Tom Colicchio, the face of Top Chef and Craft Restaurant, is talking antibiotics in the food system on this week's What Doesn't Kill You. Katy Keiffer calls up Tom to talk about how he good involved in the politics of food and activism. Listen in to hear Tom talk about the differences between charity and direct action, and their respective impacts in the realm of food policy. Hear how Tom's experience with staph has inspired him to tackle antibiotic usage in food production. How can the restaurant industry support antibiotic-free meat besides using their purchasing power? Find out how Tom's restaurants source their meat, and how they can afford humanely-raised, antibiotic-free meat. Tune into this episode to hear more about growth promotion, the environmental effects of livestock production, and CAFO conditions. Thanks to our sponsor, Fairway Market. Thanks to Dead Stars for today's music.

"If there is a food movement, it needs to encompass everything. We need to look at hunger issues, environment, farm safety, antibiotics... we really need to make a voting block that will vote on food issues." [9:50]

-- Tom Colicchio on What Doesn't Kill You

Bob is the director of Food for Maine's Future and a family farmer living in Sedgwick, Maine. He serves on the boards of the National Family Farm Coalition and Family Farm Defenders. As an activist and farmer living near East Penobscot Bay, Bob identifies with peasant and indigenous people worldwide who struggle to maintain access to land on which to grow their food. In his food sovereignty advocacy he has initiated a seedsaving campaign and writes frequently on the need to oppose the patenting of seeds and other life forms. He spends much of his time these days trying to stop state and federal agencies from shutting down farms in his community. This episode is sponsored by Hearst Ranch.

"Rural communities have been feeding themselves for a long time and offering sales to neighbors and markets. . . and that is an important part of the local economy."

--Bob St. Peter on Greenhorn Radio

Vinnie has been farming in the Washington, DC beltway, in Prince George’s County, for five years. He started designing and building school gardens for a number of elementary and middle schools, and co-wrote Growing Healthy Habits, a gardening and nutrition curriculum that is aligned with the Maryland State Standards for elementary education. He has been involved in designing and building a number of educational farm projects and organizations, such as the Master Peace Community Farm in 2007, a 1/2 acre farm with community plots and entrepreneurial vegetable production where hundreds of middle school students use the farm to learn nutrition, science, math, and writing. Vinnie’s most recent project, Seed and Cycle, is an effort to push urban agriculture and composting further along to areas explored only by the most innovative or adventurous urban agriculturalists. He wants to help urban farmers to get more yield out of their land using low-cost hoop houses and is building a business assisting other farmers in quickly and cheaply constructing them on their farm.