The Food Chain

metrofarm
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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

  1. Sep 3

    Ep 1428 Mamdani’s Great Leap Forward Markets

    New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani plans to build 5 government-owned supermarkets for the 5 boroughs of his city, and charge 30% less for food.  In the late 1950’s, during China’s Great Leap Forward, the Chinese Communist Party set up free communal canteens across the country.  Families, children and adults were given three meals a day in the commune’s “big socialist food hall.” The canteens were symbols of Chairman Mao’s promise of equality and the end of scarcity under socialism. In the beginning, 80% of the food for the canteens was produced on private farms.  But then those farms were collectivized, and while the canteens initially served good food, and lots of it, the quality and quantity quickly deteriorated.  The combination of collectivization, unrealistic production goals, and poor distribution soon lead to the transformation of Mao’s Great Leap Forward into “Mao’s Great Famine.”  During this time, the Chinese people resorted to eating raw seeds, tree bark, dirt, and in some cases, each other.  Many tens of millions starved to death. Today, as we look across the five bouroughs of New York City, we wonder: Can Mayor Mamdani succeed where Chairman Mao failed?

  2. Aug 23

    Ep 1426 Big Cities V Small Farms

    Stephanie Rocha, Owner, Nest Box Farm, San Martin, CA It is a fact!  Cities grow best, where farms grow best, and that is why some of the nation’s biggest cities are planted on some of the nation’s best farmland.  This leads us to ask:    Can farms survive their cities?   Topics include how cities rezone land to maximize revenue; how farmers fight to survive against the pressure for cities to grow; and what the future might hold for what city people will have to eat.    A few decades ago California’s Santa Clara Valley was called “The Valley of Hearts Delight” for the spectacular abundance of its tree fruit farms.  Todxxday it is called “Silicon Valley” for the abundance of its digital technology companies.  This transition from growing low value food to manufacturing high value digital information systems sets up a competition for resources between city and farm. Consider this:  A single-family valley home in the valley recently sold for $4 million dollars.  Well, it did have 4 bedrooms! Given the money this sale generated, and the property tax money it will generate in the future, this sale is exactly what the city fathers and mothers want to see more of.  How to make that happen? What Santa Clara County is trying to do, is what most cities do when they need to more money – rezone the agriculture lands on the fringes of the metropolitan area into commercial and manufacturing… thus chasing out the rural folks and replacing them with big money folks.  This never ending competition between city and farm leads us to ask:  Can farms survive their cities?

  3. Aug 23

    California's Plunder Coast

    Michael Olson hosts Joe Oglivy, Author of Tin Can Coast for a conversation about the commercialization of California's marine life: It is an ocean current that flows south along the coast from Canada to Baja, and it brought to the people who would come to live along this coast unbelievable living treasures to plunder.  And plunder they did!  And so today we pause to ask:   Do you think we can learn how to preserve the fish in our sea?

  4. Aug 5

    Ep 1424 GLP 1s: Too Good to be True?

    Michael Olson hosts. Dr. Keith Kantor, Trichologist and Author What Matters Diabetes costs the United States $640 billion a year.  What if we could take a pill, lose the weight, then put all that diabetes money into the bank.  Topics include how prescription GLP-1s work to help people lose weight; whether GLP-1s might be an effective way for the U.S. to reduce the number of its obese and the cost of its diabetes; and a look at the potential side-effects of using GLP-1s.   Consider some very big numbers:  42.7% of those who live in the United States are obese, and 15% have diabetes. The diabetes number grows, because there is a very strong correlation between body mass index and propensity to develop diabetes.  According to the Center for Disease Control, the total estimated cost of diagnosed diabetes was $640 billion per year in medical costs and lost productivity. That is nearly two-thirds of a trillion dollars per year – Gone! In 2005, GLP-1s hit the market, and the weight began peeling off the body politic. The cost for this prescription medication starts at around $39 per month, which given the cost of diabetes, would seem to be a very good deal. But then the hair started falling out, the muscles weakened, and the gut complained.   Given the strange side-effects, some began to ask: Are GLP-1s too good to be true?

  5. Jul 31

    1423 The Oyster Cult

    #1423 Michael Olson host Virginia Shaffer, Host of Lady Oyster Blog and Author, Oyster Society: Adventures with the Shellfishly Motivated I remember the moment I was induced to slurp down a freshly-shucked oyster.  That so many of us remember that moment leads us to ask:    What is it about the oyster that leads us to become its cultists? Topics include a look at the history of the U.S. oyster business; a “taste” of different oyster varieties; and how the oyster spawned its cult of people.

  6. Jul 23

    Ep 1422 - Beyond Alcohol: Functional Drinking

    Function Drinking - Beyond Alcohol Michael Olson with Autumn Shelton, Formulator and CEO of the start-up functional drink company TruBond. Topics include the growing trend of functional foods; the functions targeted in the formulating of TruBond drinks; and the process of taking TruBond from concept, to packaged product, to the marketplace.

  7. Jul 16

    Ep 1422

    The idea is to turn away from highly stimulative drinks during the day, and the alcohol that follows at the end of the day, and turn instead to beverages formulated to provide clarity, focus and energy throughout the day.  This leads us to ask: Can beverages be formulated to optimize the body’s daily functions? The 1422nd edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Autumn Shelton, Formulator and CEO of the start-up functional drink company TruBond. Topics include the growing trend of functional foods; the functions targeted in the formulating of TruBond drinks; and the process of taking TruBond from concept, to packaged product, to the marketplace.

  8. Jul 9

    Ep 1421 Start Up - Bread from Breadfruit?

    When exploring the islands of Tahiti with Captain James Cook, botanist Sir Joseph Banks identified a carbohydrate-rich tropical fruit that, when cooked over an open fire, tasted like freshly-baked bread. Banks recommended that King George III adopt this energy-rich breadfruit as a food staple for the English plantations of the Caribbean. During a subsequent voyage to transport breadfruit trees from Tahiti to the Caribbean, Captain William Bly lost his ship, the Bounty, to mutineers, who tossed the prescious breadfruit trees over the side, along with Captain Bly, and then they disappeared into the vast waters of the Pacific Ocean. Today, breadfruit is getting a fresh look by the culinary world as a gluten-free, high-fiber, and environmentally-friendly alternative to refined flours.  In fact, researchers at the University of British Columbia claim breadfruit is poised to become the next global superfood.  A former chemistry professor and her team have combined their efforts to continue the mission of bringing tropical breadfruit to the world via their Amasar line of breadfruit baking mixes.  Their efforts lead us to ask: Are we ready for bread made from breadfruit?

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About

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

Information

  • Creator
    metrofarm
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    99
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2024 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Food Chain