Welcome to Chatter with BNC, Business North Carolina's weekly podcast, serving up interviews with some of the Tar Heel State's most interesting people.

On today's episode, David Mildenberg speaks with Ray Starling, the general counsel of the Raleigh-based North Carolina Chamber and author of Farmers versus Foodies, a new book addressing critics of traditional agriculture. Starling says increasing criticism of U.S. food production by CEO, academics and politicians is misguided and threatens to reverse decades of progress in alleviating world hunger. Starling is a former top aide to U.S. Senator Thom Tillis and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue.