Mike Weaver is the president of the Organization for Competitive Markets, a group that supports small and medium size farms and meat producers in the face of the consolidation of American agriculture. In this episode he describes the difficulty of competing with mega agribusiness; key changes for the upcoming negotiations to the farm bill, and the failure of legislators to support small and medium scale farming.
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Episode 254: Mike Weaver and the Organization for Competitive Markets

Food production is a curious business; it's nuanced, layered, complex, and political. In What Doesn’t Kill You, host Katy Keiffer endeavors to identify and explain some of the key issues in our food system through interviews with journalists, authors, scientists, activists, and industry experts. Water rights, meat and agricultural production, food waste, labor issues, and new technologies are just some of the topics explored so we can better understand how to feed the future.

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Science writer Maryn McKenna, author of Superbug and Big Chicken, joins to discuss the feeble attempts to rein in antibiotic use in animal agriculture. As the World Health Organization and others blare out the warnings about a post antibiotic medical landscape, American livestock producers can't quite seem to fully wean their herds off prophylactic antibiotics. Incremental progress has been made over the last decade plus, but we are running out of time. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support What Doesn't Kill You by becoming a member! What Doesn't Kill You is Powered by Simplecast.

Antibiotic Resistance Continues Apace, H1N1 Jumps Species! WTH???

The Humane League, an advocacy organization seminal to both encouraging the egg industry to improve its conditions for laying hens, but also to hold restaurants accountable when they don't keep their promises to use only cage free eggs. Kelly Myers, Director of Corporate Engagement joins to discuss this sea change, and the new Humane League Eggspose, that busts the bad actors who promise one thing, and do another. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support What Doesn't Kill You by becoming a member! What Doesn't Kill You is Powered by Simplecast.

Cage Free Laying Goes Mainstream! Only 10% in 2014, Now Edging Over 40%

According to journalist Keith Schneider whose prize winning series Toxic Terrain has explored many of the ills associated with our style of agriculture, "the voluntary conservation practices promoted by federal and state governments, and Big Ag, are the costliest and least effective pollution prevention strategy ever devised. In the Mississippi Basin $30 billion spent since 1997 by the federal and state governments." Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support What Doesn't Kill You by becoming a member! What Doesn't Kill You is Powered by Simplecast.

Just How Much Money Are We Actually Wasting in Our Efforts to Remediate Our Polluted Waterways Like the Gulf of Mexico or the Chesapeake?

Professors Viveca Morris and Jennifer Jacquet dug into how the livestock industry has co-opted certain university experts to minimize the impact of findings on climate change related to industrialized animal agriculture. Their findings have been published in a new paper detailing just how successful meat companies have been in skewing perceptions of climage change, altering emission targets, and making sure the industry remains the unregulated monster it is. Prepare to be outraged. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support What Doesn't Kill You by becoming a member! What Doesn't Kill You is Powered by Simplecast.

Just How Much DOES Industry Influence Science at the University Level? Turns Out, Quite a Bit.

Veteran agricultural journalist Tom Philpott joins to talk about what is and isn't in the newest iteration of the Farm Bill. Despite all the extra funds from the Investment Recovery Act, and all the information we now have about climate disruption, and other impacts on agriculture, we seem to be marching toward the same old same old... Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support What Doesn't Kill You by becoming a member! What Doesn't Kill You is Powered by Simplecast.

Episode 254: Mike Weaver and the Organization for Competitive Markets

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