Hot Farm Food and Environment Reporting Network

In 1988, a drought made Dave Bishop a different farmer. Back then, he was a freak in farm country. Today, he is the model that we need all farmers to be if we are to have any chance of fighting climate change and continuing to eat.

Most American farmers don’t believe man-made climate change is real. Yet we need those farmers to be part of the climate change solution. So how can we get them on board? Producer Dana Cronin finds a surprising answer in Illinois. Hint: It starts with the soil.

Modern agriculture has been tweaking the same system for decades, but scientists think we need a new approach for a warmer world — one that involves novel crops. Producer Rachel Yang visits with researchers and explores the challenges of changing what we grow and what we eat.

More than a fourth of our food, including most of our fruits and vegetables, comes from California. But what happens when drought parches the region we depend upon to eat? Producer Travis Lux travels into the Delta region of Arkansas to explore a vision of the future  — a new California.

We have a bonus episode from a show called “How to Save a Planet,” a Spotify Original podcast produced by Gimlet Media. This show looks at climate change from the lens of — OK, so what do we do about it? The episode we’re running takes on one of the biggest climate issues in agriculture, Beef. And it asks whether adopting a plant-based diet would fight global warming. So should we all go vegetarian? To answer that question, How to Save a Planet looks at the American food system, regenerative farming, and, well, eating. Hint: it’s complicated.

From our friends at Climavores: The eat local movement is huge. Bumper stickers in liberal towns across the U.S. tell us to “Eat local” or ask “Who’s your farmer?” But eating local food may be wildly overrated when it comes to climate change. 

When we look at how foods are produced, transportation accounts for less than 10% of carbon emissions. So should we abandon farmers’ markets for big grocery store chains? 

In this episode, Mike and Tamar break down the real carbon footprint of local food and ask whether the value of supporting local, small-scale farmers outweighs the climate benefit of not buying local (spoiler alert: Tamar says yes. Mike says no). They also dive into the history of the local food movement and explore why it’s gained such traction.

Have a question about food and climate change for Mike and Tamar? Leave a message on the Climavores hotline at (508) 377-3449. Or email us at climavores@postscriptaudio.com. We might feature your question on a future episode.