"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@foodchainradio.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 #674: BLACK REPARATIONSMP3 Download Now ( Right click and "Save As")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 MONSANTOMP3 Download Now ( Right click and "Save As")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 MONEYMP3 Download Now ( Right click and "Save As")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 SEEDSMP3 Download Now ( Right click and "Save As")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. |
Show #481: In Vitro Meat!( Show available on CD)Guests: Professor Morris Benjamin and doctoral student Jason Matheny Subject: It’s a fact! We are turning our farmland into cities. At some point in the future, there will be more mouths to feed then farmland to feed them. This leads us to ask, “What’s in the Petri dish?” Topics include why food scientists are working on cultured meat; the advantages they see in producing these foods; and the ethical considerations of eating manufactured meat. |
Show #480: Not Milk?( Show available on CD)Guests: Joaquin Contente, President of the California Farmers Union, and Robert Cohen, author of Milk A-Z Subject: Got milk? Perhaps not! Food processors find bulk milk difficult to manage, and so have petitioned USDA for the right to use concentrated materials that some consider… not milk! Topics include why food processors want to replace milk with ultra-concentrated milk products, what impact these products may have on dairy products like cheese and ice cream; and why some dairy farmers are resisting this effort. |
Show #479: Mark on the Beast II( Show available on CD)Guests: Dr. Mary Zanoni, Founder of Farm For Life, and small farmers from around the United States Subject:To protect against disease and terrorism, USDA will register and track domesticated animals, and the properties in which they reside, throughout the United States. This leads us to ask, “What impact will these good intentions have on small farmers, ranchers and hobbyists?” Topics include why animals and properties must be registered and tracked; how the tracking system has been designed to facilitate industrial-scaled production systems; and what impact this program may, or may not, have on small-scale producers. |
Show #478: Mark on the Beast I( Show available on CD)Guests: Dr. John Wiemers, Senior Staff Veterinarian for USDA, and Dr. Mary Zanoni, Founder of Farm For Life Subject: In one year, the USDA will register and track domesticated animals throughout the United States. This leads us to ask, “Why?” and “How?” Topics include why these animals must be registered and tracked; how the government will track them; and what impact this program may, or may not, have on animal owners. |
Show #477: Feasting on Fasting( Show available on CD) )Guest: Alan Goldhamer, D.C., Director, True North Subject: Saint Jerome said, "When our stomachs are full, it is easy to talk about fasting." For the most, our stomachs are full, and so we ask, "What's in a fast?" Topics include how fasting affects the body and soul; who should fast and who should not; and how to conduct a proper fast. |
Show #476: First Call for AlcoholGuest: Ian Lendler, Author, Alcoholica Esoterica Subject: We ferment and distill the fruits of our fields, and then drink ourselves silly. This leads us to ask, "What's in the glass that leads us to drink?" Topics include a look at our history with drink; the different kinds of fermented and distilled drinks; and reasons why we are unable to put the glass down. |
Show #475: Year of Living Dangerously( Show available on CD) Guest: Open Microphone Subject: Avian flu… broken fuel lines... swarming immigrants…. It has been a year of living dangerously on the Food Chain. And so we ask, "Which of 2005's stories will have the greatest impact on our ability to eat food?" Topics include five of the top stories of 2005, how these stories reflect fundamental changes in our food chain; and which story will have the greatest impact on our ability to eat food. |
Show #474: Clueless but Curious about KosherGuest: Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf Subject: Napolean the Pig said, "All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others." And so we wonder why, in the world of kosher foods, the pig is among the least equal of all. Topics include how the laws of kosher developed among those of the Jewish faith; what is kosher, and what is not; and whether eating kosher can aid one's spiritual development. |
Show #473: Gifting a Cow( Show available on CD) ( Show available on CD) Guests: Dr. Terry Wollen, Director of Animal Well-Being and Staff Veterinarian with Heifer International Subject: It is the season of giving. And so we ask, "How can we who have so much make a difference by giving to those who have so little?" Topics include how Heifer International gives farm animals to individuals throughout the developing world; the ways in which gifted farm animals help poor families establish an economy; and why gifting animals works, where gifting billions of dollars has failed. |
Show #472: A Municipal Royal Flush, IIGuests: Dr. Edo McGowan and Maureen Reilly Subject: It's a fact! Cities consume a lot of food and excrete a lot of waste. And so we ask, "Should we spread this waste on top of farmland?" Topics include the difference between traditional Chinese "night soil" and American "biosolids;" how biosolids (or "sewage sludge") is now being spread upon US farmland; and whether this practice should be contracted or expanded. |
Show #471: A Municipal Royal FlushGuest: Al Rubin Subject: It's a fact! Cities consume a lot of food and excrete a lot of waste. And so we ask, "Should we spread this waste on top of farmland?" Topics include the difference between traditional Chinese "night soil" and American "biosolids;" how biosolids (or "sewage sludge") is now being spread upon US farmland; and whether this practice should be contracted or expanded. |
Show #470: Gospel of GrassGuests: Alan Nation, Publisher, The Stockman's Grass Farmer Subject: The culture of American agriculture is one of grain. And so we ask, "Why is Alan Nation preaching the gospel of grass?" Topics include why American agriculture came of age on grain; how grass farming differs from grain farming; and how American agriculture would look, were it based on grass instead of grain. |
Show #469: Big City BirdsGuests: Cornell University's Project Pigeon Watch Leader Karen Purcell and Chapman University Behavioral Ecologist Walter Piper, from Parrot Watch Subject: Once tame, now wild, parrots and pigeons have moved into the big city. And so we ask, "How do they make their living?" Topics include why tame parrots and pigeons went wild and moved into the city; whether life on the street is indeed for the birds; and how parrots and pigeons go about earning a living on mean street. |
Show #468: Poison in the PantryGuests: University of Miami Professor of Medicine and Cardiology, Dr. Michael Ozner and Attorney Stephen Joseph, Founder & President of Bantransfat.com. Subject: Partially hydrogenated oil extends the shelf-life of food, but shortens the shelf-life of people. And so we ask, "Who put this poison in the pantry?" And, "Why do we keep eating it?" Topics include the selling of partially-hydrogenated oils as food; how the human body reacts to the trans fats within those oils; and why the oils are still found on the shelves and in our pantries. |
Show #467: From Carbohydrates to HydrocarbonsGuests: University of California Professor Tad Patzek and corn country environmentalist Jeff Webster Subject: Each year, we taxpayers spend about $1.4 billion dollars to subsidize the production of corn ethanol. And so we pause to ask, "Are we getting our money's worth?" Topics include a look at ethanol as fuel; the economies of converting corn to ethanol; and whether ethanol derived from corn will prove a viable alternative to hydrocarbon fuels. |
Show #449: A Great White ObsessionMP3 Download Now ( Right Click and choose "Save Target As" ) Guests: Susan Casey, Author, The Devil's Teeth Subject: Earth's most feared predator moves about in complete freedom within the city limits of San Francisco. A thoroughly obsessed Susan Casey visited them and brought the story back to feed our obsession with… Great White Sharks. Topics include how Great Whites came to thrive within the city limits of San Francisco; what it is like to visit these Great Whites on their home "turf;" and why civilized people become obsessed with wild predators like the Great White Shark. |
Show #466: Magic of MushroomsGuests: Paul Stamets, author of Mycelium Running Subject: We know them as food and medicine. But some say there is magic in mushrooms that can help save the world. And so we ask, "How?" Topics include a look at nature's mycelial internet; how mycelium make it possible for other living things to flourish; and how mycelium can restore balance after floods, fires, oil spills and biological & chemical weapons. |
Show #465: Journey to the EastGuests: Mark Flanagan and Tony Kirkham, co-authors of Plants From the Edge of the World Subject: In 1987, a great storm swept in from the Atlantic and devastated the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, England. To replace the thousands of specimen trees lost, plant hunters traveled to the edge of the world. This leads us to ask, "What did they find there?" Topics include a brief look at the management of botanical gardens; how plant hunting expeditions are planned and organized; and what adventures Flanagan and Kirkham experienced as they traveled the back woods of China, Japan and Russia. |
Show #464: The Sierra Club's $100,000,000 AbdicationGuests: John Hair from the Carrying Capacity Network and Brenda Walker from Limits to Growth Subject: The Sierra Club has accepted a $100,000,000 gift on the condition it does not take a position on immigration. This leads us to ask, "Can we manage the environment without managing the population?" Topics include what impact immigration may have on the environment; why the nation's premiere environmental organization will not address the issue of immigration; and whether we can, or cannot, manage the environment without managing the population. |
Show #463: The Dead Doctor's Dead DietGuests: Dr. Stuart Fischer, Former Associate Medical Director of the Atkins Center Subject: In 1972, Dr. Robert Atkins sparked a revolution in dieting by telling us to "enjoy the fats and avoid the sugars." And so we ask, "What happened to the dead Doctor's dead diet?" Topics include a brief history of fad diets; how the biggest fad diet of all changed the eating habits of millions; and why that diet was doomed to fail. |
Show #462: The Man Who Listens to HorsesGuests: 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 #461: The Battle of New OrleansGuests: Peter Zeihan, Senior Analyst with Strategic Forecasting, Inc Subject:Like a neutron bomb dropped from on high, Hurricane Katrina swooped down and blew away the people of New Orleans. This leads us to ask, "Should we rebuild the Big Easy?" Topics include the historical significance of the city to the nation's agriculture; the role it plays in today's economy; and the issues relating to rebuilding a city that, for all intents and purposes, lies below sea level. |
Show #460: Food or DrugGuests: Rima Laibow, Medical Director of Natural Solutions Foundation, and Michele VanOrt Cozzens, founder of HerBaware Subject:We now spend more than $20 billion a year on herbal supplements. This leads us to ask, "Are we getting our money's worth?" Topics include the reasons the herbal supplement has grown into a major industry; what dangers this industry does, or does not, pose to the well-being of consumers; and whether herbs should be managed as foods or drugs. |
Show #459: From Kraft to CraftGuests: Chef Michael Clark and Cheesemakers John and Heather Fiscalini Subject: It's a fact. Millions have been raised on Kraft American cheese. And so we pause to ask, "Why?" Topics include the position American cheese has held in the American food chain; why others are pointing to cheeses crafted on the farm; and whether American tastes can ever be tempted away from American cheese. |
Show #458: The Tuna WarGuests: Jackie Savitz, director of Oceana's Seafood Contamination Campaign, and a yet to be named representative from the tuna industry Subject: The toxic contaminant methylmercury has worked its way up the food chain and is now found in our favorite fish. And so we ask, "Should we be allowed to know what risk these fish poise to our well-being?" Topics include the extent to which methylmercury has contaminated our food chain; which foods contain the greatest concentration of this pollutant; and whether consumers should be allowed to know what risk these food poise to their well-being. |
Show #457: Monsanto's Patented PigGuests: Greenpeace Europe researcher Christoph Then, author Jeffrey Smith and a representative from Monsanto (pending) Subject: A Shakespeare professor once said, "Look here, Olson, all the good stories are about fighting or fornicating!" And so we ask, "Why did Monsanto file a patent application on the reproductive activity of pigs?" Topics include what private businesses are trying to accomplish by patenting the reproductive activities of farm animals and what impact these patents might have on the security of the food chain. |
Show #415: Outsourcing the American CowboyGuests: Giles Stockton, Rancher, Grass Range, Montana & Jim Warren, President, 101 Livestock Market, Aromas, California Subject: Long the symbol of strength and self-determination, the American cowboy is now being forced to ride off into the sunset of the New World Order. Topics include why one can't find a Montana steak in Montana; how the American beef industry came to be dominated by three companies; and whether the American rancher can survive in a world of open borders. |
Show #456: Banning the Bans( Due to technical difficulties, a broadcast quality recording of this program is not available.) Guests: California State Senator Dean Florez (D. Shafter) and Californians for GE-Free Agriculture Director Renata Brillinger Subject: Some say we should plant genetically-modified organisms from sea to shining sea. Others say, "Not in my back yard!" and pass laws banning the planting of them. This leads us to ask, "Who should have the authority to decide where GMO may be planted?" Topics include why some believe the state decide where GMO's may be grown; why others believe communities should have the say; and whether there is, or is not, a reasonable solution to this dilemma. |
Show #455: How Cheap Immigrant Labor?Guest: Idaho County Commissioner Robert Vasquez Subject: Robert Vasquez is suing Swift Beef and Harris Moran Seed for costs incurred by the large number of illicit immigrants hired by the companies. This leads us to ask, "How cheap is cheap labor?" Topics include why business has become so reliant on illicit immigrant labor; what the true costs of this reliance are for local communities; and who should pay the true costs? |
Show #454: Heart of LightnessGuest: Godfrey Kasozi, Co-Founder of the Centre for Environmental Technology and Rural Development in Kasese, Uganda Subject: Times are not good in the heart of Africa. AIDS and civil war force children to raise children. And so we ask, "Where does one turn for hope?" Topics include an overview of African life; what Godfrey Kasozi does to build hope for the future; and what, if anything, developing nations can do to help. |
Show #453: Terror in the Milk BarnGuest: Lawrence Wein, Professor, Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering, Stanford University Subject: They are out to do us in any way they can. And so we ask, "Can they use milk?" Topics include an overview of Professor Wein's mathematical modeling of a terrorist attack on the milk supply; what the possible consequences of such an attack might be; and what, if anything, can be done to protect ourselves from such an attack. |
Show #452: Farming for Bird Songs & ProfitGuests: Minnesota dairy farmer Art Thicke Subject: This year, city people will give country people an extra $24 billion to farm crops. Some farmers do not need this help. And so we ask, "Why?" Topics include how Thicke survives and prospers without fertilizers or herbicides; why his cows have gone without mastitis for over 25 years; and why so many songbirds sing on his farm. |
Show #451: Hunger MoonsGuests: Jessica Prentice, author, Thirteen Moons: Food and the Hunger for Connection Subject: When it comes to satisfying our hunger for food, we city people merely ask, and food is delivered from thousands of miles away. Yet we hunger for more…. Topics include how cultures throughout time developed traditions associated with cycles of the moon; how these traditions-the Hunger Moon, the Moon of Making Fat, the Blood Moon- helped people stay connected to their food chain; and what traditions, if any, we city people can develop to remain connected to our food chain. |
Show #450: Wolfers of YellowstoneGuests: Carol & Mark Rickman, Pueblo, Colorado Subject: Yesterday they threatened our lives and our livelihoods, so we hunted them down and killed them. Today they are the last of the wild, so we travel to Yellowstone and watch them feed their young. Topics include why wild wolves have been re-introduced into the Yellowstone ecosystem; how wild wolves survive in a tamed world; and what about wolves turns people into "wolfers." |
Show #449: A Great White ObsessionGuests: Susan Casey, Author, The Devil's Teeth Subject: Earth's most feared predator moves about in complete freedom within the city limits of San Francisco. A thoroughly obsessed Susan Casey visited them and brought the story back to feed our obsession with… Great White Sharks. Topics include how Great Whites came to thrive within the city limits of San Francisco; what it is like to visit these Great Whites on their home "turf;" and why civilized people become obsessed with wild predators like the Great White Shark. |
Show #448: Codex AlimentariusGuests: Rima Laibow, Richard Goldberg, Michael McGuffin Subject: Here vitamins and minerals are food, but there they are drugs. The World Trade Organization says they must be one or the other. And so we ask, "Will our vitamins and minerals become drugs that must be purchased through doctors and pharmacies?" Topics include why the two ways of classifying vitamins and minerals must be justified; who will make the decision as to how they are classified; and what will happen to their availability if they are classified as drugs. |
Show #447: Blue Meets Red on a BikeGuests: Blue State Farmer / Radio Journalist Ingrid Evjen-Elias Subject: Once there was the United States. Now there are blue states and red states. And so we ask, "What happens when blue meets red on a bike?" Topics include why two San Francisco Bay area farmers decided to bicycle through Kansas and Nebraska farm country; what they discovered when they met those; and what lessons can be learned when blue meets red on a bike. |
Show #446: Playing God with LifeGuests: Jack Kloppenburg, Professor of Rural Sociology, University of Wisconsin Subject: First there was the seed. Then science gave us the ability to take genes from one species and combine them with a second to create an entirely new species. And so we ask, "Who among is smart enough to play God with life?" Topics include how the management of seeds allowed for the development of economy; how biotechnology's ability to create new species from old ones has changed agriculture; and a discussion of who among us is smart enough to decide which species to create. |
Show #445: Free Speech Vrs Government SpeechGuests: Montana Rancher Jeanne Charter & Center for Individual Freedom General Council Reed Cox Subject: Little David fought giant Goliath over the right to speak freely. David lost and now Goliath's speech is government speech and not free at all! Topics include why agricultural commodity groups form mandatory marketing programs; how the beef industry's check-off system is forcing independent ranchers into becoming "captive suppliers" to giant meat cartels; and why the Supreme Court ruled that industry speech is government speech and therefore not free speech. |
Show #444: The Perfect CrimeGuest: Katherine Eban, author, Dangerous Doses Subject: It's the perfect crime. Take prescription drugs worth $500, switch labels, and then sell them for $5,000. Patients taking the drugs eat the evidence. And if the patients die… no evidence, no crime! Topics include why the USA has become the "go to" country for counterfeit prescription drugs; how some counterfeit drugs are bought and sold up to 30 times before being consumed by unwitting patients; and what can be done to protect against these drugs. |
Show #443: A Red Tide of Red DeliciousGuests: John Martinelli, President of S. Martinelli & Company, and Nancy Foster, President of the U.S. Apple Association Subject: There is a red tide of red delicious apples coming. And so we pause to ask, "Can the American apple industry find high ground in time?" Topics include the impact Chinese apple juice concentrate has on domestic production; what will happen to domestic production when China ships fresh apples into the U.S. market; and what the U.S. industry can do to survive the competition from the world's low-cost producer. |
Show #442: Farming Bears for BileGuest: Kirk Russell, Author, Night Game Subject: We might think it crazy to kill wild bears merely for the bile in their gall bladders, but one and a half billion Chinese do not think its crazy at all! Topics include why wild bears in the United States are being killed to satisify an ancient Chinese custom; what will happen to these bears if no one protects them; and how our law enforcement acts to stop the poaching of our wild bears. |
Show #441: Bristol the Bee BusterGuest: George Bristol, Bee Busters Subject: You hear them coming… an industrious hmmmm that grows in intensity. You look up from your paperback novel and see a dark cloud of bees settling on the eaves of your roof. You have been swarmed. Who you going to call? Topics include how bees are responsible for two out of each three bites of food that we eat; how tiny mites are reaking havoc on the bee population; and what to do when you get swarmed. |
Show #440: The Big One That Got AwayGuest: Dr. Dennis Takahashi Kelso, Packard Foundation Subject: Science is giving us the ability to re-engineer fish so they will grow much bigger, much faster. And so we pause to ask, "What happens when these big ones get away?" Topics include how the demand for wild salmon has affected its supply; what impact farmed salmon has on wild salmon; and what will happen to wild salmon when genetically engineered ones escape into the wild. |
Show #439: From NAFTA to CAFTASubject: NAFTA opened the North American marketplace to free, unrestricted trade. Now CAFTA wants to extend the free trade zone to include Central America. And so we pause to ask, "Where is all this free trade taking us?" Topics include how free trade has changed the North American marketplace; what impact CAFTA might have; and how American farmers and consumers will fare in a world without borders. |
Show #438: Liquid GoldGuest: Author Carol Firenze Subject: Some have said, "A rose is a rose is a rose." Others have said, "If you've seen one redwood tree, you've seen them all." But if you do want to get passionate, Carol Firenze says, "Consider liquid gold!" Topics include a look at mankind's history with the olive; why olives and olive oils are proliferating on the shelves of the nation's supermarkets; and the many different uses of olive oils. |
Show #437: Growing More, Harvesting LessGuest: University of Texas Biochemist Dr. Donald Davis Subject: Technology has made it possible to grow more crops in less space. Science, however, proves that we are getting fewer nutrients from those foods. And so we pause to ask, "Where have all the nutrients gone?" Topics include how the nutrient content of five-decades of food were measured and compared; how today's foods have up to 53% fewer nutrients than foods of 50 years past; and what impact, if any, nutrient-light crops might have on the people who eat them. |
Show #436: Rawsome RobynGuests: Author - Chef - Nutritionist Robyn Boyd Subject: Robyn had it all: migraine headaches, hypoglycemia, Epstein Barr, mononucleosis, chronic fatigue, extreme candida and severe anxiety attacks. Then she turned her life over to… rawsome food! Topics include how eating good food can help alleviate bad illnesses; what relationship, if any, exists between food and the human spirit; and simple ways to implement a rawsome diet. |
Show #435: Bill McGee & The Flying MeGuests: Authors William and Sandra McGee Subject: Times were tough back in 1947 for 22 year-old Montana Cowboy Bill McGee. A recurrence of malaria had forced him out of employment and into a Reno-area VA hospital. When finally healed, he was offered a job wrangling for the Flying Me ranch and things started looking up. Way up! Topics include how the Flying Me ranch became a haven for beautiful, rich socialites and movie starlets; what day-to-day life was like for guests and hands at the Flying Me; and whether there was authenticity in the Western legend of the Cowboy and the Lady. |
Show #434: Pandemic! |