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It’s a fact! 100% of men, women and children eat food, and 97.5% of must buy their food from others who bring it from an average of 2,000 miles away. And so the hungry ask: ”What’s in this tomato? Who planted that broccoli? Is it safe to eat genetically engineered corn? Why are they irradiating meat? Are we running short of water? Why is China growing our apples? What will happen to us if we can no longer farm? How safe is our food chain?” The Food Chain is an audience-interactive syndicated newstalk radio program and podcast broadcasting weekly on radio stations and streaming on demand on the internet. The Food Chain, which has been named the Ag/News Show of the Year by California’s legislature, is hosted by Michael Olson, author of the Ben Franklin Book of the Year award-winning MetroFarm, a 576-page guide to metropolitan agriculture. The Food Chain is available live via GCN Starguide GE 8 and delayed via MP3/FTP. For clearance and/or technical information, please call Michael Olson at 831-566-4209 or email michaelo@metrofarm.com
Episodes
Saturday Aug 03, 2024
Saturday Aug 03, 2024
JO ANN BAUMGARTNER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WILD FARM ALLIANCE &
SAM EARNSHAW, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HEDGEROWS UNLIMITED
When an outbreak of Ecoli killed three people and sickened 200 others a couple of decades ago, those in charge of food safety began discouraging the existence of wildlife on farms. This leads us to ask:
Should wild life be allowed back on farms?
Back in 2006, a multistate outbreak of E. Coli O157:H7 killed three and sickened an additional 202. The source of that E. Coli was found to be spinach from California, and the cause was believed to be contamination from the spinach farm.
Consumers stopped buying the spinach, as well as other leafy green produce, and so growers had to leave their precious greens to go to seed in the fields.
Though the contaminated spinach came from one grower, the entire leafy greens industry suffered its consequences. As a result of their suffering, and threats from the government, growers got together and formed the California Leafy Green Marketing Agreement, which in effect, laid down the law on how member growers could tend to their leafy greens.
Consequent to the implementation of the Agreement, growers began fencing off their fields from all the wild things in nature that might harbor E Coli. Today, many of those farms are as barren of extraneous life as can be made possible. No deer… no skunks… no birds… no anything!
But wait… Not everyone thinks that farms need to be without life. In fact, some point in the other direction and claim that farms should foster the growth of as much life as possible. And these contrarians lead us to ask:
Should wild life be allowed back on farms?