An exploration of current events
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This is the moment where a meaningful connection is made. In today's world of digital overload and human disconnect, we need these simple yet rare moments more than ever. It’s Aaron’s podcast mission to create these connections with diverse guests through a wide-range of entertaining conversation.
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Farmers interview scientists, activists, politicians, and authors engaged in protecting USDA organic food against an active corporate takeover. Real Organic Project released its add-on food label in stores and markets in 2021, and is focused on introducing eaters across the United States to our movement and its allies. In this podcast series, you'll meet the best organic and regenerative farmers around, as well as journalists, climate experts, policy makers and chefs (Dr. Vandana Shiva, Paul ...
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Daniel O'Connell: Industrial Ag's Rapid Degradation of California
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#189: Daniel O'Connell, author of "In the Struggle: Scholars and the Fight Against Industrial Agribusiness in California," sits down with Dave to discuss the breakdown of ecosystems and communities at the hands of extractive agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley. Daniel O'Connell is the Executive Director at the Central Valley Partnership, "a regio…
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Mark Squire: An Early Food Co-op Stays True To Course
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#188: Good Earth Natural Foods founder Mark Squire sits down with Dave to relate how his California food co-op has been able to remain steadfast in their commitment to organic, regardless of the immense pressure and rampant greenwashing throughout the food system. Mark Squire is the founder, manager and co-owner of Good Earth Natural Foods, an inst…
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Judith Redmond: Becoming An Activist Farmer
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#187: Judith Redmond sits down with Dave at Full Belly Farm in California's Capay Valley to discuss the values and motivations that drew her and others to organic farming decades ago. As times have changed and the issues have multiplied and deepened, what draws the next generation to this work and how can we help them succeed? Judith Redmond is one…
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John Ikerd: Why Animal Confinement Is The Norm
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#186: Agricultural economist John Ikerd returns to discuss why the vast majority of meat, milk, and eggs moving through the American food system is sourced from large-scale, industrial feed lots and factory farms. The drive for economic efficiencies that appears sensible when investors are backing the production of widgets has a disastrous effect w…
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Mark Schatzker: Blocked Cravings + The Failures Of Food Enrichment
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#185: Mark Schatzker, author of the international best -sellers The Dorito Effect and the End of Craving, visits Dave's Vermont tomato farm and talks about the intersection of food, flavor, nutrition and the law, and the effects that junction has had on citizen eaters across the globe. Mark Schatzker is a journalist and author who writes deeply-res…
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Jesse Cool: Inspiring The Next Generation Of Ingredient-Driven Food
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#184: Organic restaurateur Jesse Cool sits down with Dave to talk about the positive path forward she sees in healing our broken food system: embracing and empowering young people who want to farm, cook, serve, and fill every other aspect of sharing healthy meals within communities. Jesse Ziff Cool has been committed to serving local, fresh, and su…
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Vincent Stanley: Making A Living During The Anthropocene
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#183: Vincent Stanley joins Dave to talk about the 2023 release of his updated book, The Future of the Responsible Company: What We've Learned from Patagonia's First 50 Years, and to answer the big question about the newly-launched Patagonia Provisions: why is a clothing company selling food? Vincent describes Patagonia's foray into edible products…
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David Bronner: Origins of Regenerative Organic Certification
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#182: From a sit-down interview at Dr. Bronner's Original All-One Magic Soap company in 2022, David Bronner shares his memories of the earliest days and conversations that sparked the formation of the Regenerative Organic Alliance and the certification program that followed. David Bronner is an organic food and farming activist and the leader (Cosm…
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Lisa Held: Walmart, Walanthropy, And The Food System
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#181: Investigative food systems journalist Lisa Held sits down with Dave to share her thinking and expand upon her findings in creating the deep dive series published in Civil Eats, "Walanthropy: Walmart and the Waltons Wield Unprecedented Influence Over Food, Policy, and the Planet." Lisa Held is a senior staff reporter and editor for Civil Eats,…
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#180: In our first-ever podcast swap, we are sharing the interview that kicked off JM Fortier's pilot season of The Market Gardener Podcast. JM invited our co-director Dave Chapman to visit him in-person in Quebec, for a lengthy deep dive into the origins of Real Organic Project and why this work is needed more now than ever. Is this work about foo…
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Glenn Elzinga Pt 2: Raising Better, More Nutritious Beef
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#179: Glenn Elzinga and Dave continue their discussion about raising truly healthy cattle that yield nutrient-dense beef. By following the innate, time-honored rhythm of the birthing cycle and offering the herd a wide variety of plant species to graze instead of pushing for rapid weight gain, Alderspring Ranch is able to stave off illness and incre…
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Mwatima Juma: Chemical Companies Pressure Farmers In Africa
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#178: Mwatima Juma joins Dave to discuss the powerful influence chemical companies have over African farming practices and the way agricultural policies are shaped across the continent. As support for transitioning acreage to organic grows in Europe and India, multinationals see Africa as a must-win market for selling their amendments. Dr. Mwatima …
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Arnie and Ron Koss: Changing Organic From The Inside Out
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#177: Twin brothers Ron and Arnie Koss talk about their experience founding Earth's Best Baby Foods in 1985 with the hopes of impacting real, positive change in the marketplace by inspiring Big Food to also meet the growing demand for organic baby food. They also pose lots of questions about the Real Organic Project to their Vermont peer and ROP co…
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Nora Taleb: Global Players Rule Our Food System
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#176: Food systems consultant and former team leader for the Naturland Fair & Social Responsibility program Nora Taleb visits Real Organic Project co-director Linley Dixon at her farm in Durango, Colorado for a conversation about the role of organic agriculture, farmers, and corporate actors across the globe. Nora Taleb is a food systems consultant…
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Tim Wise: Today's Green Revolution In Africa and Iowa
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#175: Researcher and author Tim Wise shares his deep knowledge of the Green Revolution and its misleading claims to solve world hunger through chemical agriculture and government policy. While most of us think of the Green Revolution as movement from the past, Tim raises awareness that it is very much alive today across the globe, most notably in A…
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Will Rosenzweig: Crafting A Positive Impact Food System
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#174: Republic of Tea co-founder and UC Berkeley Haas Center for Responsible Business co-chair Will Rosenzweig joins Dave to discuss his early efforts to impact change on the food system from the inside out, through entrepreneurship, as well as his thoughts on how to acheive postive impact in today's world through education. Will Rosenzweig is a we…
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Glenn Elzinga Pt 1: Good Grazing On Public Lands
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#173: Real Organic Project certified rancher Glenn Elzinga talks about the grazing plan he and his wife Carolyn devised to mimic the movement of animals that were once a key part of healthy ecosystems. Their method of "in herding" has transformed his own land, as well as the public land he leases in Idaho, bringing back a diversity of species and a…
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#172: California green banker and philanthropist Kat Taylor joins us again to shed light on how banking and finance influence the consolidation seen in food and agriculture. Kat Taylor is a positive-impact investor who has started both a community bank and an organic cattle ranch to influence the social and environmental injustices she sees in her …
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Hans Herren: Controlling Pests With Biology
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#171: Hans Herren shares the story of using biological controls to save Africa's cassava crop from a disastrous, continent-wide Mealy Bug infestation. While he was awarded the World Food Prize for his efforts and recognized for the incredible number of lives that work saved, non-chemical biocontrols are still nowhere near a popular approach in the …
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Alice Waters: Organic Food In Our Schools Now
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#170: Alice Waters' focus on educating young minds about where real food comes from, how to identify and prepare it, and how food relates to all facets of our lives and cultures has inspired many. She shared her latest plans and emotional motivations with Dave in California in January of 2024, as part of a broader conversation about the organic mov…
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Barbara Gemmill-Herren: Big Chem's Eyes Are On Africa
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#169: Barbara Gemmill-Herren shares her views on listening to farmers first and foremost as policies and support systems are developed, the need to pay attention to the social workings of agricultural communities, and the immense pressure applied to African farmers by global chemical companies to purchase amendments. Barbara Gemmill-Herren serves a…
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Zephyr Teachout: Today's Antimonopolist Movement Has Legs
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#168: Author and law professor Zephyr Teachout walks us through the hardcore push for consolidation in the food, agriculture, and chemical industries that has devastated rural communities and our population's general access to truly good food. She also delivers a hopeful message about policy changes on the horizon that are worth our attention and s…
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Hugh Kent: How The USDA Supports Bad Agriculture
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#167: Dave Chapman visits Real Organic blueberry farmer Hugh Kent at his biodiverse King Grove Farm in central Florida, to discuss the takeover of the US berry market by global brands that are rapidly encouraging the growth of plastic farms. By leveling soil, spraying the ground with chemicals, laying down plastic and popping up high tunnels, pedes…
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Seth Godin: No Society Thrives With Monopolies
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#166: Seth Godin returns and lends his thoughts on corporate consolidation's threat to democracy and to our right to find, grow, and sell organic food. He also talks about the path forward and some ways to inspire effective action. Seth appears in our annual virtual symposium, which is available for instant access here: https://realorganicproject.o…
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Allan Savory: Desertification's Causes, Problems + Solutions
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#165: Allan Savory joins Dave for an eye-opening conversation about the best path forward for solving our most-crucial planetary problems and symptoms, including Climate Change, rapid loss of biodiversity, desertification, wildfires, and the inability of humans to act collectively and organizations to create impact. His views on the management of s…
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Austin Frerick: Modern Day Robber Barons Rule Our Food
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#164: Author and journalist Austin Frerick joins Linley to discuss his brand new book, Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America's Food Industry. His research on the men shaping our food system through their desire for personal greed reveals a shocking level of immorality. Austin's views were a great addition to our annual virtual symposi…
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JM Fortier: Envisioning A Hyper Local Small Farm Revolution
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#163: JM Fortier joins Dave to discuss the potential of promoting a replicable, decentralized food and farming system that relies on people building relationships with both land and community, by engaging their powers of observation and connection. https://realorganicproject.org/symposium-2024/ JM Fortier is a farmer, educator, and author from Queb…
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Zephyr Teachout + Dave Chapman: Live Panel w/ Matt Sheffer At Churchtown Dairy
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#162: Live from the Saving Real Organic Conference at Churchtown Dairy in October 2023, and moderated by Matt Sheffer of Hudson Carbon, Zephyr Teachout and Dave Chapman field (tough) questions from audience members about the fate of the US anti-monopoly movement and its ability to impact our food system for the better. https://realorganicproject.or…
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Dave Chapman + Anna Jones-Crabtree: Notes For The Climate Underground
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#161: Co-director Dave Chapman joins our newest executive board member and Real Organic Project certified grain farmer Anna Jones-Crabtree for an interview by Al Gore at his Climate Underground Summit in November of 2023. Anna Jones-Crabtree holds a Ph.D in Civil and Environmental Engineering and is a registered professional engineer and an early a…
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Eliot Coleman: Denying Our Understanding Of Real Organic Practices Robs The World
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#160: Organic farmer and Real Organic Project champion Eliot Coleman returns to discuss the role corporations, trade associations, and government policy has had on limiting the amount of real organic food found in the marketplace today. In the second half of the interview, the conversation focuses on growing on-farm fertility and stifling pest pres…
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Errol Schweizer: Consolidation, Greenwashing, And The Growing Myth Of Local Food
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#159: An insightful conversation about what's happening on grocery shelves, with Errol Schweizer, whose career in the retail natural foods space included a long stint at Whole Foods on the merchandising team. Dave and Errol talk about Walmart's effect on food prices, sellers inflation, and the noticeable changes seen at food co-ops and other organi…
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Vandana Shiva: False Claims Of The Green Revolution, Then And Now
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#158: Vandana Shiva shares her knowledge around the Green Revolution, a transformative and chemical-dependent set of agricultural practices and policies that promised to deliver food security to populations around the world. But has it delivered on those promises? And how does its outcomes compare to organic agriculture? Vandana Shiva is a celebrat…
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Tim Bowles: Climate Smart Agriculture Includes Tillage
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#157: A continuation of Linley's conversation (one year later and in-person!) with Professor Tim Bowles of UC Berkeley's Agroecology Lab. The discussion is focused on organic's relevant role in Climate Smart Agriculture, even as the DC chemical lobby is training our politicians to believe that any amount of tillage should disqualify a farm from cla…
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Tim Bowles Part 1: Digging Into The Rhizosphere
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#156: Professor Tim Bowles of UC Berkeley's Agroecology Lab introduces us to some interesting players in the soil, including arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and how they may interact with plant roots, drought, and fertilizers. Dr. Tim Bowles is an Assistant Professor of Agroecology and Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the Department of Enviro…
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Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin: The Need For A Real Regenerative Movement
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#155: Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin promotes his vision for creating systems aimed at serving entire regions and communities of farms as a successful path forward for the organic / regenerative movement . Addressing the crowd at Churchtown Dairy in October of 2023, Regi also shares his thoughts about how a small group of thinkers can prevail against …
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Patrick Holden: Organic Needs Top Down, Bottom Up, And In-The-Middle Action
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#154: UK Soil Association trustee, Sustainable Food Trust co-founder, and organic dairy farmer Patrick Holden sits down with Dave to discuss the path forward for the organic movement, as activists on both sides of the pond try to inspire our governments and corporate powers to take note of our competence in the restoration of Earth's systems. Patri…
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Francis Thicke: A Journey To Real Organic
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#153: Real Organic dairy farmer and former National Organic Standards Board member Francis Thicke gives the crowd at Churchtown Dairy a view through the lens of his education and decades-long career. He also shares how he believes dairies like his own (Radiance Dairy in Fairfield, Iowa) can still fetch a premium for their standout products. Francis…
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#152: Alan Lewis delivers deep insights into the growing number of reasons small and mid-sized farms can't find shelf space within American grocery stores. With the arrival of AI and its impact on purchasing systems, even food coops and small Mom and Pops are aiming to stock convenient-to-order over real, local food. Alan Lewis is the VP of Governm…
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Ben Dobson: The Politics Of Farming For Climate
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#151: Ben Dobson, co-founder of Hudson Carbon, has been monitoring the changes in language and funding for agricultural ventures that claim to sequester carbon. He shares his thoughts about the pitfalls that some of these directions present with the crowd at Churchtown Dairy. https://www.realorganicproject.org/donate Ben Dobson is a lifelong organi…
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Dave Chapman and Eliot Coleman: We Did It Before, We Can Do It Again
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#150: Dave Chapman and Eliot Coleman take the stage at the Saving Real Organic Conference at Churchtown Dairy to reflect on the importance of growing the real organic movement in the US amid the mounting challenges facing our country's food system. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is embracing the value of growing organic acreage and markets. https…
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Karl Hammer: Imagining A Photosynthetic Food System
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#149: Organic farmer and founder of the Vermont Compost Company Karl Hammer shares his vast knowledge of our agricultural and social history, in a heady conversation with his longtime friend, Real Organic Project co-director Dave Chapman. https://www.realorganicproject.org/donate Karl Hammer has been involved with rural life, horse-powered farming,…
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Zephyr Teachout at Churchtown: Break'em Up
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#148: Law Professor and author of "Break'em Up" Zephyr Teachout addresses the crowd at the Saving Real Organic Conference at Churchtown Dairy about what it will take to dismantle monopolies in the United States. https://www.realorganicproject.org/donate Zephyr Teachout is an attorney and law professor at Fordham University. She is the author of Bre…
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Kristin Kimball: The Small Farm Revolution Needs Activist Eaters
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#147: Writer and farmer Kristin Kimball throws light upon the idea that organic family farmers desperately need eaters to help transform the food system. Choosing to buy whole foods, choosing to cook, choosing meaning over convenience, and choosing to teach others how to do the same can bring powerful and necessary change. https://www.realorganicpr…
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Linley Dixon: Saving Organic: The First Five Years of The Farmer-Led Real Organic Project
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#146: Linley Dixon, co-director of the Real Organic Project, speaks to the progress of our movement and the challenges we face, including new and misleading terms like "climate smart agriculture" and a misunderstood villainization of tillage. Linley was the lead-off speaker at our recent in-person event at Abby Rockefeller's Churchtown Dairy in Hud…
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Iriel Edwards: Why Is Race In This? USDA Discrimination, Land Access, And Collective Liberation
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#145: Iriel Edwards, an inspector with Real Organic Project, a former dryland SRI rice farmer with Louisiana-based Jubilee Justice, and a graduate of Cornell University with a degree in Entomology, addresses the crowd at Churchtown Dairy at the Saving Real Organic Conference on October 14, 2023. https://www.realorganicproject.org/iriel-edwards-usda…
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#142: Dave interviews celebrated chef and author Dan Barber at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, where they discuss the potential of getting the masses to understand the value of food production practices above the final product. Dan believes the key lies in exceptional flavor and the innate human drive to pursue pleasure. Dan Barber is …
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Hugh Kent | Breaking Their Own Laws: Hydroponics And The Farce Of USDA Organic integrity
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#144: Real Organic blueberry farmer Hugh Kent of King Grover Organics in FL, explains the complete transformation of organic blueberry farming within the US and outside of its borders, that make up an increasing amount of USDA-certified "organic" berries in the produce sections of US stores. This shift, as he explains is not occurring because the U…
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Joan Gussow: Last 50 Years Brought More Foods And Less Choice
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#141: Nutrition icon, author, and professor Joan Gussow reflects on changes in food and farming over the past many decades and how a concentration of power is negatively affecting our food system. Joan Gussow is a Professor Emeritus at Teachers College, Columbia University where she taught her revered course "Nutritional Ecology" until 2022. Once c…
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Glenn Elzinga: Why Cattle Are Ruining Our Public Lands In Spite Of A Better Way
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#143: Real Organic Idaho cattleman Glenn Elzinga shares his success story about reintroducing beaver and protecting important fauna and flora by moving his cattle with intention as they graze public lands. Glenn is addressing the crowd at the Saving Real Organic Conference at Churchtown Dairy in Hudson, NY on October 14, 2023. Visit our YouTube Cha…
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Tom Willey Part 2: Working Towards A Permanent Agriculture
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#140: Longtime organic, California vegetable farmer Tom Willey continues his lively conversation with Dave. They land on their thoughts around lasting solutions for sustainable food production that will take humanity into the future. Tom Willey has run TD Willey Farms with his wife Dennesse in Madera, CA since the mid-1980s. Along with California f…
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