Episodes

Every five years the US Government develops and publishes \”Dietary Guidelines For Americans\”. The Guidelines for 2020 – 20225 have now been released by the two responsible agencies, USDA and HHS. New approaches have been taken to identify diet patterns for various life stages. The report follows the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines Committee of experts, except for two areas. The Committee recommended that \”added sugar\” limits should be reduced from 10% to 6% and that if men drink al...

\”To make a living is not to make a killing. It\’s to have enough.\” says Wendell Berry in many ways, in scores of books over the years. As we consider the future of the world we need to reflect on the counsel of Wendell Berry who reminds us that the world will take care of us if we take care of it; knowing and loving it. If there was a poet laureate for agriculture, it should be Wendell Berry. A few years ago the renowned Bill Moyers was successful in interviewing Wendell and he agreed we could...

Covid pandemic demonstrated enormous problems in the food system with food being destroyed while people were going hungry. If we want to revitalize the food system and rural America we have to bring people back. And to do that we need to have work that people can do. @MarionNestle says it can be done and the new team taking shape at the USDA must take the lead in making it happen.

Some of the world\’s largest protests are taking place in support of farmers in India. Whether in Delhi, San Francisco or Paris people have gone to the streets to show solidarity with the small farmers in India who are losing essential government support. To generate global awareness of the farmers\’ fate, Sikhs in California have brought tractors, trucks, friends and their voices to public rallies that have filled the Bay Bridge and circled government buildings. The Executive Director of the Ja...

When once again safe to travel through farm country, the bounty of the food system will be evident. So are the perils resulting from misdirected political power. Tom Philpott, author, podcaster and Mother Jones reporter wrote Perilous Bounty to draw attention to the promise and the peril of farm policy and practices that are often not good for farms or consumers. However an encouraging sign appeared just after the podcast conversation when Rep. David Scott became the first black Chairman of the ...

Masked or not, face to face marketing can\’t be beat; because wherever you are in the food chain it is best to have direct contact with customers. Erin Sastre and Tyler Towne are literally doing that for Planters Peanuts as they drive a giant peanut thousands of miles back and forth across the country. On a bright Fall morning we find them in front of the Zoo where families come to see them and their Peanut Mobile. They find the \”Peanutters\” , safely masked, and offering nut packs, information...

The story of a place has to include the story of it\’s food: what was grown and what they ate. Taking that to heart, the owner Chef of Bulrush Restaurant in St. Louis, Rob Connoly, is finding a delicious way to share the story of a special place with special food traditions from the Ozarks. Rob is establishing the Ozark foodway by resurrecting ingredients, practices and recipes of the past. He’s doing so through foraging, hunting, farming and creating extensive partnerships with organizations in...

Climate change effects will go way beyond receding coasts and shrinking farm regions to to include the quality of air that plants need to produce nutritious foods. When carbon levels in the air increase, the nutrition from foods will decline by up to 30%, severely impacting human health. Dr. Kristie Ebi is the Founding Director of CHanGe, the Center for Health and The Global Environment at the University of Washington. She works to highlight the role of health and wellbeing in climate action and...

Well educated young women who could do anything are choosing to farm, and to lead. Equal gender opportunities do abound in agriculture, including the opportunity to give leadership to controversial issues like climate change. Krysten Mensonides and Lynne Wheeler both graduated from universities and had career choices before they decided farming was their future. Now that future includes joining with their fellow dairy farmers in Washington state to achieve carbon neutrality (or better) on their ...

For better or worse there has been substantial deregulation happening in the US Capitol, now including genetic engineering (GMO/GE). Greg Jaffe is the Biotech Director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). They believe that GE products deemed safe through an independent science-based assessment have a place in our food system and have long advocated for USDA to revise its regulations to establish a streamlined and efficient regulatory process. However, they have also called f...

Agriculture may be 10,000 years old but it\’s a new world. Farmers and Ranchers are facing the new challenges with new technologies and new philosophies, enpowering the big and the small. This comes at a time when consumer interest in how their food is produced has never been higher–a fact not missed by food manufacturers, retailers and chefs. Deborah Wilson and Kristine MacRae join Farm To Table Talk host Rodger Wasson to explore that new world. In addition to being a rancher, Deborah Wilson of...

The North American food system has succeeded in producing an abundance of commodities at relatively low cost, but it is failing in other ways that matter. Showing how law and policy should make needed changes is the purpose of \”the Blueprint for a National Food Strategy\”. This work in progress is a collaborative project between the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law School and Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic. Some of the project\’s recommendations have already...