The Food Chain - What's Eating What Radio

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?"

In 2009, President Barack Obama selected Monsanto executive Michael Taylor to be the nation’s first food safety czar. In 2012, citizen Fredrick Ravid collected 60,000 signatures on a petition to force Taylor’s removal. All those signatures

Some say up to 80% of the organic food in the United States is now imported from Brazil, China, Mexico and others. This leads us to ask…

In 1941 residents of Northern California and Southern Oregon voted to secede and form the State of Jefferson. Though the State of Jefferson now exists only in the mind, its Garagistes maintain their spirit of independence through the production of foods

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?” Topic include... Topics include why some pe

It sprang to life selling patent medicines in post Civil War Atlanta, then grew into the quintessential American corporation selling soft drinks to the world. And so we ask…

Wolf number 690 lost her pack to disease and was forced to flee the protected confines of Yellowstone Park for the wilds of private property. Her flight leads us to ask…

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

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 tradit

Mr. Rogers has been feeding bears since 1967 to research their behavior. Government says feeding bears changes their behavior and Mr. Rogers must stop. This conflict leads us to ask…

A recreation in two states, a medicine in 20 states, and declared less-dangerous-than-booze by the former Choom Ganger now President, it appears as though Cannabis is on its way to normal. And so we ask…

Guests Joe Hamby, COO of the Tri Marine Group, and Adam Baske, of Sea Strong, LLC

We have always preserved foods by freezing them, but when we learned how to freeze foods quickly, we quickly moved into the city. This leads us to ask…

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…

Water makes up about 90 percent of growing plants, and thus is the lifeblood of our food chain. However, the pending implementation of new water quality rules in California leads us to ask…

At six foot three inches, she was taller than most men, not particularly pretty, and had a voice like a cartoon character. And yet, by whispering “Who’s going to know?” into our collective ears, Julia Childs changed how American eats&#8

Now that it takes two and a half incomes to maintain a household, few have time enough to eat at home. But maybe there is a way to find the time, and so we ask: Where can we find time enough to eat at home? Topics include the time constraints that forc

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….

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 g

Given our recently won ability to re-engineer life, the future looks like an apple that will not spoil. Some, however, see hope in the past and so are planting a mother orchard of heritage apple trees.

Guests: Kristin Carlson, Anna Ringelman, Seniors in Environmental Studies, University of California Santa Cruz

Guests: Wes Bolden, Cool Planet Inc & Ivy Young, Santa Cruz Compost

Farmland equal to the size of India and China combined has been abandoned since WWII due to the loss of soil. This leads us to ask…

First, there was the land. Then people came to the land and established a farm. At the center of their farm they built a barn, which leads us to ask…

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…