Did you know that Emily Dickinson wrote 4 tributes to the dandelion? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with John Cardina, PhD, Professor Emeritus in the Dept. of Horticulture and Crop Science at the Ohio State University, former USDA research agronomist and author of Lives of Weeds: Opportunism, Resistance, Folly. Cardina discusses man’s largely futile fight against “weeds” on farms, lawns and gardens, the value of biodiversity and small holder farms, and why we should rethink our attempts to eradicate “invasives.” 

Related Websites: https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501758980/lives-of-weeds/

Did you know that the “Green Revolution” is a cultural narrative that is rarely questioned? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with Glenn Davis Stone, PhD, anthropologist, environmental scientist, and author of The Agricultural Dilemma: How Not to Feed the World. Stone discusses the legend and unintended consequences of the Green Revolution and explains that the Green Revolution didn’t speed up food production, but it did fuel the growth of fertilizers and pesticides. Stone advocates for the benefits of non-industrial, small-holder agriculture and helps us rethink the rhetoric and propaganda behind industrialized agriculture. https://www.sup.org/books/anthropology/smallholders-householders

Related Websites: https://www.wlu.edu/profile/stone-glenn

Did you know that immigrant labor is critical to our food system, and most of the food that gets to our plates was grown, harvested and processed by the hands of immigrants? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with Daniel Costa, JD, attorney, and Director of Immigration Law and Policy Research at the Economic Policy institute. Costa explains details of immigration policy, our dependence on immigrants for economic growth, and policies that affect immigrants’ quality of life. Costa was featured on the Investigate Midwest webinar on immigrant labor in the food system:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbqm6J1jAEA. If you’d like to comment on immigrant work visas, go to the Federal Register: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/09/10/2025-17390/agency-information-collection-activities-comment-request-revision-of-h-2a-temporary-agricultural, and if you’d like to better understand how Trump’s anti-immigrant policies could collapse the U.S. food industry, see this recent article: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/17/how-many-immigrants-food-industry-workers

Related Websites: https://www.epi.org/people/daniel-costa/

Did you know that soil health is integral to life on earth? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with Leo Horrigan, MS, Food System Correspondent for the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, and author of What if Soil Microbes Mattered? Our Health Depends on Them. Horrigan explains how and why successful farming starts below ground. He describes the symbiotic relationship between soil microbes and plants to support human and planetary health. He also explains how common practices used in conventional/chemical agriculture (synthetic pesticides, fertilizers and tillage) harm soil microbes.  On a positive note, regenerative/organic agriculture offers great potential for a brighter farming future.

Related Websites:  https://clf.jhsph.edu/sites/default/files/2025-08/what-if-soil-microbes-mattered-1.pdf/

Did you know that the solution to hunger is solidarity, not charity? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with Mariana Chilton, PhD, MPH, Professor, U. of Mass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences, and author of The Painful Truth About Hunger in America: Why We Must Unlearn Everything We Think We Know and Start Again. (MIT, 2024). Chilton discusses the trauma of hunger, the structural issues that undergird hunger, the devastating impact of hunger on children, and who really benefits from keeping people in a state of precarity. She explains how the solutions to hunger lie far beyond food, and are based in compassion, empathy, solidarity and loving kindness.

Related Websites: www.drmarianachilton.com

Did you know organic agriculture has a legal definition, but “regenerative” agriculture does not?  Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with Charlotte Vallaeys, MS, independent consultant, advocate, and champion of organic agriculture. Board member of Organic Voices and the Organic Farming Research Foundation, Vallaeys discusses the definition of organic, its multiple benefits to health, environment and climate, and consumer confusion over the term “regenerative agriculture.” 

Related Websites: Real organic podcast: https://realorganicproject.org/charlotte-vallaeys-outcome-based-agriculture-pitfalls-episode-one-hundred-eight/

Did you know that the sugar responsible for alpha-gal allergy is widespread in processed food products, drugs and dietary supplements? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with Heather Norman-Burgdolf, PhD, Associate Extension Professor in the Department of Dietetics and Human Nutrition at the University of Kentucky, and author of “Food Allergens: Alpha Gal.” Norman-Burgdolf discusses ways to navigate the alpha-gal allergy, which ranks as the tenth most prevalent food allergy in the United States.

Related Websites: https://publications.ca.uky.edu/sites/publications.ca.uky.edu/files/FCS3646.pdf

Did you know that a tick bite could lead to a food allergy?  Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with Sharon Forsyth, conservationist and patient advocate for the alpha-gal syndrome community. Forsyth created Alpha-gal Information.org, a comprehensive informational resource on AGS. She discusses how to avoid tick bites and the challenges of living with alpha-gal food allergy (also known as mammalian meat allergy).

Related Websites: https://alphagalaction.org/

Did you know that agricultural practices influence the nutritional quality of our food?  Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with Stephen van Vliet, PhD, Assistant Professor and Director of the Center for Nutrition Studies at Utah State University. Van Vliet explains his investigation into how farming practices impact our environment, nutrient density, and nutritional quality of foods.

Related Websites: https://stephanvanvliet.com/

Did you know that being hungry can affect our mood and behaviors? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn for her conversation with Katherine Pryor, award-winning children’s book author, and good food advocate, whose latest title: The Attack of the Hangries, helps parents, teachers and children understand what happens when our fuel supplies run low, and how to stay well nourished. Beyond education and entertainment, this book can be used to help support food assistance programs (which serve one out of every 5 children in the United States), universal school meals, and school food policies.

Related Websites: www.katherinepryor.com