Let's Get Real
LIVE 6:30 - 7pm EST
First Aired - 09/19/2010 12:00PM
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This week on The Main Course Patrick and Katie have a deep, engaging conversation about the role of the rancher in our food system with Bill Bullard of the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund. Bill works with R-CALF, a non-profit organization, to make sure farmers and ranchers own their livestock--NOT the meat packers, who often push for lower wages and lower quality. The lauded food author and journalist Peter Kaminsky then joins the conversation to talk about "culinary intelligence" and what kinds of meals the food culture in America encourages us to eat. This episode was sponsored by Whole Foods Market.
Photo 1: Bill Bullard, President of RCALF-USA, Photo 2: Peter Kaminsky
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The Main Course Introducution (8:52)
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The Main Course, Heritage Radio Network, Patrick Martins, Katy Keiffer, Whole Foods Market, NYC Craft Beer Week, Heritage Party September 25th, RSVP to 718-398-0985, Joao Carlos Martins, tonight at Avery Fischer Hall 6PM,Bill Bullard of RCALF USA (19:24)
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Bill Bullard, Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, national trade association that represents and protects the interests of farmers and ranchers raising cattle, US cattle industry, 753,000 independent farmers and ranchers, live cattle industry generates 50 billion dollars a year, we've lost 30,000 feed lots in the past 14 years, 4 meat packers slaughter 85 percent of all cattle, cattle herd sizes have been liquidated, we have been losing 11,000 cattle ranchers per year, we have entered into the era of market dominance and abusive market power, meat packers pay cattle prices below what a competitive market would establish, there are two products produced from live cattle: raw product and value added products, confined area feeding operations, environmental costs, 24 million head of cattle slaughtered a year, RCALF,GIPSA Rules & Protecting Diversity in the Cattle Market (32:16)
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GIPSA rules, Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration, American Meat Institute, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, has meat packers seated on the board, banning packer to packer sales, Packers and Stockyards Act, protections against unfair trade practices of meatpackers, Sherman Antitrust Act, preventing monopolies, 2008 Farm Bill, summit meeting in Fort Collins Colorado, Tom Vilsack, next farm bill could reach Congress in 2012, deceptive practice, market access risk, how commodity pricing is defined, the industry cannot respond to changes in price and demand, using import to meet demand, Mad Cow Disease, US International Trade Commission, farm elasticity, JBS is the worlds largest beef packer, Australian Beef Association, vertical integration, World Trade Organization, US has relaxed import standards, began in 1994, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, country of origin labeling, www.r-calfusa.com,Peter Kaminksy on Culinary Intelligence (28:37)
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Peter Kaminsky, culinary intelligence, pleasure as a guide, flavors, many things we find delicious are corrupt, decomposed milk, fermented grapes, Harold McGee, corruption, tobacco, chocolate, our food culture only encourages us towards sugar salt and fat, end of the season tomatoes are incredible, every natural food has a season, meat needs to pass the who cares test, it has to taste great, there are more overweight people in India than there are people in the US, international obesity, nutrition transition, refined flour and refined sugar are the two worst items, wonder bread, candy bars, stay away from juice without pulp, pulp makes you synthesize more slowly, Aero Late using skim milk, restaurants load up on butter and salt, Little Italy, Peter is against Fernet Branca, next week is the Heritage Party!,To comment on this episode click here. There are currently Comments
First Aired - 09/16/2010 02:00PM
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This week on Greenhorns Radio Sev speaks to agro-ecologist Houston Wilson. Wilson discusses the primary goal of his science: eliminating "off farm" input. This essentially means designing your farm in a way that encourages nature to do the tasks we often leave up to chemicals or people. With enough crop diversification farmers will find that controlling pests, nutrient cycling, and dealing with diseases can all be executed internally if the farm is designed appropriately. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch: purveyors of fine grass-fed beef from the coasts of CA.
Photo 1: The Altieri Lab at UC Berkeley has been conducting cutting edge research in vineyard agroecology over the past decade. Recent efforts focus on the management of non-crop vegetation to enhance the natural regulation of key insect pests in vineyards. We strive to conduct comprehensive research spanning landscape-level dynamics to specific within-field insect interactions. We also believe in the importance of collaborating with growers to conduct research in real-world settings where the system designs that we are developing will be employed.
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Houston Wilson and Agro-Ecology (12:43)
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Hearst Ranch, Houston Wilson, Agro-ecologist, what is acroecology?, trying to reduce all farm input by diversifying cropping systems so they sponsor their own pest control and nutrient cycling, acroecology not organic farming per se, trying to promote habitat to manage pests, biological control, using natural methods (and other animals) to eradicate pests, Landless Workers Movement, reclaiming underutilized land in Brazil for landless peasants, produce practical contemporary science that is applicable in the field, all research is conducted on commercial farm, getting feedback from commercial farmers about their hypothetical theories and whether they are scalable and usable, off farm inputs, more recent increases in the price of oil has increased fertilizer and pesticide prices, exploding seed costs at a time when the industry has been squeezed, establishing flowering ground covers in vineyards to provice nectar and pollen to beneficial insects which can potentially increase biological benefits and control,Parasitism and The Grape Leaf Hopper (11:16)
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the grape leaf hopper is one of the main pests Houston works with, a very tiny wasp searches for leaf hopper eggs and lays his eggs inside the leaf hopper eggs which kills the leaf hopper, five hundred million little eggs hating insects that will munch on your grapes, the cost of synthetic or organic pesticide versus the target organism developing a resistance to the pesticide, its more difficult for an organism to develope a reisstance to biological control, we need wine!, did we learn anything from wine grapes that can be applied to other crops?, Houston works with wine grapes beacause of their proximity to UC Berkley campus, Napa County and elsewhere are very open to new ways of thinking regarding farming, transfering this science to other cropping systems, the science is however particular to not just wine grapes but wine grapes in Northern California, fine tuning diversification and translating that model to other crops, attempting similiar diversification propceses with similiar goals, are there enough Agroecologists in the world to get the job done?, a lot of these scientists are overworked and tired!, theres no beer at lab meetings, a lot of people are doing research in ecological pest management that aren't agroecologists, there is a documentary film being made about Houston's project, RJ is slowly building a website and adding a new trailer soon, www.BioControlMovie.com,To comment on this episode click here. There are currently Comments
First Aired - 09/02/2010 02:00PM
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This week on Greenhorn Radio Sev speaks to Marguerite of Mother Plants Nursery in upstate NY. Mother Plants specializes in baby plants that are green-roof ready, so you can jump start the "green" part of your green roof. They have a seemingly infinite amount of low maintenance, draft tolerant, "plug-size" plants and can deliver anywhere UPS is willing to trek. Their goal is to be a catalyst for the public's growing interest in green roofs, and facilitate not only the start of new roofs, but to ensure current roofs are the botanical wonderlands their owners had envisioned. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch: purveyors of all natural grass-fed cattle from the coast of California.
Photo: A green roof w/Mother Plants Nursery plants
Photo: A green roof w/Mother Plants Nursery plants
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Marguerite of Mother Plants (6:55)
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the young farming population giving us an edible future, Hearst Ranch, Marguerite, Mother Plants Nursery, specifically growing plants for green roofs, their business is wherever UPS can take plants, the genus Cetum, Kelly the growing manager is full time during the growing season, a pretty small operation, Marguerite likes a small scale farm, its a niche market, they want to compete directly with gian nurserys that offer the same plants, working with people to find out what plants would work best for them, Mother Plants share space with another different enterprises, it costs money to build new tractor sheds, sharing space with a timber framer, using an old hay barn as a timber framing shop, renting an acre frmo an inner city lot in exchange for mechanical expertise, Marguerite's background is organic livestock farming, there is a large vibrant organic veggie community in Ithica, Marguerite did not want to compete with friends in her community in Ithica, Marguerite does not have a subsidy to keep her from having to pay a mortgage so she needed a business that had a reliable return, the nursery trade did not interest her before but she has a strong personal conviction towards doing something good and green for the world,Ithaca & Barn Painting (16:05)
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why is Ithica a great place to live?, juxtaposing rural living with diverse culture, there are restaurants and people from all over, its like living in the big city but with rolling cornfields, a more mature local food community, finding niches you can actually make a living in, Marguerite did not want to be a typical delivery girl, many of our young farmers thinking through their business are trying to strategize how to get a higher profit margin so they can make some babies, how does Marguerita get her barns painted?, there is no online presence for nomadic barn painting operations, holes in the organic system, more players will strengthen the organic movement, there is a strong difference between farming as a lifestyle and for fun and farming as making a living and for a job, hanging geraniums as an unexpected cash crop, people will spend WAY more money on pretty ornamental flowers than on organic food, people haggle over food and not useless pretty flowers, wanting to grow things that are edible and useful, take a small business course at a local credit union!, pick the brains of other small business owners in similiar fields!,To comment on this episode click here. There are currently Comments
