Food Chain Radio Show #1235

Michael Olson, Author & Urban Farming Agriculturalist

Up Against Goliath IV: David

Guest: Vara Prasad, Professor of Crop Ecophysiology & Director, Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab, Kansas State University

I was at the big box store the other day stocking up on T-P. I got to looking at us, and by that I mean the collective us. And what I saw of us is that we have become very big. In fact, most all of the people I saw in the big box were bursting at the seams of their clothing with excess weight.

Michael Olson Food Chain Radio – Up Against Goliath IV: The Davids – Do you think there is an alternative to big food from big business in big boxes?

I suppose some of this excess weight could be attributed to that mysterious made-in-China coronavirus that has us all hunkered down with not much to do but eat, and eat, and eat.

Now, if you think about it, those so-called “Covid-19” coronavirus pounds present a clear and present danger, as they are particularly dangerous to people with pre-existing conditions, most notably, obesity.

As I pushed my shopping cart filled with T-P around the store, I started looking at what filled the carts of shoppers. What I saw, of course, were beautifully packaged processed foods from the big food brands of the world. I got to thinking there just might be a correlation between what was inside of those attractive packages, and how the collective we now now appear.

And somehow that thinking lead to a series of Food Chain Radio Shows titled “Up Against Goliath,” in which we have examined the ways in which big business fights to prevent small business from competing in the marketplace for consumer dollars.

Up Against Goliath #1 told how big business uses bribes, or kickbacks, to prevent small business from selling through the food service industry.

Up Against Goliath #2 told how big business used North Dakota bureaucrats to prevent North Dakota farmers from selling directly to North Dakota citizens.

Up Against Goliath #3 told how big business turns its contracted chicken farmers into “serfs with mortgages” on their own farms.

I was wondering how to finish the series when I received a release from the American Society of Agronomy that stated, “Smallholder farms supply majority of world food supply but still face poverty.”

And so, for the fourth episode of Up Against Goliath we ask:

Leave a comment below: Do you think there is an alternative to big food from big business in big boxes?

Tune in here, for the syndicated the Michael Olson Food Chain Radio Show #1235 June 27, 2020 Saturday 9AM Pacific

Nationally syndicated Food Chain Radio airs live Saturday mornings 9-10AM Pacific.