The Food Chain - What's Eating What Radio

Wal-Mart now sells to the citizens of the United States more than one-fifth of their food, which is more than the combined sales of its three largest competitors. This leads us to ask…

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

Approximately 22% are now unemployed, and yet farmers can’t find enough people to work on their farms. This leads us to ask…

Abraham Lincoln spent his first 21 years on the dirt-poor farmlands of the young nation’s frontier. His upbringing leads us to ask:

Consider a patented berry: You can touch it, smell it, and eat it, but you may not own it because it contains the intellectual property of someone else. This leads us to ask…

Some say S510, The Food Safety Modernization Act, is so onerous it will destroy our nation’s small farms, and so are trying to amend the Act to protect small farms. Others say “A microbe is a microbe,” and all should abide by the law, r

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 ra

There are over a thousand foodbanks in North America serving billions of pounds of food through thousands of agencies to millions of people. This leads us to ask…

They always show up for work on time, love their job, never ask for a raise or a day off, and love to please. And so we ask...

Guests: Bob Martin, General Manager of Rio Farms and Butch Lindley, Partner of J&L Farms,

While the north side of the Mediterranean basin is green and fertile, the south side is brown and barren. This leads us to ask…

Topics include the fundamental strategy for successful metropolitan farming; which crops are most appropriate, and most profitable; and a look a successful metropolitan farms. Guest: Michael Olson, Author, MetroFarm & Host Food Chain Radio

Guests: Ray Parga from Del Valle Gunsmithing

When government confiscates preschoolers’ lunches, bans private food vendors from school grounds, and funds 5 meals per day at local elementary schools, we simply must ask…

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?” T

Topics include the divergent courses of ecological and industrial agricultures; whether government should encourage the development of one form of agriculture at the expense of the other; and which agriculture is likely to win the competition to feed ou

Topics include why city people move to the country; the obstacles to social intercourse they find in the country; and what they do to make their rural romances work.

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,

Topics include a consideration of beer as the liquid staff of life; the fragmentation of the commercial beer marketplace; and how beer can best be brewed at home. Guests: Amelia Slayton Loftus, Author, Sustainable Homebrewing

Topics include why Stambler began baking bread in his backyard oven; how his avocation became a vocation targeted by the food safety police; and how his fight won the right for Californians to sell homemade foods. Guest: Mark Stambler of Pagnol Boula

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!” Top

Tobacco was America’s first cash crop, and in fact, was the object of trade long before there was an America. Then tobacco became the scourge of millions, which leads us to ask…

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?” Top

Topics include the story of Toystory, the bull that sired 500,000 calves; why farm animals are selected and how they are reproduced; and how the selection process has transformed the modern herd. Guest: Keith Helkes, Chief Operating Officer, Genex Coo

They sneak across the border by the millions to work in our fields, thus you and I can eat cheap food. But our reliance on cheap labor leads us to ask…