What if your dinner could change the world?

In this episode of One Bite is Everything, host Dana DiPrima sits down with Sam Kass, former White House chef, policy strategist, and author of The Last Supper, to explore how food lies at the heart of the climate crisis and could be one of our most powerful solutions.

They dive into Sam’s journey from the kitchen to the West Wing, the climate warning hidden in our everyday ingredients, and what it will really take to build a food movement that has staying power. Sam shares behind-the-scenes stories from global climate summits, candid reflections on the battles in Washington, and sharp insights into how culture, policy, and the food industry intersect.

You’ll learn:

• Why climate change is already reshaping what we eat—from chocolate to rice
• How the “Last Supper” dinners helped world leaders feel the climate crisis
• What role corporations, consumers, and voters each play in transforming the system
• The surprising story behind McDonald’s regenerative beef initiative
• How small daily choices—like what’s on your plate—can add up to systemic change

Find Sam Kass's new book, The Last Supper: How to Overcome the Coming Food Crisis, here.

This episode is part of the For Farmers Movement, where every story sparks action. Because what you hear here doesn’t stay here; it grows into real-world impact.

Rate and review the show to help us keep bringing you urgent, honest, and practical conversations about the future of food.

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🎙️ The OBIE Team

Dana DiPrima, host and producer

Sonia Dhillon, co-producer & editor

Russell Chapa, sound engineer, original music

One Bite is Everything is a proud part of Heritage Radio Network, home to the most influential voices in food. 

Last week, we talked about SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and how it shows up in real people’s lives. This week, we zoom out to the bigger picture: the Farm Bill, the massive piece of legislation that shapes what gets grown, what’s conserved, and who can afford to eat.

In this solo episode, host Dana DiPrima unpacks how and why SNAP ended up inside the Farm Bill, who’s fighting to separate them, and what’s really at stake for both farmers and families if that happens. From coalition politics to sugar subsidies, she traces the threads that tie our plates to our policies — and asks a powerful question:

If we disconnect farm policy from food policy, are we merely deepening the same disconnection that already plagues our food culture?

• The origin story of the “food + farm” marriage — and why it was intentional.
• How much of the Farm Bill actually funds nutrition programs (hint: about 75%).
• Who wants to separate SNAP and the Farm Bill — and why.
• What would happen to farmers and eaters if they split.
• Why SNAP’s connection to farm policy keeps both sides politically strong.
• The quiet overlap between USDA sugar supports and SNAP purchase rules.
• How America’s cultural disconnection from food is showing up on the policy stage.

• SNAP participation (FY 2024): ≈ 41.7 million people per month (12.3 % of U.S.).
• Average benefit: ≈ $187 per person per month.
• Total cost: ≈ $100 billion.
• Farm Bill budget share: ≈ 75 % nutrition programs (USDA ERS / CBO).
• First combined food + farm bill: 1973 Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act.
• 2013 precedent: House briefly passed split bills before recombining.
• USDA pilots: Testing limits on sugary drink purchases with SNAP.

(Sources: USDA ERS, CBO, CRS Reports R48167 & R47055, USDA FNS data, Heritage Foundation policy briefs, HealthEatingResearch 2025 snapshot.)

If we split SNAP from the Farm Bill, are we fixing inefficiency or widening a cultural and political gap between the people who grow our food and the people who eat it?

“Splitting the Farm Bill and SNAP might look tidy on paper, but symbolically it says: what farmers do has nothing to do with what families eat. And that’s not true, it never has been.”

Support the Show

📩 Become an OBIE Insider: Stay connected, get behind-the-scenes updates, and explore more ways to eat and drink like it matters. Here's the link to sign up.

🎧 Liked the show? Leave a 5-star rating and review to help us bring you more incredible guests and conversations. Top reviews on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or you can leave your review here.

📱 Screenshot this episode and share it on your socials!

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Instagram @xoxofarmgirl  Dana DiPrima, For Farmers Movement & OBIE

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🎙️ The OBIE Team

Dana DiPrima, host and producer

Sonia Dhillon, co-producer & editor

Russell Chapa, sound engineer, original music

One Bite is Everything is a proud part of Heritage Radio Network, home to the most influential voices in food. 

In this episode, we unpack the full picture of SNAP: what it is, what critics say, why some critiques are fair and others miss the point, and how the program ties into the strength of our entire food system.

You’ll hear:

• A quick history of SNAP and how it evolved from Depression-era “food stamps” into today’s $100 billion stabilizer.
• Who actually receives SNAP: families with children, seniors, people with disabilities, and millions of working Americans whose wages don’t stretch as far as they used to.
• What critics get right (and wrong) about fraud, work, and food choices.
• Why SNAP can’t simply “become more like WIC” — and why that’s not as simple or healthy as it sounds.
• What happens when SNAP is paused or defunded: the economic domino effect that hits farmers, retailers, and local economies far beyond the households using the benefits.
• And finally, why asking farmers — who already live close to the margins — to donate their way through a federal funding crisis is both unfair and unsustainable.

Because this isn’t about handouts.

It’s about understanding that food assistance is economic infrastructure.

When we weaken it, everyone pays.

Support the Show

📩 Become an OBIE Insider: Stay connected, get behind-the-scenes updates, and explore more ways to eat and drink like it matters. Here's the link to sign up.

🎧 Liked the show? Leave a 5-star rating and review to help us bring you more incredible guests and conversations. Top reviews on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or you can leave your review here.

📱 Screenshot this episode and share it on your socials!

🏷️ Tag @xoxofarmgirl + #OneBiteIsEverything

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🎙️ The OBIE Team

Dana DiPrima, host and producer

Sonia Dhillon, co-producer & editor

Russell Chapa, sound engineer, original music

One Bite is Everything is a proud part of Heritage Radio Network, home to the most influential voices in food. 

What if the revolution our food system needs is already happening, quietly, locally, and led by women?

In this episode of One Bite is Everything, host Dana DiPrima sits down with journalist and author Nancy Matsumoto to explore the themes of her upcoming book, Reaping What She Sows: How Women Are Rebuilding Our Broken Food System, a powerful look at the women transforming agriculture from the ground up.

Nancy introduces us to a global network of women who are rejecting the extractive systems of Big Ag and building something far more resilient, regenerative, and just.

Together, this episode unpacks:

• Why women are often the catalysts for food system change, and what makes their approach different
• How small farms are navigating climate chaos, supply chain bottlenecks, and economic precarity
• What each of us can do today to support a better food future

If you've ever wondered how your food choices connect to the climate, the economy, and community resilience, this episode offers clarity, hope, and a practical path forward.

🎤 Plus: Nancy and several of the women featured in her book will be delivering a keynote at the 2025 EcoFarm Conference in Monterey, California in January 2026. If you're anywhere near the West Coast, this is a must-attend moment for anyone passionate about food, farming, and the future.

Support the Show

📩 Become an OBIE Insider: Stay connected, get behind-the-scenes updates, and explore more ways to eat and drink like it matters. Here's the link to sign up.

🎧 Liked the show? Leave a 5-star rating and review to help us bring you more incredible guests and conversations. Top reviews on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or you can leave your review here.

📱 Screenshot this episode and share it on your socials!

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Instagram @xoxofarmgirl  Dana DiPrima, For Farmers Movement & OBIE

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🎙️ The OBIE Team

Dana DiPrima, host and producer

Sonia Dhillon, co-producer & editor

Russell Chapa, sound engineer, original music

One Bite is Everything is a proud part of Heritage Radio Network, home to the most influential voices in food. 

Lately, social media and responses to articles about farm struggles have been filled with comments saying things like “Farmers voted for Trump — they got what they deserve.”

This week, your OBIE host, Dana DiPrima, slows that conversation down.

In this reflective episode, she unpacks the frustration and anger behind those comments — and explores what’s really at stake when we decide who “deserves” empathy.

Through facts, context, and a little heart, Dana walks listeners through:

• What farmers actually thought they were voting for — trade stability, regulatory relief, survival.
• What they got instead — lost markets, labor shortages, rising costs, and consolidation.
• Why “deserve” is the wrong frame for democracy, food, or justice.
• And how blame divides us while the system that hurts farmers — and eaters — stays intact.

It’s not about defending anyone. It’s about remembering that food is infrastructure — and when farmers fail, we all feel it.

Key ideas in this episode:

• Farmers aren’t a political monolith; only ~1–2% of Americans farm, and their reasons for voting often come down to survival, not ideology.
• Tariffs, trade wars, and policy swings have disproportionately hurt small and mid-size farms.
• Empathy shouldn’t depend on political alignment. We can hold policies accountable without wishing harm on the people who grow our food.
• The real threat isn’t who farmers voted for — it’s consolidation, volatility, and disconnection from the systems that feed us.

Support the Show

📩 Become an OBIE Insider: Stay connected, get behind-the-scenes updates, and explore more ways to eat and drink like it matters. Here's the link to sign up.

🎧 Liked the show? Leave a 5-star rating and review to help us bring you more incredible guests and conversations. Top reviews on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or you can leave your review here.

📱 Screenshot this episode and share it on your socials!

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📱 Connect on Socials

Instagram @xoxofarmgirl  Dana DiPrima, For Farmers Movement & OBIE

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🎙️ The OBIE Team

Dana DiPrima, host and producer

Sonia Dhillon, co-producer & editor

Russell Chapa, sound engineer, original music

One Bite is Everything is a proud part of Heritage Radio Network, home to the most influential voices in food. 

We say it all the time: “People are disconnected from their food.”

But what does that really mean?

In this solo episode, Dana DiPrima peels back the layers of disconnection shaping our food system — from the distance your meal travels to the seasons we’ve stopped noticing. She explores how disconnection affects everything: what we eat, who we support, and whether we can even taste what’s real anymore.

You’ll learn:

• Why disconnection is at the heart of food injustice, environmental harm, and health crises.
• How globalization, convenience, and marketing severed our ties to land, labor, and local economies,
• And what reconnection actually looks like — through small, doable steps anyone can take.

Support the Show

📩 Become an OBIE Insider: Stay connected, get behind-the-scenes updates, and explore more ways to eat and drink like it matters. Here's the link to sign up.

🎧 Liked the show? Leave a 5-star rating and review to help us bring you more incredible guests and conversations. Top reviews on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or you can leave your review here.

📱 Screenshot this episode and share it on your socials!

🏷️ Tag @xoxofarmgirl + #OneBiteIsEverything

📱 Connect on Socials

Instagram @xoxofarmgirl  Dana DiPrima, For Farmers Movement & OBIE

Facebook For Farmers Movement & OBIE

🎙️ The OBIE Team

Dana DiPrima, host and producer

Sonia Dhillon, co-producer & editor

Russell Chapa, sound engineer, original music

⭐️ One Bite is Everything is a proud part of Heritage Radio Network, home to the most influential voices in food. 

What if the answers to our most urgent food challenges aren’t found in high-tech labs—but in the hands of farmers themselves?

In this episode of One Bite is Everything, host Dana DiPrima speaks with Peter Kelly, founder of Grow Further, an organization working to fill the critical funding gap in agricultural research by supporting innovations designed with and for smallholder farmers.

Peter shares how projects like early-maturing beans in Ghana, iron-rich millet in Zimbabwe, and irrigated wheat in Ethiopia are redefining food security—not just abroad, but here at home.  

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why agricultural research is severely underfunded—and why that matters
• How farmer-led innovation is transforming food systems from the ground up
• What U.S. farmers can learn from global agricultural breakthroughs
• How climate-smart farming starts with listening, not lecturing
• Why supporting local and global research is critical to feeding a growing planet

Guests

Peter Kelly – Agricultural economist and founder of Grow Further

Support the Show

📩 Become an OBIE Insider: Stay connected, get behind-the-scenes updates, and explore more ways to eat and drink like it matters. Here's the link to sign up.

🎧 Liked the show? Leave a 5-star rating and review to help us bring you more incredible guests and conversations. Top reviews on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or you can leave your review here.

📱 Screenshot this episode and share it on your socials!

🏷️ Tag @xoxofarmgirl + #OneBiteIsEverything

📱 Connect on Socials

Instagram @xoxofarmgirl  Dana DiPrima, For Farmers Movement & OBIE

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🎙️ The OBIE Team

Dana DiPrima, host and producer

Sonia Dhillon, co-producer & editor

Russell Chapa, sound engineer, original music

⭐️ One Bite is Everything is a proud part of Heritage Radio Network, home to the most influential voices in food. 

Most of us think of coffee as a comforting ritual or a morning jumpstart. But behind your daily cup of Joe may be a very different reality—one that includes deforestation, toxic pesticides, child labor, and even slavery.

In this powerful episode, Dana DiPrima sits down with Etelle Higonnet, founder of Coffee Watch and longtime human rights and environmental investigator, to unpack what’s really going on behind the scenes in the global coffee industry.

Together, they explore why coffee—despite its friendly image—is one of the most destructive commodities on Earth, how certification labels often fail to protect workers and ecosystems, and what you can do (without giving up your coffee) to demand better.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why coffee is the #6 driver of deforestation worldwide
• How monoculture and pesticide use threaten ecosystems and worker health
• What’s really behind “fair trade” and other certifications—and why they fall short
• How Coffee Watch is using investigations and strategic litigation to fight back
• What simple actions you can take to drink more ethically

Whether you’re a casual sipper or a serious brewhead, this episode will make you see your coffee differently—and might even change how you drink it.

🌐 Learn more about Coffee Watch: https://coffeewatch.org/

Support the Show

📩 Become an OBIE Insider: Stay connected, get behind-the-scenes updates, and explore more ways to eat and drink like it matters. Here's the link to sign up.

🎧 Liked the show? Leave a 5-star rating and review to help us bring you more incredible guests and conversations. Top reviews on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or you can leave your review here.

📱 Screenshot this episode and share it on your socials!

🏷️ Tag @xoxofarmgirl + #OneBiteIsEverything

📱 Connect on Socials

Instagram @xoxofarmgirl Dana DiPrima, For Farmers Movement & OBIE

Facebook For Farmers Movement & OBIE

🎙️ The OBIE Team

Dana DiPrima, host and producer

Sonia Dhillon, co-producer & editor

Russell Chapa, sound engineer, original music

One Bite is Everything is a proud part of Heritage Radio Network, home to the most influential voices in food.

⏱️ Timestamps to Key Content

00:00 – Cold open: What’s really behind your coffee

02:10 – Meet Etelle Higonnet: from Greenpeace to Coffee Watch

07:12 – The surprising link between coffee and deforestation

12:30 – Shade-grown vs. monoculture: what’s the difference?

16:00 – Why coffee is soaked in highly hazardous pesticides

21:45 – What decaf drinkers really need to know

25:10 – Certifications decoded: what the labels don’t tell you

33:20 – The ghost farms, human trafficking, and loopholes behind "ethical" coffee

38:50 – What Coffee Watch is doing differently

45:15 – Laws, petitions, and pressure: what’s actually working

49:30 – One action you can take with your coffee tomorrow

52:10 – Becoming an OBIE Insider and why it matters

53:00 – Final thoughts: hope, action, and eating like it matters

Episode Summary:

University of Pennsylvania adjunct professor and unexpected Instagram garden influencer Toni Farmer joins Dana DiPrima to break down what’s really going on in our food system. From skyrocketing food prices to climate-driven crop failures, the conversation digs deep into the fragile systems behind our meals—and the steps we can take to reclaim control, one garden (or grocery trip) at a time.

Whether you're a grower, a shopper, or just someone trying to feed your family on a budget, this episode offers grounded, urgent, and practical insight into the future of food.

What We Cover:

• Why food prices are rising—and it’s not just inflation
• How regenerative agriculture could help reverse climate and supply chain damage
• What the farm bill, immigration policy, and corporate consolidation have to do with your dinner plate
• Shrinkflation, food deserts, and why some cows get culled while others get saved
• What you can actually do to make a difference: from growing herbs to supporting local farms

Guest:

Toni Farmer is an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania with a self-designed degree in regenerative agriculture. She’s also a gardening educator and public voice for food access, soil health, and climate action—follow her work on Instagram @tonifarmersgarden

Connect with the For Farmers Movement and Nominate a Farmer

Support the Show:

If this episode helped you see your plate in a new light, please rate and review One Bite is Everything on Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.

Kiss the Ground has helped bring regenerative agriculture and soil health into the mainstream conversation, with films like Kiss the Ground (2020), narrated by Woody Harrelson with appearances from Gisele Bündchen, Tom Brady, Jason Mraz, and Ian Somerhalder, and its follow-up Common Ground (2023), starring Laura Dern, Jason Momoa, Donald Glover, Rosario Dawson, and more. But what comes after the films and the headlines?

In this episode, Dana DiPrima talks with Evan Harrison, CEO of Kiss the Ground. Evan’s career began in music and media—transforming iHeartRadio into a multi-platform company, launching AOL’s groundbreaking music programs, and producing festivals—before turning his focus to environmental issues and soil.

Together, we explore the promise and complexity of regenerative agriculture: how awareness is growing even without a single definition, why Kiss the Ground chooses hopeful storytelling over crisis messaging, and how farmer grants and training are being used to support practices in the field.

This conversation looks at the role of media, money, and momentum in shaping the future of regeneration—and asks what it really takes to move beyond a “kiss” on the ground toward lasting change.

Find out more about Kiss the Ground here.

Connect with your host and the For Farmers Movement here.