E158: CAFOs, Communities, and Alternatives to Industrial Agriculture

February 24, 2022

Are there models for livestock production that support both farmers and communities? Today, we’re going to explore the complex nature of relationships between farmers and nearby communities and the impact of industrial agricultural practices, such as CAFOs, stands for concentrated animal feeding operations, on those relationships. Our guests today are policy advocate Sarah Carden with Farm Action and community organizer Monica Brooks from the Maryland State Commission for Environmental Justice and Sustainable Communities.

Related podcasts: Advocacy & Food | Agriculture & Tech | Climate Change, Environment & Food | Community & Economic Development | Equity, Race & Food Justice | Food Policy |

 

E156: Myths About Industrial Agriculture That Affect Us All

February 10, 2022

So there’s a big question out there that’s being asked over and again: do massive multinational corporations have an outsized control of our food system, and what does this mean for all of us? Disruptions in food supply chains recently have highlighted the vulnerabilities of an industrialized agriculture system that according to some does not benefit farmers, farm workers or even consumers. Today, we’re going to explore a new report from the organization Farm Action entitled “The Truth About Industrial Agriculture: A Fragile System Propped Up By Myths and Hidden Costs.” Our guest today is Dee Laninga, senior communications manager for Farm Action.

Related podcasts: Agriculture & Tech | Climate Change, Environment & Food | Community & Economic Development | Food Industry Behavior & Marketing | Food Policy | Voice of Farming |

 

E147: Farmer-scientist Measures the Real Benefits of Regenerative Agriculture

November 1, 2021

Today’s podcast is part of our Regenerative Agriculture series of podcasts. We’re talking with agroecologist Dr. Jonathan Lundgren, CEO for Blue Dasher Farm in South Dakota, and also founder and director of the ECDYSIS Foundation. Dr. Lundgren connects the worlds of science and agriculture, and his working regenerative farm is also a scientific research hub.

Related podcasts: Agriculture & Tech | Climate Change, Environment & Food | Regenerative Agriculture | Voice of Farming |

 

E140: Russ Conser on Regenerative Ag, Beef, and the Birds

September 14, 2021

How does someone who spent 30 years at Shell, the massive energy company, and leading its GameChanger innovation program turn into a leader for regenerative agriculture? Today, we’re talking with Russ Conser, the CEO of Blue Nest Beef. He’s an expert on disruptive innovation, scaling up ideas, and has a passion for soil and ecosystem science.

Related podcasts: Agriculture & Tech | Climate Change, Environment & Food | Regenerative Agriculture | Voice of Farming |

 

E132: Connecting Food with our Environment in Daily Life

June 16, 2021

Most people think about the connection between food and their budget, or food and their health, but more and more people are concerned about the connection between food and the environment. Someone who cares about this a great deal is food campaigner, Jennifer Molidor, from the Center for Biological Diversity.

Related podcasts: Climate Change, Environment & Food | Equity, Race & Food Justice | Food Waste & Implications |

 

E131: Fisheries Need Stronger Role in Food Policy and Food Security Planning

June 9, 2021

Fish is food, right? Well, it hasn’t always been treated that way in policy dialogues and development funding, according to a recent paper in AMBIO. Fisheries management practices and policies most often treat fish as a natural resource or a trade commodity, rather than an important contributor to food security. At the same time, food security policy and funding have focused primarily on agriculture instead of fish. This podcast is part of a series on fisheries and nutrition and a movement to bring fisheries into international food policy and programming.

Related podcasts: Climate Change, Environment & Food | Diet & Nutrition | Fisheries & Food Policy | Food Policy |

 

E120: GOODR Tackles the Logistics of Redirecting Healthy Food to the Hungry

March 9, 2021

If you go to the website of an organization called GOODR, at goodr.co, you will be rewarded with inspiration to be sure but you’ll also find some startling information. While one in seven Americans is food insecure, 72 billion pounds of edible food goes to landfills each year and $218 billion is spent growing, transporting and disposing this food. You will also learn from our guest, Jasmine Crowe and I quote, hunger is not an issue of scarcity, it is a matter of logistics. Jasmine Crowe founded the tech-enabled sustainable food waste management company, GOODR. The ingenious work she has done in Atlanta, which simultaneously addresses food waste and food insecurity, has received national and global attention and is featured in a terrific TED Talk that Jasmine’s given.

Related podcasts: Climate Change, Environment & Food | Food Insecurity | Food Waste & Implications |

 

E109: The FABLE of International Sustainable Development

January 28, 2021

To meet the challenge of feeding the world’s growing population and safeguarding the planet’s land and resources in perpetuity, nations are going to have to work together like never before. Today’s guests are part of a 20 country research consortium, dubbed FABLE, which stands for Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land-Use and Energy. Guests: environmental policy specialist, Jordan Poncet, who coordinates FABLE for the Sustainable Development Solutions Network and Justin Baker, Associate Professor and forest resource economist at North Carolina State University.

Related podcasts: Agriculture & Tech | Climate Change, Environment & Food | Food Policy | International Food & Ag Policy |

 

E102: Lyla June on Returning to Native American Agricultural Traditions

December 15, 2020

What if we cultivated our environment instead of intensive crop planting and animal farming, and in turn created an abundance of food to meet our needs? Is this what First Nations people did here in the Americas? This concept is the focus of doctoral research of today’s guest, Indigenous musician, scholar, and community organizer, Lyla June. June is an Indigenous woman of Dine (Navajo), Tsetsehestahese (Cheyenne) and European lineage. She’s pursuing a doctoral degree at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. And she’s fascinated by the intersection of Indigenous food systems and Indigenous land management.

Related podcasts: Advocacy & Food | Agriculture & Tech | Climate Change, Environment & Food | Equity, Race & Food Justice | First Nations Food Issues | Fisheries & Food Policy | Food Policy | History & Food |

 

E84: COVID Highlights Need to Change Food Security Strategy

August 18, 2020

This podcast is part of a series focused on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our food system. We’re interviewing Caitlin Welsh, director of the Global Food Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies based in Washington DC. Caitlin is a leading expert on global and US food security and particularly on the relationship between food security, urbanization, climate change, and conflict.

Related podcasts: Advocacy & Food | Climate Change, Environment & Food | COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts on Food | Equity, Race & Food Justice | Food Policy | International Food & Ag Policy |