The Food Chain

Along the Food Chain with Michael Olson and ...

Mandy Harper, Founder, CEO & Executive Chef, Wholesome Bakery  ///

At the Natural Products Expo its easy to see what is the latest trend in food.

The last time I attended the Expo, which was a few years ago, the dominant trend among the 4,000 vendors was soy.  It seemed like most every vendor of natural foods was infusing their natural foods with soy. 

This year it seemed that very few of the manufacturers of natural food products were adding soy.  Gone!!!

This year...

Along the Food Chain with Michael Olson and... 

Sabrina Servais,  Farmer, Hamburg Hills Farm, Stoddard, WI, Member, Organic Vallely Farm Coopertive & Elizabeth McMullen, PR Program Manager, Organic Valley Farm Cooperative

When farming alone for a distant market, farmers tend to be price takers. But when cooperating with other farmers, they may gain enough clout to become price makers.  And so we ask: 

How do farmers cooperate to become price makers instead of price takers?

My first MetroFarm speaking engagement was a three-day seminar for family-sized dairy farmers in Drummondville, Quebe...

Along the Food Chain with Michael Olson and... 

Sally Fallon Morell, Founding President, Weston A Price Foundation and Editor & Co-Author  of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats

The food trend is obvious to anyone who attended the recent Natural Products Expo in Anaheim.  Just add protein!  This trend in natural foods leads us to ask:

Do protein powders do a body good?

I attended the recent Natural Products Expo in Anaheim to see what I could see about the trend in food, and o...

One of the most effective ways to get rid of pesky competitors is to establish laws and regulations that make it very difficult for competitors to operate.  That leads us to ask:

How did farmers regain the right to sell food directly to consumers? 

The 1417th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson hosts David Sanford, Commissioner, Santa Cruz California Department of Agriculture, for a conversation about the partnership that guarantees the authenticity of Certified Farmers Markets and the foods thereof.   

Topics include how California’s small farmers won the right...

A FOOD CHAIN RELEASE FROM MICHAEL OLSON 

Those on both sides of the political spectrum look at what has become of the great State of California and wonder: ‘What happened?’  This leads us to ask:

Did California eat too much nonsense?

The 1415th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Elaine Culloti, California’s “Lipstick Farmer,” for a conversation about food, trains, and her campaign to be California’s governor. 

Topics include speculation as to why California has become the nation’s “U-Haul-Ass” state; The Lipstick Farmer’s proposal to use train...

In her novel The Good Earth, Pearl Buck wrote, “If roots are to bear fruit, they must be kept well in the soil of land.”  Her thought leads us to ask: 

Which farmland is best for bearing one’s fruit? 

We have been hearing a lot about farmland recently. 

We’ve been hearing how very wealthy people like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates have been using the millions and billions pouring into and out of their businesses to buy up vast tracks of America’s farmland; how mysterious entities from China are b...

Michael Olson hosts Danielle Flint - Danny the Nanny

You would think a hungry child would want eat just about anything, but a lot of hungry children only eat what they want to eat.  And so we ask: 

How do you get an obstinate child to eat what you want them to eat?

The 1413th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Danielle Flint, Maryland’s Danny the Nanny, for a conversation about feeding the obstinate child.

Topics include the ways in which children express their obstinacy abou...

No kidding!  It's true.  Having had to catch a plane and fly away, we missed kiddentine in California's great Central Valley.   Our loss leads us to ask:

Have you had the opportunity to play with the kids? 

The 1412th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Margie Weber, Co-Owner, Rocky Oaks Goat Creamery, for a conversation about raising goats in a vertically integrated dairy. 

Topics include why goat dairy; the raising of goats in a semi-rural environment; and the selling of goat dairy products direct via farmers markets.

Along the Food Chain with Michael Olson…

#1411 The Snack Chips Man

Jake Stenton, President

Natural Bridges Company

You stand in front of the grocer’s selection of snack chips and think, ‘A penny’s worth of potato in a bag that costs a buck!’ 

We Americans eat about $50 billion dollars worth of snack chips every year.  That pencils out to about $167 per person per year.  And the price of those bags of snack chips keeps going through the roof. 

According to the U...

China Now, 26.1.29, Hour 1

Gang of Two Nan Su & Michael Olson

CCP Coup Attempt at Zhongnanhai / A Trap is Sprung

China Now 26.1.29 Hour 2

Gang of Two:  Michael Olson & Nan Su

CCP Coup Attempt at Zhanganhai, Xi gets away!

The 1410th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson
Guest:  Matt Mulica, Senior Project Director, Keystone Policy Center 

Imagine being in a business that loses 55 percent of its business in one year, and nearly that much in the previous year. Such is the state of the North American beekeeper.  And so we ask:   

Is there a strategy to save the honey bee and its keepers?

The 1410th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Matt Mulica, Senior Project Director, Keystone Policy Center, for a conversation about...

Nan Su & Michael Olson

President Donald Trump invades Davos and conquers Greenland.

Michael Olson & Nan Su

Which will Xi Jinping invade first:  Taiwan or Siberia?

Michael Olson with Dr. Jeff Lester, Director, Trilogy Medical Center for Integrative Medicine

Best laid plans!  When the government threw its food plate out the door and turned its food pyramid upside down, I called my doctor for his opinion on how the new food recommendations will affect our health.

Instead, Dr. Jeff Lester took me on a fascinating tour of healing with homeopathy.  And so I asked,

How does one heal the intractable diseases of modern times with homeopathy?

*. Arrest of Trump changes Taiwan invasion plans

* China stands to lose Billions on Venezuela

*. What is next for Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Russia and China

There are approximately 12.35 million people employed in the restaurant and food service industry.  Chances are good most of them, at one time or another, dreamed of owning a successful restaurant. This “Restaurateur Dream” leads us to ask:     

Which is most important in determining the long-term viability of a restaurant:  food, service or location?

The 1408th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson features Erick and Brian Johnson, the father & son owners of the Erik's DeliCafe franchise restaurant chain that serves the South San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas.   

Topics include how father E...

When the daughter’s pet dog passed on after many years of friendship, she became very sad and teared up.  Hoping to ease her pain at the passing of her good friend, I said, “Honey, life is a succession of good dogs!”     

Not too much longer, the daughter started pestering for a new dog.  After an extended search, we were presented with a choice between two Cocker Spaniel puppies.  One was black, the other was gold.  As you might imagine, the wife wanted the black one, while the daughter wanted the gold one. 

Hoping to avoid...

The label on the meat package reads, “Product of USA.” But the meat in the package could have come from Australia, Brazil or China, and be from one animal or hundreds of animals.  This leads us to ask: 

Should government be forced to accommodate local food farms?

The 1406th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson features Judith McGeary, Founder and CEO, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, for a conversation about the “Livestock Owned by Communities to Advance Local Foods Act” aka “Local Foods Act.” 

Topics include how the c...

A recent review of U.S. special education data revealed a three-fold increase in autism and a four-fold increase in delayed development among public school children.  That leads us to ask:

Can bad food make good genes go bad?

The 1405th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson features Dr. Renee Dufault, Executive Director and Principal Investigator, Food Ingredient & Health Research Institute, whose research points to one of the reasons for the three-fold increase in autism and four-fold increase in delayed development among public school children.

Topics include how Dr. D...

On August 10, 2018, a California jury awarded Benecia public school landscaper Dewayne Lee Johnson $289 million for the non-Hodgkin lymphoma he claimed was caused by exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller.  That award leads us to ask:

Should manufacturers be held accountable for the consequences of their pesticides?

The 1404the edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson features Attorney Brent Wisner, whose firm, Wisner Baum LLP, won the $289 million Monsanto Roundup lawsuit on behalf of public school landscaper Dewayne Lee Johnson.

Topics include what Wisner told the jury that...

Michael Olson hoss Professor Catherine Keske, Ag Economist, University of California, Merced & Author, “Fast Food is Comforting, But…,”

It does not take long for weeds to take over one’s garden.  The same can be said for how quickly fast food can displace good food in one’s diet.  And so we ask:  

How does fast food displace good food?

Topics include the extent to which poor communities, like college students, rely on fast foods; how fast foods displace good foods; and what might be done to bring good foods back into the community’s di

Guest: Mark Cushing, CEO of Animal Policy Group and author of Pet Nation

Twenty years ago, Duke the Dog lived out in the backyard.  Now he lives in the house and sleeps in a bed.  And so we ask:

How did the United States become  a Pet Nation?

Topics include a look at how animals became pets that fly on planes with us; how the transformation from working animals to pets was made; and how pets are now transforming the nation’s economy.

A decade-long study of baby food released by Healthy Babies – Bright Futures claims that 95% of commercial baby food contains heavy metals that can result in autism spectrum and attention-deficit disorders.  And so we ask…

Should grocers be allowed to sell baby foods that contain toxic heavy metals?

Topics include how heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury pollute 95% of the nation’s baby food; what government and industry are doing to reduce the heavy metal pollution in baby food; and how attorney groups are putting the red-hot poker of litigation to the e...

Michael Olson with Washington State Congressman Dan Newhouse

China is buying up America’s farmland…  with the money we send it to manufacture stuff for us in their coal-burning factories.  Some say this a good deal because we don’t have to work in those factories.  Others say it’s a bad deal because we are selling out our future.  And so we ask: 

Should China be allowed to buy up America’s best farmland?

Topics include why China is having trouble feeding its people; how China is buying up America's farmland; and whether Congres...

Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson features Michele Thorne, Executive Director of The Good Meat Project

Given the economies of consolidation, 99% of chickens, 98% of hogs and 70% of cows are now grown and processed on industrial-scaled farms, most all of which use antibiotics, pesticides and pharmaceuticals.   

Topics include how the production of meat has been consolidated into the hands of very few, very big businesses; the consequence of that consolidation on the quality of food and environment; and how one might localize one’s meat supply chain with ethical meat from ethic...

Before the horse we walked everywhere, and it was a downright slog to get there.  But 4,750 years ago, a mutant gene began working its way through the horse herds of the Eurasian Steppes.  Then, about 800 years ago, Genghis Khan raced those horses throughout the World to conquer one and all.  And so we ask:

Have you ridden a horse?

The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Ludovic Orlando, Molecular Archaeologist, Founder of Anthropology & Genomics Institute, and Author of Horses: A 4,000 Year Genetic Journey Across the World, for a conversation about the sea...

The fight is on for one-third of the food we eat.  On one side is a ferocious vampire mite, on the other side is human ingenuity.  The battleground is Apis mellifera – the Western Honeybee.  This fight leads us to ask:

Can human ingenuity save the honey bee and our food?

Michael Olson hosts Bonnie Kaplan, PhD, Co-Author, The Better Brain

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

Can we eat our way out of mental dystopia?

Topics include how San Francisco uses bureacracy to care for people who can’t care for themselves; how the bureacracy’s efforts always seem to exacerbate the problem; and whether nutrition might prove to be the real solution to society’s mental...

 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 19th 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 economi...

China Now:  Friend or Foe?  War or Peace?
Hosts Michael Olson & Nan Su 

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...

Michael Olson with Gary Bascou, Co-Founder, Staff of Life Natural Food Market

Staff of Life is a locally-owned grocery store competing for consumer dollars in a market dominated by corporate giants.  And so we ask:

How does a local grocery store survive in a marketplace of corporate giants?

Topics include the culture that gave rise to “natural” and “organic” food markets; how those foods gave rise to Staff of Life Natural Foods Market; and how Staff of Life survives 56 years of competition with corporate food giants.

There was a time farmers grew food with shovels, hoes and horses.  As technology progressed, they used tractors, fertilizers and pesticides.  Today, farmers grow food by stringing together binary digits of “Yes” and “No.”  That leads us to ask:

Can software sustain and regenerate agriculture?

The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Dan Ryan, CEO of CIBO Technologies, for a conversation about how digital software is transforming food and agriculture.

Topics include how technology made it possible to farm our way out of the dire predictions of 1968’s The Population Bo...

It lives alone, and mostly hidden, in its magic kingdom.  Its members are said to include the largest living organism on earth.   That so many down-to-earth people become its ardent devotees leads us to ask:

What is the magic of mushrooms?

The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Ian Garrone, CEO & Founder Far West Fungi, Moss Landing, CA, for a conversation about the magic kingdom of specialty mushrooms.

Topics include a look into the variety of life in the kingdom of fungi; reasons why so many down-to-earth people become dev...