The Food Chain

Ep 1398 Food Fight: Large Farms V. Small Farms

The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Richard J. Sexton, Professor Emeritus, Agriculture and Resource Economics, University of California Davis & Author of Food Fight: Misguided Policies, Supply Challenges, and the Impending Struggle to Feed a Hungry World

In 1973, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz told the nation’s farmers to, ”Get big or get out!”  Many farmers did get big or got out.  That leads us to ask:

Are the nation’s small farms worth saving?

Topics include why Earl Butz, and most of the nation’s ag economists, would tell the nation’s farmers to get big or get out; how the economic principal of economies-of-scale provides the impetus for getting big or getting out; and whether the nation’s small farms are worth saving?

Ep. 242 Hr. 1. China Now 25.6.26

China Now:  Friend or Foe?  War or Peace?
Hosts Michael Olson & Nan Su 

• China tells Brazil Xi Jinping Will Miss Brics Summit in Rio
• Annual reshuffling of PLA Generals
• Putin will visit Beijing and join Xi Jinping for military marching on 9/3.
• CCP to curb fentanyl precursors
• Chinese gangsters arrested for shipping fentanyl precursors

Ep. 1397 Eating the Earth?

Michael Olson hosts Michael Grunwald, Author of "We Are Eating The Earth"

Some say the big problem is not fossil foods, it’s the food we eat!  If what they say is true, we simply must ask:

 Are we really eating up the earth?

Topics include why author Grunwald would say, “We are eating the earth;” how the production of food causes so much of the greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere; whether agriculture can be made to reduce its pollution.

Recipe for Restaurateurs

Michael Olson hosts Bob Vergidis, Chief Visionary Officer, PointOfSale.Cloud

When, of a sudden, the $10 restaurant burger became a $20 burger, the battle for the remaining burger customers across the land became intense.  This leads us to ask:

What is today's recipe for restaurateur survival?

Topics include the ingredients needed to cook up a successful restaurant; how successful restaurants manage food trends; and the significance of information in providing restaurant diner satisfaction.

Ep 1394 Re-Seeding the Taste of City

Guests:  Greg Peterson, Founder & CEO, Urban Farm.org & Belle Star, Co-Founder, SeedSchoolOnline

In a deed, plant a seed, make a garden grow and transform the taste of city!  And so we ask: 

Where can one obtain seeds to transform the taste of city?

The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Greg Peterson, Founder & CEO of UrbanFarm.org and Belle Star, Co-Founder of SeedSchoolOnline, for a conversation about seeds and cities.

Topics include how the commercial seed industry has been consolidated into the hands of a few large corporations; how individuals can select, collect, save, trade and plant their own seeds; and ways in which carefully selected seeds might change the taste of the city.

 

Staff of Life: Local Grocer V Corporate Giants

Michael Olson with Gary Bascou, Co-Founder, Staff of Life Natural Food Market

Staff of Life is a locally-owned grocery store competing for consumer dollars in a market dominated by corporate giants.  And so we ask:

How does a local grocery store survive in a marketplace of corporate giants?

Topics include the culture that gave rise to “natural” and “organic” food markets; how those foods gave rise to Staff of Life Natural Foods Market; and how Staff of Life survives 56 years of competition with corporate food giants.

Ep 1393 Regenerating Food & Agriculture with Software

There was a time farmers grew food with shovels, hoes and horses.  As technology progressed, they used tractors, fertilizers and pesticides.  Today, farmers grow food by stringing together binary digits of “Yes” and “No.”  That leads us to ask:

Can software sustain and regenerate agriculture?

The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Dan Ryan, CEO of CIBO Technologies, for a conversation about how digital software is transforming food and agriculture.

Topics include how technology made it possible to farm our way out of the dire predictions of 1968’s The Population Bomb; how today’s software technology may make it possible to farm our way out of today’s dire predictions for our future; and whether digital technologies might open the door to a new “Green Revolution” in food and agriculture.

Ep. 1392 The Magic Kingdom of Specialty Mushrooms

It lives alone, and mostly hidden, in its magic kingdom.  Its members are said to include the largest living organism on earth.   That so many down-to-earth people become its ardent devotees leads us to ask:

What is the magic of mushrooms?

The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Ian Garrone, CEO & Founder Far West Fungi, Moss Landing, CA, for a conversation about the magic kingdom of specialty mushrooms.

Topics include a look into the variety of life in the kingdom of fungi; reasons why so many down-to-earth people become devotees of mushrooms; and how the Garrone Family built a specialty mushroom business by selling person-to-person at farmers markets.