KITCHEN DOOR( Show available on CD) Guests: Retired restaurant inspector Roger Houston and restaurateurs Michael Clark and Chip Kirchner Subject: Trust is something we all do when we eat out. We trust that whoever is beyond that kitchen door is going to respect us as they prepare our food. But trust, like respect, must be earned. And so we ask, “How can we verify?” Topics include a 38-year history of restaurant inspections; common and uncommon kitchen faults; and how restaurant inspectors decide where to eat when they eat out. |
Show #577: THE BIG DRY( Show available on CD) Guests: Australian Hypnotherapist Rick Collingwood Subject: They say that hope springs eternal, but sometimes it doesn’t! Consider, for one example, the farmers of Oklahoma, who lost their soil to the wind when rain stopped falling during the 1930s. Topics include the impact prolonged, record-setting drought is having on farm communities of Australia; what governments can do to ameliorate their situation; and how Collingwood uses hypnotherapy to help farmers manage severe stress. |
Show #576: COOL is Coming!( Show available on CD) Guests: Tom Buis, President, National Farmers Union Subject: Imagine the surprise when it was revealed that a Taster’s Choice selection for best frozen spinach came from China! And so we ask, “Should manufacturers be forced to reveal a food’s source?” Topics include a look at who is responsible for the safety of food; why Congress passed the Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling law in 2002; and how industry has prevented the enactment of COOL for the past six years. |
Show #575: Mark on the Beast IV( Show available on CD) Guests: United States Department of Agriculture Under Secretary Bruce Knight Subject: The National Animal Identifiication System, or NAIS, is a new government program that seeks to register each premises in the United States that harbors farm animals, and then to track the movements of each of those animals from birth to death. This leads us to ask, “Can small farms survive NAIS?” Topics include the purpose(s) for which NAIS is being established; how NAIS will operate at national, state, local and individual property levels; and what impact the program will likely have on the production of food in the United States. |
Show #574: Coffee Break( Show available on CD) Guests: author / coffee roaster Dean Cyclon Subject: Many of the big issues of the day– globalization, immigration, women’s rights, pollution, self-determination– are associated with the production of coffee. And so we pause to ask, “What’s in your cup?” Topics include a brief look at the1500-year history of coffee; how coffee has become the second most traded commodity on earth, and the impact that trade has on the people who grow coffee; and a trek through Ethiopia, Summatra, New Guinea, Peru and other coffee growing regions. |
Show #573: Mark on the Beast III( Show available on CD) Guests: Vermont farmer Sharon Zecchinelli and Missouri farmer Doreen Hannes Subject: To stop animal diseases, like avian flu, from sweeping through the nation’s 1.4 million farms, the Federal government has established a National Animal Identification System. NAIS asks all farmers and hobbyists who husband animals to voluntarily register their premises with government and keep track of the movements of each of their animals. This leads us to ask, “Can small farms survive NAIS?” Topics include how a voluntary Federal program is becoming a mandatory state program; why small farmers believe NAIS will drive them, and their support industries, out of business; and how NAIS may discourage individuals from raising their own food. |
Show #572: Energy from Life( Show available on CD) Guests: Juan Enriquez, founder of Harvard Business School’s Life Science Project, cofounder of Synthetic Genomics and managing director of Excel Medical Ventures Subject: Every link in the food chain is affected by energy prices, and energy prices are going through the roof. This leads us to ask, “Can we produce cheaper energy?” Topics include how 86% of our energy comes from hydrocarbons; why we have traditionally relied on chemistry to process that hydrocarbon energy; and how biology might allow us to greatly reduce the costs of hydrocarbon energy. |
Show #571: Tabasco Road( Show available on CD) Guests: Jeffrey Rothfeder, Author, McIlhenney's Gold Subject: Peppers, salt and vinegar. That is not all there is in that little red bottle of Tabasco Sauce, there's also 140 years of American history and we're going to pour it out! Topics include the two versions of how Tabasco Sauce was invented; why only the McIlhenney family can make Tabasco Sauce; and how the McIhenney family business kept the McIlhenney family together through 140 years of American history. |
Show #570: Run for the Honey( Show available on CD) Guests: Douglas Whynott, Author, Following the Bloom Subject: They are the last to freely move livestock across the great American landscape. But since their livestock is not cattle, perhaps we should call them... beeboys and beegirls! Topics include how one in three bites of food we eat is made available by bees; what kinds of adventures are experienced when commercial bee keepers move their hives back and forth across the country in search of nectar; and how the business of bees works. |
Show #551: Buffalo in the House!( Show available on CD) Guests: Richard Rosen, Author of A Buffalo in the House Subject: Oh, give me a home, where the buffalo roam. Wait, what’s this… a buffalo in the house? Topics include why buffalo were slaughtered to near extinction; how, in the 1850’s, a Texas rancher and wife saved the great herd from extinction; and why the couple’s distant relative nursed a buffalo calf to adulthood in her Santa Fe home. |
Show #569: Who's in Charge?( Show available on CD)Guest: Caroline Smith DeWaal, Director of Food Safety, Center for Science in the Public InterestSubject: Consider the Irrefutable Law of the Food Chain #2: The farther we go from the source of our food, the less control we have over what’s in that food. And so we ask, “Who is in charge of food safety?” Topics include the distances that are now involved in our daily diets; the impact these distances have on such common food items as meat, vegetables and even pet food; and who, if anyone, is in charge of food safety. |
Show #568: A Vineyard in Tuscany( Show available on CD)Guest: Ferenc Mate, A Vineyard in TuscanySubject: Sometimes we simply must break the pattern and go someplace different and do something different. And so today we travel to the Tuscany to build a vineyard! Topics include why the Tuscany is attractively "human-scaled;" how starting a vineyard in the Tuscany (and throughout Europe) is different than establishing one in the U.S.; and how one might survive with a small label wine in a world market dominated by big labels. |
Show #567: From Frying Pan to Fire( Show available on CD)Guest: Sally Fallon, Weston A. Price FoundationSubject: Essential fatty acids are those that cannot be manufactured by our body, and therefore must be obtained from other sources. But when it comes to eating fats, some say we are now going from frying pan to fire! This leads us to ask, “Where can we find good fats?” Topics include why we are turning away from trans fats to liquid vegetable oils; what impact liquid vegetable oils will have on our body; and where we should be looking to find good essential fats. |
Show #566: The Garagistes of Jefferson( Note: due to poor recording quality, this edition of the Food Chain will not be available for rebroadcast.)Guests: Food & Wine Makers of the Rogue Valley of Southern Oregon)Subject: In 1941, residents of Southern Oregon and Northern California voted to secede and form the new State of Jefferson. While that State now exists only in the mind, garagiste foodies are keeping that spirit alive and well. Topics include a brief history of garagiste agriculture; how outsiders gravitated into the State of Jefferson to start a new food chain of high quality foods and wines; and what lessons might be learned from their efforts. |
Show #565: King Corn( Show available on CD)Guest: Ian Cheney, Co-Producer, King CornSubject: While the heart has reasons that reason does not understand, the heartland has corn– 80 million acres of corn. This leads us to ask, “Why did corn become King?” Topics include why our food chain was transformed from one based on grass to one based on grain; what impact that transformation has had on the culture of agriculture; and whether eating all that corn is good for the body. |
Show #564: A Real Raw Deal?( Show available on CD)Guests: Mark McAfee, founder of Organic Pastures Dairy Note: California Department of Food and Agriculture declined to appear, saying “We're reluctant to participate in a debate.”Subject: Along the food chain there are good bacteria and bad bacteria. But California AB 1735 suggests only dead bacteria should be allowed in dairy products. This leads us to ask, “Is raw milk toast?” Topics include why some people prefer raw foods to sterilized foods; how AB 1735 may eliminate the production of raw dairy products; and what future, if any, will be left for those who wish to consume raw dairy foods. |
Show #563: 80% Right!( Show available on CD)Guests: Janice Stillman, Editor, The Old Farmers AlmanacSubject: “Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get,” said Mark Twain. But when it comes to observing today’s climate in order to predict next year’s weather, The Old Farmer’s Almanac is most always 80% right. This leads us to ask them, “Is the globe warming?” Topics include a brief history of why and how the Almanac became a leading predictor of future weather; secrets the Almanac is willing to divulge about its weather predicting technologies; and what next year’s weather will be like across the land. |
Show #562: Lies of Labels( Show available on CD)Guests: Mike Adams, Consumer Wellness CenterSubject: You buy the chicken labeled “100% Natural” because you want the best for your family. But up to 15% of that 100% Natural chicken’s weight may be salt water or seaweed! This leads us to ask, “Is there truth in labeling?” Topics include how labeling laws enacted to protect consumers are often used to mislead them; the different tricks labelers use to hide ingredients; and how to find the lies on labels. |
Show #533: Pondering the Political Pig( Show available on CD)Guests: Historian Dr. Laina Farhat-HolzmanSubject: The Year of the Pig has returned to China. This year, however, Chinese censors have requested that the pig totem be downplayed so as not to offend Muslims. This leads one to ask: “Why did the pig become a political animal?” Topics include why Moses led his people out of slavery and away from pork; how pigs made it easier to convert heathens into Christians; and how barbequed pork helped people survive the religious purges of the Dark Ages. |
Show #561: Strawberry-Flavored Prozac( Show available on CD)Guests: Karl Hoffower from the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (The American Psychiatric Association declined to participate.) Subject: The anti-depressant drug Prozac is now available in a strawberry-flavored liquid to better serve the 8,000,000,000 U.S. school children that now take psychiatric drugs. This leads us to ask, “What are we feeding our children?” Topics include why U.S. and Canadian children as young as one year are fed psychiatric drugs; what impact those drugs have on behavior; and whether any alternatives exist that could be used to modify problem behavior. |
Show #560: Got Organic Milk?( Show available on CD)Guests: Will Fantle from the Cornucopia Institute and Clark Driftmier from Aurora Organic Dairy (tent.). Subject: The Cornucopia Institute claims that Aurora Organic Dairy sells milk that is not really organic. Aurora, which produces private label organic milk for Wal-Mart, Target, Costco and Safeway, claims that its milk is indeed organic, and that it has the paperwork to prove it. This family feud leads one to ask, “Can big be good?” Topics include why Cornucopia has leveled charges of impropriety against Aurora; how Aurora is fighting these charges; and whether industrialized dairy farms should be allowed to operate with the “organic” designation. |
Show #559: The $100,000,000 Mouse( Show available on CD)Guests: Jay Lehr, Science Director from the Heartland Institute and Kieran Suckling, Policy Director from the Center for Biological Diversity Subject: The Preble’s jumping meadow mouse has been listed as an endangered species since 1998. Recent genetic tests, however, suggest it may not be a species at all! This leads us to ask, “Should we continue to protect the Preble’s mouse?” Topics include why the Preble’s mouse was listed as an endangered species; what impact that listing has made on the communities of the Rocky Mountains; and whether new genetic tests should be used to delist the Preble’s mouse. |
Show #558: Preparation 501( Show available on CD)Guest: Farmer Cynthia Sandberg and Chef David Kinch Subject: To become one of the top 50 restaurants in the world, you have to serve some of the best foods in the world. This leads us to ask, “How close to perfect can one get, and still earn a dollar?” Topics include what it takes to win a place as one of the top 50 restaurants in the world; how striving for perfection led David and Cynthia down the garden path into the mystical realm of biodynamics; and how close they can get to perfection and still earn a dollar. |
Show #557: Angels in the Pantry( Show available on CD) Guest: University of California Sociology Professor Melanie Du Puis Subject: We have become a nation of avid readers and nervous eaters. Many write books that tell us how to eat. We read these books because we want to know what is healthy, safe, sustainable and just. This leads us to ask, “Can we eat our way into becoming a better nation?” Topics include the difference between what we think we should eat and what we actually eat; how angels led the nation into the politics of food; and why we follow food evangelists through their confusing gospels of contradictory advice. |
Show #556: In The Bag( Show available on CD) Guests: Judith Redmond and Kira Pascoe from the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, and Scott Horsfall from the Leafy Green Marketing Agreement Subject: Contaminated spinach has again been recalled from the nation’s grocers. Some now say that industry-developed safety guidelines for farmers of the leafy greens will not solve the problem. This leads us to ask, “Will food safety guidelines protect consumers?” Topics include the two kinds of farms that produce the nation’s leafy green produce; why one kind of farmer believes the food safety protocols developed by the other will not protect consumers but will harm farmers; and what alternatives exist, if any, to the Leafy Green Marketing Agreement. |
Show #533: Pondering the Political Pig( Show available on CD)Guests: Historian Dr. Laina Farhat-HolzmanSubject: The Year of the Pig has returned to China. This year, however, Chinese censors have requested that the pig totem be downplayed so as not to offend Muslims. This leads one to ask: “Why did the pig become a political animal?” Topics include why Moses led his people out of slavery and away from pork; how pigs made it easier to convert heathens into Christians; and how barbequed pork helped people survive the religious purges of the Dark Ages. |
Show #555: Boarding the Blenheim( Show available on CD) Guests: Eric Haeberli & Phineas Hoang, Founders of We Love Jam, and Poppy Tooker of Slow Food USA Subject: Once a favorite of just about everyone in America, the Blenheim apricot lost out in the race to industrialize our food chain. But a few years ago, one last tree was found in Silicon Valley, and now the race is on to “Eat it to save it!” Topics include why the Blenheim apricot lost out to modern varieties of cots; how two Silicon Valley residents discovered one last Blenheim tree and made a business of its cots; and why the Blenheim apricot was boarded on the Slow Food USA “Ark of Taste.” |
Show #554: By Bread Alone( Show available on CD) Guest: Author / Baker Daniel Leader Subject: Industrialization has given rise to wonder breads in plastic bags, yet some still hunger for the old ways of fresh local breads. This leads one to ask, What kind of hunger can only be satisfied with local breads? Topics include why local bakers continue to survive in marketplaces dominated by industrial bakers; how location and tradition influence the baking of local breads throughout the world; and how local breads can be reintroduced into communities in which none exist. |
Show #553: Hunger's Friends( Show available on CD) Guest: Jennifer Parmelee from the United Nation’s World Food Programme Subject: Rising food prices… sky-rocketing transportation costs… escalating populations of the hungry… There is a perfect storm of trouble blowing along the food chain, which leads one to ask: How will we feed the world’s hungry? Topics include why the need for food aid continues to escalate in spite of all that is done to end that need; what impact price increases have on the agencies that feed the hungry; and what, if anything, can be done to end hunger. |
Show #552: Foods of Color( Show available on CD) Guest: Jim Motavalli, Editor of E Magazine Subject: When it comes to food, white could be beautiful, but mostly its not! Topics include the impact white foods, like sugar and flour, have on our diet; why government policy encourages consumption of white foods; and what foods of color add to our diets. |
Show #551: Buffalo in the House!( Show available on CD) Guests: Richard Rosen, Author of A Buffalo in the House Subject: Oh, give me a home, where the buffalo roam. Wait, what’s this… a buffalo in the house? Topics include why buffalo were slaughtered to near extinction; how, in the 1850’s, a Texas rancher and wife saved the great herd from extinction; and why the couple’s distant relative nursed a buffalo calf to adulthood in her Santa Fe home. |
Show #550: A Billion Here... A Billion There....( Show available on CD) Guests: John Keeling from the National Potato Council and Larry Mitchell from the American Corn Growers Association Subject: Each year, the U.S. government spends about $90 billion to ensure that its citizens have cheap food. This leads us to ask, “Who should get the $90 billion? Topics include why governments subsidize agriculture; why 70% of U.S. subsidies go to 10% of the country’s farmers; and which farmers should get the money. |
Show #549: Wild Weather!( Show available on CD) Guests: David Friedberg from Weatherbill, Michael Loik from the University of California, Mike McGinnis from Agriculture Online, and Ron Wegner from WTXS Subject: Droughts here, floods there, global-warming everywhere! And so we pause to ask, “Is weather going wild?” And, if so, “How will we grow food?” Topics include whether, or not, weather is going wild; what impact global warming would have on agriculture; and what food producers can do to protect against wild weather. |
Show #548: From Pilgrim to Pioneer( Show available on CD) Guests: Roger Welsch, co-author, Cather's Kitchens Subject: With grocery stores near everyone’s front door, getting fed seems to be an easy thing to do. But those stores were not always there, which leads us to ask, “How did we eat before there were stores?” Topics include examples of pilgrim and pioneer foods; how kitchens worked without gas, electricity or running water; and how food ways led to cultural ways. |
Show #547: Food or Fuel?( Show available on CD) Guests: David Blume, author, Alcohol Can Be A Gas Subject: Our oil companies have been tossed out of Venezuela, and so we rush to replace hydrocarbons with carbohydrates by planting corn from sea to shining sea. This leads one to ask, “Food or fuel?” Topics include the extent to which agricultural resources are being diverted from food production to fuel production; what impact that diversion has on the price of food; and whether we can farm for fuel and food. |
Show #546: Is Bigger Better?( Show available on CD)Guest: University of California Professor Emeritus Willam FriedlandSubject: When a farmer returned from WWII, he could make a good living, pay his debts and send his children to college by farming 100 acres of tomatoes. Today, a farmer must grow over 2,500 acres of tomatoes to earn the same good living. This leads one to ask, “Is bigger better?” Topics include why agriculture pursues economies of scale; what impact those economies have on the people of ag; and what alternatives exist, if any, to size in the production of food. |
Show #511: Transmissible Madness( Show available on CD) Guests: Linda Fallace, author, Mad Sheep Subject: To protect America from transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, USDA ordered Linda and Larry’s prized milking sheep slaughtered. This leads us to ask, “What did the Fallace’s milk sheep have to do with mad cows?” Topics include the “madness” diseases (encephalopathy) of the food chain; how one might prevent a herd or flock from contracting these diseases; and why the USDA slaughtered the Fallace family’s “safe” sheep. |
Show #545: Samurai, Supermarket & Sushi( Show available on CD)Guest: Trevor Corson, Author, The Zen of FishSubject: It began as a way to preserve old fish, but became a way for millions to eat fresh fish… fast! This leads one to ask, “How did the way of the samurai become the American way to eat sushi-on-the-go?” Topics include why so many now eat sushi and sashimi; how these foods became American fast foods; and why the preparation of these foods is considered art as well as craft. |
Show #544: Rethinking Rachel( Show available on CD)Guest: Angela Logomasini from the Competitive Enterprise InstituteSubject: Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was so powerful it helped end the use of DDT. Pointing to the millions who now suffer from malaria, some ask, “Is it time to rethink Rachel?” Topics include the extent to which Silent Spring changed environmental policy; the consequences of these changes on birds, mosquitoes and people; and whether these environmental policies should be reconsidered. |
Show #543: 40,000,000 Farmers Needed!( Show available on CD)Guest: Richard Heinberg, author of the Oil Depletion ProtocolSubject: Oil allowed us to move off the farm and into the city, where we now eat food that is trucked in from over a thousand miles away. This leads some to ask, “Who will feed us when we run out of gas?” Topics include the extent to which we currently rely on oil for our daily bread; what might happen to our supply of food should oil no longer be available; what can be done today to prepare for what might happen tomorrow. |
Show #542: COOL is Hot!( Show available on CD)Guest: Bill Bullard from R-Calf USA; Barry Carpenter from the National Meat AssociationSubject: Does it matter from where our food comes? Some say “No!” and go their way; others say “Yes!” and demand to know. This leads one to ask: “Should manufacturers be forced to reveal our food’s country of origin?” Topics include who is responsible for the safety of food; why some believe manufacturers should be forced to reveal the origin of food; and why others believe country of origin labeling to be an unnecessary expense. |
Show #541: Mother's Mercury( Show available on CD)Guest: Caryn Mandelbaum, GotMercury.org / Stacey Reynolds, motherSubject: We demand so much Made in China that a new coal-burning power plant must be built every week just to keep us satisfied. Mercury emitted from that burning coal wafts high into the air before falling into our water. This leads one to ask: “What will happen to our babies?” Topics include how mercury is accumulated in the food chain; why babies in utero are most vulnerable to mercury poisoning; and what happens when the human body has ingested too much mercury. |
Show #462: The Man Who Listens to Horses( Show available on CD) Guests: Horse Behaviorist Monty Roberts Subject: "Violence is never the answer," claims horse whisperer Monty Roberts. This leads us to ask: How can one break a horse by whispering to it? Topics include the various techniques for breaking horses; why gentleness works better than violence for modifying behavior; and a consideration of the similarities between children and horses. |
Show #540: What's in a Name?( Show available on CD)Guest: Author Joanna Lamb HayesSubject: Harmful bacteria from fecal matter has been finding its way into our food chain. Those bacteria might be killed with irradiation, yet many object to the process. The FDA suggests industry be allowed to call irradiation “pasteurization.” This leads one to ask, “What’s in the name?” Topics include why some believe irradiation is the best solution to the problem of contaminated foods; why others believe irradiation is a threat to a healthy food chain; and why the government wants to allow irradiation to be called by another name. |
Show #539: Grandma's War Kitchen( Show available on CD)Guest: Author Joanna Lamb HayesSubject: We enjoy a plentiful supply of the best food the world has to offer. But there were times when knuckle of pork was a culinary treat. This leads one to ask, “What will we eat if times get tough… again?” Topics include how food was rationed during WWII; which foods became the most difficult to obtain; and how people coped with the diminished supply. |
Show #538: 39,000 Poisoned Pets( Show available on CD)Guest: Veterinarian Jean HofveSubject: We have poisoned 39,000 of our pets by feeding them commercial pet food from 100 different companies. This leads one to ask, “What’s in the food?” Topics include why so many pets came to be poisoned by so many pet food companies at one time; how one might protect their pets from such an event; and whether what happened to pet food can happen to people food. |
Show #537: The Joy of Eating( Show available on CD)Guests: Anthropologist / Author Roger Welsch of DannebrogSubject: We city folk have learned to eat skinless, boneless breasts from factory-farmed chickens, and think ourselves intelligent for doing so. This leads one to ask, “What happened to the joy of eating?” Topics include why men love ribs, and whether women should be allowed to marinate them; how bad food can make a good meal, and good food can make a bad meal; and whether sedentary people can truly enjoy eating. |
Show #536: War in the Salad Bowl( Show available on CD)Guests: Open MicrophoneSubject: E. Coli 0157:H7 has precipitated a civil war in the nation’s salad bowl. On one side are those who say all forms of extraneous life should be removed from farms. On the other side are those who advocate for adding more life. This leads us to ask, “Which side will win the consumer dollar?” Topics include why E. Coli 0157:H7 has precipitated such a civil war; why two armies have formed behind two courses of action; and with the help of you, which side will win the consumer dollar. |
Show #535: A Spring of Dying Bees( Show available on CD)Guests: Professors Eric Mussen from the University of California, Davis, and Jim Amrine from West Virginia UniversitySubject: We know what happens with the birds and the bees. But it is the Spring of dying bees, and this leads us to ask, “What happens when there are no bees?” Topics include why bees are dying in such big numbers this Spring; what might happen to the food chain should we lose our bees; and what solutions their might be to halt the die-off. |
Show #521: Talking Ant of Peru( Show available on CD)Guests: Author / Anthropologist Farmer Jeremy Narby Subject: While listening to a Shipibo shaman lecture on the efficacy of herbs along the headwaters of the Amazon, an ant bit into my index finger. Looking down from the vine I had been leaning against, the ant said… Topics include why anthropologists like Narby believe animals and plants have intelligence; how indigenous people access that intelligence; and what lessons we might learn from this intelligence. |
Show #534: Human Rice( Show available on CD)Guests: Union of Concerned Scientists and Ventria Bioscience (tentative)Subject: The Department of Agriculture has approved the large-scale planting of rice containing human genes. This leads one to ask: “Can those human genes be kept down on the farm?” Topics include why some infuse rice with human genes; why some oppose the planting of this rice; and whether the potential benefits of this rice outweigh its potential risks. |
Show #533: Pondering the Political Pig( Show available on CD)Guests: Historian Dr. Laina Farhat-HolzmanSubject: The Year of the Pig has returned to China. This year, however, Chinese censors have requested that the pig totem be downplayed so as not to offend Muslims. This leads one to ask: “Why did the pig become a political animal?” Topics include why Moses led his people out of slavery and away from pork; how pigs made it easier to convert heathens into Christians; and how barbequed pork helped people survive the religious purges of the Dark Ages. |
Show #532: Humane Animals?( Show available on CD)Guests: Wayne Pacelle, President of the Humane Society of the United States, and Eric Nelson, Director of R-CALF USASubject: The debate over the 2007 Farm Bill will include a well-organized effort to ban the inhumane treatment of animals. This leads us to ask: “Can the animals we raise for food be raised humanely?” Topics include how the industrialization of agriculture has changed how animals are raised; why some believe industrial animal farms are inhumane; and whether there is a humane way to raise food animals that is economically viable. |
Show #531: Who Should Get the Money?( Show available on CD)Guests: National Farmers Union, Organic Farm Research Foundation and Specialty Crop Farm Bill AllianceSubject: Every year, the government hands out $20 billion of our lunch money to those with outstretched hands. This leads us to ask: “Who should get the money?” Topics include why the U.S. subsidizes its food chain $20 billion a year; who has been given this money; and who now wants in on the action. |
Show #530: Big Government vrs Little Bugs (E. coli 0157:H7 Part III)( Show available on CD)Guests: California State Senator Dean FlorezSubject: There have been 21 outbreaks traced to contaminated leafy-green produce in the past decade. Many suffered; some died. This leads us to ask: “Can government protect us from bad food?” Topics include a brief history of E.coli 0157:H7 food contaminations; why some believe government must act to provide food security; and how government’s efforts to protect us would differ from industry’s efforts. |
Show #529: WWOOFing Around( Show available on CD)Guests: WWOOF USA Founding Director Leo Goldsmith and WWOOFer Rebecca Rukeyser.Subject: One tragedy of industrial agriculture is that it takes youth off the land and thrusts them into the city, where they find little or no meaningful employment. This leads us to ask, “Where can youth find real work?” Topics include a history of WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms), how WWOOF makes it possible for young and old alike to work on farms and ranches around the world; and what kind of adventures WWOOFing brings. |
Show #528: E. coli 0157:H7... and Farmers (Part II)( Show available on CD)Guests: Tim Chelling from the Western Growers Association, Dick Nutter, a Farm Bureau consultant and former Ag Commissioner, and Joe Pezzini, VP of Ocean Mist FarmsSubject: In 1982, it appeared on the hamburger patties of fast food. Since then, it has repeatedly contaminated the leaves of leafy greens. This leads us to ask, “Can farmers protect us from E.coli 0157:H7?” Topics include how agriculture has managed its exposure to E.coli 0157:H7 over the past 25 years; what steps agriculture is taking after the latest contaminations; and to what extent can agriculture protect us from E.coli 0157:H7. |
Show #527: The Poppy and the Tea( Show available on CD)Subject: Its hard to imagine civilizations coming to blows over two plants, but they did… twice! This leads us to ask, “Will it happen again?” Topics include the introduction of tea into Europe during the 1600’s; why England’s consumption of tea caused it to war with China over opium; and whether the Opium Wars hold any lessons for modern times. |
Show #526: A Clean Green Money Machine( Show available on CD)Guests: Author John Berlau, Competitive Enterprise Institute Subject: We have thrown the pro-business Republicans out of office and replaced them with the pro-environment Democrats. This leads us to ask, “Can we have a clean environment and do business?” Topics include how environmentalism affects our ability to grow crops and manufacture goods; what relationship exists, if any, between environmentalism and our trade deficit with China; and whether we can have a clean environment while remaining competitive in world markets. |
Show #525: Another Magic of Mushrooms( Show available on CD)Guests: Author and Mycologist Paul Stamets Subject: 600,000 homes are attacked by termites each year, costing U.S. homeowners about $1.5 billion. The answer to date has been ozone-depleting methyl bromide. This leads us to ask, “Can nature provide a better answer?” Topics include a brief look into the world of mycelium; how Stamets discovered that spores from certain mycelium could allow for the control of ants and termites; and how this discovery might lead to a healthier environment. |
Show #486: Big Apple on the Half Shell( Show available on CD)Guests: Author Mark Kurlansky Subject: They call it the “Big Apple.” But if history is any measure, it should really be called the “Big Oyster.” Topics include why the first Europeans found Manhattan Island to be a veritable “garden of eatin;” how the business of early New York City was built, quite literally, on mountains of oyster shells; and what finally happened to end one of the great culinary orgies of all time. |
Show #484: Local or Organic?( Show available on CD)Guests: Author / Farmer Michael Abelman and Columnist / Farmer Steve Sprinkel Subject: Some say we should eat foods that are organic. Others say we should eat foods that are local. This leads us to ask, “Which is most important: organic or local?” Topics include why it is important to know how food is produced; how organic foods and local foods are no longer the same foods; and which is more important to the security of our food chain—foods grown organically or foods grown locally. |
Show #524: Plain Vanilla( Show available on CD)Guests: Author and Webmistress Patricia Rain www.vanilla.com Subject: Its name has become synonymous with that which is boring. This leads us to ask, “Can there be anything exciting about vanilla?” Topics include a look at the vanilla farmers of the developing world; how Ms. Rain became the “Vanilla Queen;” and what is really in the vanilla-flavored “natural” foods we eat. |
Show #523: Big Food( Show available on CD)Guests: Alex Avery from the Center for Global Food Issues and Michele Simon from the Center for Informed Food Choices Subject: Industrial agriculture has been taking the hits lately, with books like Omnivore’s Dilemma, Fast Food Nation and Appetite for Profit throwing the punches. This leads us to ask, “Can big food do the right thing?” Topics include what relationship exists, if any, between large food corporations and obesity / diabetes; whether large corporations are capable of providing good food; and what alternatives exist, if any, to the corporate form of food business. |
Show #522: Billions of Bottles of Bucks( Show available on CD)Guests: Water Consultant Arthur von Wiesenberger Subject: More than 40% of bottled drinking water comes from the taps of municipal water systems. This leads us to ask, “Why do we pay up to 10,000 times more for city water when it is bottled in plastic?” Topics include what differences exist in drinking water; why we now spend $11 billion a year on water bottled in plastic; and how to become a smart consumer of drinking waters. |
Show #521: Talking Ant of Peru( Show available on CD)Guests: Author / Anthropologist Farmer Jeremy Narby Subject: While listening to a Shipibo shaman lecture on the efficacy of herbs along the headwaters of the Amazon, an ant bit into my index finger. Looking down from the vine I had been leaning against, the ant said… Topics include why anthropologists like Narby believe animals and plants have intelligence; how indigenous people access that intelligence; and what lessons we might learn from this intelligence. |
Show #520: Goin' Up The Country( Show available on CD)Guests: Author / Farmer / Former City Dweller Roger Welsch Subject: Decades ago, we left the farm for the city. Yet today we sing, I'm gonna leave this city, got to get away! This leads us to ask: “What will we find when we move back to the farm?” Topics include why city people move to the farm; the kind of life they are likely to find on that farm; and the kind of mistakes they often neglect to avoid. |
Show #519: E.coli 0157:H7 The Bug (Part I)( Show available on CD)Guests: Kansas State University Professor James Marsden and University of California Davis Professor Trevor Suslow Subject: In 1982, it appeared on the hamburger patties of fast food; today, it is found on the spinach leaves of vegetarians. This leads us to ask, “Can we survive E.coli 0157:H7?” Topics include a brief history of 0157:H7; why it poses a threat to human life; and what those of us who happen to eat food can do to survive its presence. |
Show #518: Wild Horse Power( Show available on CD)Guests: Rhonda Massingham, co-author of Among Wild Horses Subject: They escaped the conquistadors and mated with the liberated of trappers, settlers and farmers. They still roam free in the Pryor Mountains, where they lead us to ask, “Should we leave room for wild horses?” Topics include a brief history of wild horses; a look at how they live in the wilds of the Pryor Mountains, and how we manage their populations. |
Show #517: Blood Moon( Show available on CD)Guests: Author / Chef Jessica Prentice Subject: When autumn nights brought cold and darkness, our forebears put away meat for their winter. We now live in a different kind of world, which leads some to ask, “Should we not take the blood out of the blood moon?” Topics include the tradition of the blood moon; why many now turn to vegetarianism; and whether slaughtering animals has a legitimate place in the modern food chain. |
Show #516: Bombing Bacteria( Show available on CD)Guests: Charles Smith, Ph.D., Author, The Process of New Drug Discovery and Development Subject: We developed the first antibiotics in the early 1930’s and, with the help of their magic, spread across the earth like mold in a Petri dish. This leads us to ask, “From where do antibiotics come?” And, “Will they come in time?” Topics include how new antibiotics are discovered; whether they should be on animals; and whether the discovery of new antibiotics can keep up with the rapidly evolving “super bacteria” now inhabiting our hospitals. |
Show #515: Farming for Fairies( Show available on CD)Guests: Psychologist Nicola Amadora Subject: Psychologist Nicola Amadora believes farmers and gardeners should grow for fairies. This leads one to ask, “Are fairies real?” And, if so, “Why bother growing for them?” Topics include whether fairies are real or imagined; why it might be useful to grow for fairies; and how to farm or garden for them. |
Show #514: Wal-Marting Organics( Show available on CD) Guests: Sam Fromartz, author of Organic, Inc., and Ronnie Cummins, Founder of the Organic Consumers Association (Wal-Mart declined) Subject: Wal-Mart recently announced it will greatly expand its offering of organic foods, and will price organic only slightly higher than conventional. This leads some to ask, “Will Wal-Mart wal-mart organics?” Topics include the short history of organic food; the industrialization of the organic industry; and why some warn that Wal-Mart’s entry into the organic industry could lead to the demise of organic standards. |
Show #513: Big Pig( Show available on CD) Guests: Oklahoma State Senator Paul Muegge; TBA from the National Pork Producers Council Subject: Smithfield wants to buy Premium Standard Farms. If approved, Smithfield will have 1.1 million pigs, which is nearly one-third of the nation’s slaughter capacity. This leads one to ask, “Is bigger better?” Topics include why 250,000 hog farms have disappeared during the past 16 years; what impact this concentration has on the economy of the heartland; and whether concentration will provide for a more secure food chain. |
Show #512: Placer Gold( Show available on CD) Guests: Christina Abuelo and Joanne Neft Subject: A few short years ago, 35% of the county’s farmers were 65 years or older, and more than half of the county’s farmers reported having no on to take over the farm. Then someone discovered Placer Gold! Topics include why farms were disappearing from the Sierra foothills; how Abuelo and Neft developed a local food industry in which farmers now bring in up to $4,000 per day; and the technology for developing local food industries in other markets. |
Show #511: Transmissible Madness( Show available on CD) Guests: Linda Fallace, author, Mad Sheep Subject: To protect America from transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, USDA ordered Linda and Larry’s prized milking sheep slaughtered. This leads us to ask, “What did the Fallace’s milk sheep have to do with mad cows?” Topics include the “madness” diseases (encephalopathy) of the food chain; how one might prevent a herd or flock from contracting these diseases; and why the USDA slaughtered the Fallace family’s “safe” sheep. |
Show #510: Food or Fuel?( Show available on CD) Guests: Peter Golbitz, Soyatech LLC and Larry Matlack, American Agriculture Movement Subject: As we move from an economy fueled by hydrocarbons to one fueled by carbohydrates we pause to ask: “Which will come first, food or fuel?” Topics include the extent to which natural resources are being diverted from food to energy production; the impact this diversion is having on the production of food; and which will eventually come to dominate our productive resources– food or energy. |
Show #462: The Man Who Listens to Horses( Show available on CD) Guests: Horse Behaviorist Monty Roberts Subject: "Violence is never the answer," claims horse whisperer Monty Roberts. This leads us to ask: How can one break a horse by whispering to it? Topics include the various techniques for breaking horses; why gentleness works better than violence for modifying behavior; and a consideration of the similarities between children and horses. |
Show #509: Foraging the Finest( Show available on CD) Guest: Produce Forager Kerry Clasby Subject: To stay on top in the world of haute cuisine, restaurant chefs must serve food that is the best of the best. This leads us to ask, “Where does one find the best food?” Topics include what it takes to be the best in the restaurant business; how Clasby’s foraging helps the top chefs stay on top; and what impact restaurant chefs have on the ways we grow and process food. |
Show #508: Hemp's High Hurdle( Show available on CD) ( Show available on CD) Guest: Jeanette McDoogal, National Alliance for Health & Safey and John Roulac, Founder & CEO of Nutiva Foods Subject: They say it’s a $250,000,000 crop waiting to be planted—but there is one hurdle. It is illegal. This leads one to ask, “Should the United States legalize the cultivation of ‘industrial’ hemp?” Topics include what differences exist, if any, between hemp and marijuana; why it is legal to import hemp into the United States, but not legal to farm it; and what impact the legalization of hemp might have on the nation’s drug use. |
Show #507: Greenwashed Milk( Show available on CD) ( Show available on CD) Guest: Mark Kastel, Senior Policy Analyst, The Cornocopia Institute Subject: They say one should be careful of what one asks. Many small-scale farmers asked for an official definition to the word “organic,” and got it. Organic farming then grew into a multi-billion dollar-a-year industry, which now leads some to ask, “Should big farms be allowed to call themselves “organic?” Topics include why The Cornocopia Institute filed a legal action against the nation’s leading dairy brand; whether that brand is breaking the letter or the spirit of the “organic” appellation; and whether industrial agriculture should be allowed to call itself “organic” agriculture. |
Show #506: Return of the Strong Arm( Show available on CD) ( Show available on CD) Guests: John Fund, Editorialist with the Wall Street Journal, Philip Martin, Professor of Ag Economics at UC Davis Subject: There are millions of jobs for the taking, and millions of hands willing to take them. This leads one to ask, “Should we return to the days of the strong arm?” Topics include why the Bracero Program was abandoned in 1964; whether an updated Bracero program could bring order to immigration anarchy; and what alternatives are being offered to a Bracero program. |
Show #505: The Fuss About Factory Farming( Show available on CD) Guests: Paul Shapiro, Director of the Humane Society’s Factory Farming Campaign, and Dr. Susan Watkins from the University of Arkansas’ Center of Excellence for Poultry Science Subject: There are 8,570,000 references to factory farming accessible on the internet, and very few are favorable. This leads one to ask, “What’s all the fuss about factory farming?” Topics include a look at why animals are grown in “factory farms;” whether factory farms can be “humane;” and what alternatives there might be, if any, to factory farming food. |
Show #504: Stalin Redux?( Show available on CD)Guests: Thomas Pawlick, author of The End of Food, and Cyrill Vatomsky, host of the Embassy of the New World Order radio programSubject:In 1930, the United States had 6.3 million farms; in 2000, it had only 2.1 million. Some say the 27 million people who lived on those farms were deliberately forced off in a Stalin-like purge. This leads one to ask, “What did happen to all the farmers?” Topics include why Stalin purged the family-scaled farmers of the Soviet Union; why they were also forced off the land throughout the Americas; and what impact their loss might have on the security of the food chain. |
Show #503: Public Enemy #1( Show available on CD)Subject:They can burrow through an acre in a single day and then go on to destroy up to half the crop on that acre. This leads one to ask, “How can one control gophers?” Topics include a know-your-enemy profile of the pocket gopher; why controlling gophers without poison has become a necessity; and the best ways to control gophers without poison. |
Show #502: Blithe Farmer( Show available on CD)Guest: Mike Madison, Flower Farmer and Author of Blithe TomatoSubject:To market… to market… to the farmers’ market, for food with its farmers face on it, ambiance that is small-town friendly and people as real as the goods in their hands. Just ask the Blithe Farmer! Topics include the why Eric the Dane bought a Swedish tractor; how Javier the Egg Man promotes diversity; and why Margo’s marriage license dissolved in the El Nino rains. |
Show #501: Magic Bullets & Super Bugs( Show available on CD)Guests: Ronald Goossens, David Hodges and Christopher Smith from Phage InternationalSubject:Like magic bullets, antibiotics kill harmful bacteria and allow us to multiply like, well, mold in a Petri dish! Our magic bullets, however, do not kill all bacteria– some survive as “super bugs.” This leads one to ask, “What can stop super bugs?” Topics include the evolution of super bacteria; the dangers presented by super bacteria, especially in hospitals; and how bacteriophage therapy might be used to fight infection from the super bacteria. |
Show #500: Living the Dream!( Show available on CD)Guests: Nancy Tappan and Vernon Hixson, Trium Winery, Rogue River, OregonSubject:It’s the dream! Turn a wild, scrub-covered hillside into an orderly vineyard, and then crush the grapes thereof into a premium wine. But before you dig we ask, “What lies between the dream and the lips?” Topics include what it takes to say “Yes!” to a long-term commitment; the different kinds of labor required of the body and the mind; and the experience of tasting that first glass of wine. |
Show #499: Real or Fake?( Show available on CD)Guest: Katherine Eban, Author, Dangerous DosesSubject:It’s the law of the land! The more valuable an object, the more likely someone will counterfeit it. This leads one to ask, “What’s in those pills?” Topics include a look why prescription drugs are being counterfeited; the ways in which individuals and corporations make millions by cheating the drug consumer; and what consumers can do to protect themselves. |
Show #498: The Pop of Corn( Show available on CD)Guest: Gary RedenbacherSubject:It’s the snack everybody loves to make, which leads one to ask, “Who put the pop in corn?” Topics include a brief look at the history of popcorn; how Gary’s grandfather, Orville Redenbacher, built the world’s largest popcorn brand; and stories of growing up with the Pop of popcorn. |
Show #497: Who's Hungry Now?( Show available on CD)Guests: Ross Frazier, Willy Elliott-McCrea and Lee Mercer from Second Harvest Food BankSubject:They say that, where obesity is becoming the major health issue, more and more are going hungry. This leads us to ask, “Who's hungry now?” Topics include the demographics of hunger in America; reasons why the incidence of hunger appears to be increasing; and what, if anything, can be done to prevent a hungry future. |
Show #496: From Grass to Gas( Show available on CD)Guests: Nathanael Greene, Natural Resources Defence Council; David Blume, Author, "Alcohol Can Be A Gas"Subject:Our daily bread travels an average of 2,000 miles on oil provided by those who simply do not like us. This leads us to ask, “Can we turn our grass into gas?” Topics include the difference between grain (or corn) ethanol and cellulosic (or biomass) ethanol; what obstacles must be overcome before cellulosic ethanol can become a viable energy source; and how a carbohydrate-based economy would differ from a hydrocarbon-based economy. |
Show #495: Farmer to Hippy to Farmer( Show available on CD)Guests: John Peterson, Farmer, Angelic OrganicsSubject:The United States has lost family farms by the tens of thousands, including that belonging to John Peterson. Thus begins the story of how a farmer, who became a hippy, became a farmer on the new American family farm. Topics include how John Peterson lost the family farm in the credit bust of the 1980’s; how peasants in Mexico opened his eyes to a different kind of farming; and how he brought the remnants of his family farm back from ruin to become one of the nation’s largest community supported agriculture farms. |
Show #494: Jellyfish Sandwiches and Plankton Soup( Show available on CD)Guests: Bruce Knecht, author of Hooked, and Professor Daniel Pauly, Director of the University of British Columbia’s Fisheries CentreSubject:We have caught most of the fish available for the catching and are now fishing our way down the food chain. This leads us to ask, “What’s next… jellyfish sandwiches and plankton soup?” Topics include how the Patagonian toothfish became the Chilean seabass; why commercial fisherman from Spain now fish under the ice flows of the Antarctic; and what, if anything, can be done to prevent ourselves from fishing out the food chain. |
Show #493: Farming with the Wild( Show available on CD)Guests: Dan Imhoff, Author of Farming with the Wild & Jo Ann Baumgartner, Director, Wild Farm AllianceSubject:From the beginning, agriculture has taken the wild and free and forced them to march in submission. This leads us to ask, “Why do some believe we should farm with the wild?” Topics include why agriculture seeks to dominate nature; why some believe farmers and ranchers should provide for the wild and free; and what benefit the wild and free might bring to the business of agriculture. |
Show #492: A QUESTION OF TRUST( Show available on CD)Guests: Author / Farmer Joel SalatinSubject: Farm-Direct FoodsSome want all food processed and marketed on producing farms to be exempt from government inspection. This leads one to ask, “Who can we trust to insure the safety of these foods?” Topics include how food safety rules are used as market management tools; what we should fear when buying food directly from farmers; and which can best insure the safety of farm-direct foods: government or farmers? |
Show #491: WHO'S TO BLAME?( Show available on CD)Guests: James Tillotson, Tufts University and Marion Nestle, New York UniversitySubject:They say two-thirds of us have become overweight or obese. This leads one to ask, “Who is fattening us up… and why?” Topics include why so many have gained so much; who is responsible for this gain; and what can be done to bring us back to “fighting trim.” |
Show #490: NOT MILK?( Show available on CD)Guests: Alex Avery, Hudson Institute; Sally Fallon, Weston A. Price Foundation; & Robert Cohen, notmilk.comSubject:Some say milk does a body good. Others say some milk does a body good. And still others say milk does a body bad. This leads us to ask, “Which is it, good or bad?” Topics include why opposing views exist as to the efficacy of milk; what evidence can be offered to back those views; and whether milk does, or does not, “do a body good.” |
Show #489: GOSPEL OF GRASS, II( Show available on CD)Guest: Shannon Hayes, PhD, author, Grassfed GourmetSubject:The culture of American agriculture, is one of grain. This leads us to ask, “Why do some continue preaching the Gospel of Grass?” Topics include what happened to farms when agriculture switched from grass to grain; how this change affected the food we eat; and why some continue to preach the efficacy of grass. |
Show #488: STOP SENDING FOOD!( Show available on CD)Guest: Gil Odendaal, Medical Ambassadors InternationalSubject:A core principle of Christianity is to love one’s neighbor. This leads us to ask, “Why do some Christian missionaries in Africa say, ‘Stop sending food!’” Topics include a look a village life in rural Africa, why missionary Odendaal is asking people to stop sending Africans food; and the most effective ways to “love one’s neighbor.” |
Show #487: A $600,000,000,000 QUESTION( Show available on CD)Subject:Someone once said, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money!” Over the decades we have given farmers $600,000,000,000. This leads us to ask, “Should we stop giving farmers real money?” Topics include why a candidate for Secretary of Agriculture would advocate for the reduction—if not outright elimination of-- farm subsidies; what happens to U.S. farmers when they accept government subsidies; what happens to farmers in developing nations as a consequence of U.S. farm subsidies. |
Show #486: BIG APPLE ON THE HALF SHELL( Show available on CD)Guest: Mark Kurlansky, Author, The Big OysterSubject: They may call it “The Big Apple,” but in fact, New York, New York should really be called… “The Big Oyster!” Topics include why the first Europeans found Manhattan Island to be a veritable “garden of eatin;” how the business of early New York City was built, quite literally, on mountains of oyster shells; and what finally happened to end one of the great culinary orgies of all time. |
Show #485: "ADAPT OR DIE!"( Show available on CD)Guests: Farmers / Writers Michael Ableman and Steve Sprinkel Subject: Bryce Knorr, Senior Editor of Farm Futures magazine, and Martha Works, Professor of Geography at Portland State University Topics include how economies of scale changed the business of farming; why small farms are moving to the city; and where the greatest opportunities for new farmers may be found. |
Show #484: LOCAL VRS ORGANIC( Show available on CD)Guests: Farmers / Writers Michael Ableman and Steve Sprinkel Subject: Some argue we should eat locally-grown food. Others argue we should eat organically-grown food. This leads us to ask, “Which is more critical to the security of our food chain, local or organic?” Topics include why organic food may no longer be local food; the differences between foods farmed locally and those farmed organically; and which kind of farming is most critical to the security of our food chain. |
Show #483: The Birds!!!( Show available on CD)Guests: Ornithologist Kevin McGowan from Cornell University and Mayor John Vincent from Riverton, Wyoming Subject: Life imitates art! A plague of fearless crows has descended on Riverton, Wyoming—and other communities throughout the West— to frighten residents and take over their town. And so we ask, “What can stop… the Birds?” Topics include why crows congregate and move into town; what happens when crows by the tens of thousands descend upon a town of a few thousand people; and what can be done to take back a town from… the Birds! |
Show #482: Watts Seed?( Show available on CD)Guests: Anna Marie Carter, the Seed Lady of Watts, and Ellen Wu, of the Pan Ethnic Health Network Subject: The inner city has been paved over with concrete and hopelessness. The young, in hooded vestments, slink in the shadows. And so we ask, “What is the value of seeds to the city?” Topics include why it is difficult to find good food in poor neighborhoods; what happens when good people eat bad food; and what is being done to grow hope in the inner city. |