The Food Chain

 7-11 BEGETS TRADER JOE'S
Michael Olson with Benjamin Lorr, Author, The Secret Life of Groceries

It is a $700 billion dollar a year business, and Americans spend about 2% of their lives shopping in them.  Their story leads us to ask:

How did 7-Eleven give rise to Trader Joes?

Topics include the transformation of food into Store Keeping Units (SKUs); the transformation of general stores into supermarkets; and the story of how 7-Eleven gave rise to Trader Joes.

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Caroline Yelle, Owner & Queen Bee, Pope Canyon Queens

I happened to be watching a honey bee working over a lemon tree blossom on the 19^th of July, when I realized that it was the first honey bee I have seen this year.  That leads me to ask…

 

Can we breed a bee that can survive us?

The Golden State of California appears to be losing its collective mind.  You can see the evidence of that loss on the streets of San Francisco, and that City-by-the-Bay leads us to ask:

 

Can we eat our way out of dystopia?

Bonnie Kaplan, PhD, Co-Author, The Better Brain: Overcome Anxiety, Combat Depression, and Reduce ADHD and Stress with Nutrition  

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?

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

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.

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.

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.