The Food Chain - What's Eating What Radio

Topics include the unused space available on city rooftops; the technologies required to farm that valuable space; and whether farming the rooftops of big cities can be economically viable. Guests: Maggie Cheney, Director of Farms and Education, Farm-

Few have given farmers more control over their environment than the crop duster. Those magnificent men, and women, in their flying machines lead us to ask…

The Obama administration has approved the release of Monsanto’s genetically-engineered alfalfa. They say farmers will be able to grow more crops, and that ain’t hay! But GE Alfalfa leads us to ask…

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…

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 me

50,000 years ago it was us against them, and they are the home team. The winners would eat and the losers would fade into fossils. This food fight for the ages leads us to ask: How did we humans beat the Neanderthal to food and the future? Topic includ

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…

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was so powerful it helped end the use of DDT. But pointing to the millions who suffer from malaria, some now ask, “Should we end the ban on DDT?" Topics include the extent to which Silent Spring changed e

When it was legal, a pound cost pennies; when it was illegal, a pound cost thousands of dollars. Now that it is kinda-sorta legal, we simply must ask…

Agriculture, like most industries, appears to be growing in two directions: very big and very small. This observation leads us to ask…

A century ago, Upton Sinclair opened the door to the meat packing facilities of Chicago with his novel The Jungle, and consumers did not like what they saw. It's been producers vrs. consumers ever since over the right to know. This leads us to ask, Who

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…

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…

If the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, then the way to the world’s affection must be through its stomach. This thought leads us to ask…

The federal government has direct ownership of 650 million acres of the USA. Some of these public acres may be exploited by private businesses, like ranchers. This leads us to ask…

By getting 400 small organic farmers in Baja to cooperate, the Del Cabo Cooperative raised their annual incomes from $3,000 to $20,000, and is now at work in Africa. This work leads us to ask…

Some of us eat to live. Others live to eat. The rest of us have lost control of eating. Their eating disorders lead us to ask…

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 t

Guests: Diana Reeves, Founder, GMO Free USA & Not Available, Grocery Manufacturers Association

They now hold farmers at gunpoint for selling fresh, whole milk and demand we to eat corn genetically modified to contain a bacterial insect disease. What was the norm is now a crime; what was a crime against nature is now the norm. This leads us to ask&

Topics include a brief look at the history of 4-H; the lessons 4-H teaches 7 million children and young adults; and how the lessons taught by 4-H could change food and farming forever. Guest: Kiera Butler, Author, Raise: What 4-H Teaches 7 Million K

When Matthew Cohen’s crop of medical marijuana became the object of a great tug of war between Mendocino County and the United States of America, many paused to ask…

Topics include why government wants us to eat less beef; what government wants us to eat more of; and whether beef can be produced in a way friendly to the environment, or simply banned from our diets. Guest: Author, Rancher, Vegetarian Nicolette Hahn

Once the Golden State, California is now an estimated $500 billion in debt, and thus has become the Red Ink State. This transformation leads us to ask…

Having discovered easy-living, wild animals have moved into town where they now pit neighbor against neighbor and lead us to ask…