“There’s definitely a need for the private sector to step up in reporting this info and making it publicly available.”

Leah Douglas has been doing Pulitzer-worthy reporting on Covid19 and here she gives us the big picture on the pandemic, OSHA and the meat racket.

From thefern.org: Leah Douglas is an associate editor and staff writer at FERN. Prior to joining the team, she worked for three years as a reporter and policy analyst with the Open Markets Institute, where she researched economic consolidation and monopolization in the food and agriculture industry. She founded and wrote Food & Power, a first-of-its kind resource on food sector consolidation. Her writing on food, agriculture, and land policy has appeared in The Nation, CNN, Fortune, Time, Slate, Civil Eats, and more. For more, see: https://thefern.org/2020/10/could-the-food-system-face-a-new-covid-19-wave-ahead/ and https://twitter.com/leahjdouglas .

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“We can have store shelves stocked with as many “healthy items” as possible but if we are not also addressing how spaces feel for people, we’re not addressing root causes at all…

That kind of emphasis on healthy food is really a shortcoming, and just to be real, it’s violent and can be dismissive of lived experiences…”

From https://www.nayajones.com: Dr. Naya Jones is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and core faculty in Global and Community Health at the University of California Santa Cruz. She is also a national Culture of Health Leader (2017-2020), reimagining health with a cohort of community builders from around the United States. Much of Naya’s work focuses on spatial justice and sovereignty: she’s interested in how BIPOC* and historically-oppressed communities worldwide “do for themselves.” She especially studies + lifts up embodied Black geographies of collective healing, environment, and resilience in North and Latin America.

Please support: https://aaahct.org Alliance for African American Health in Central Texas.

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Lorig Hawkins, Owner and Founder of Middle Ground Farm in Austin, TX, joins Errol for a discussion of her work as a farmer, and about local food availability and the politics of food in Texas. Lorig is a longtime farmer and food policy expert, with experience as an Austin/Travis Food Policy Board Member and Farmshare Austin Board Chairperson. Growing food in Texas can be hard, and reforming the food system is not any easier, and in this episode Lorig shares her wisdom and insights from doing both.

We asked Chris Newman of Sylvanaqua Farms to share his analysis of “Kiss The Ground”, a new documentary that highlights the need for regenerative agriculture to repair our food system. The movie raises some very important points, but also has some troubling omissions and assumptions that we need to further scrutinize.

For more information on Chris Newman, or to become an investor in Sylvanaqua Farms, please check out: https://www.instagram.com/sylvanaquafarms/ , https://www.sylvanaqua.com and https://www.sylvanaqua.com/invest .

Other stuff we discussed: https://gather.film , https://kissthegroundmovie.com , https://twitter.com/SarahTaber_bww , https://twitter.com/sarah_k_mock , and https://twitter.com/grocery_nerd .

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Chris Maestro spent twenty years as an educator until he decided to follow his passion and open up one of the most iconic bars in New York City, the Hip-Hop themed craft beer bar, Bierwax. Inspired by his visits to jazz and Hip-Hop bars in Amsterdam and Tokyo, Chris decided to create his own vision of this format in Brooklyn, NYC. Frequented by craft beer lovers, Hip-Hop aficionados and the occasional famous DJ or MC, Bierwax is also one of the few BIPOC-owned pubs in the city. Now with the Covid-19 pandemic regulations in effect, Bierwax continues to break new ground in the craft beer scene, while also giving Hip-Hop heads and vinyl lovers a place to call home.

Bierwax is located at 556 Vanderbilt Avenue in Brooklyn, NYC.

For more info, https://www.bierwaxnyc.com and https://www.instagram.com/bierwax/?hl=en

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Alexa Delwiche is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Good Food Purchasing, which co-created and manages the Good Food Purchasing Program. GFPP works closely with public institutions, unions, community groups and municipal governments to implement ethical sourcing and procurement standards in order to reform regional food systems and give everyone better food options. They have worked closely with school districts and other school meal reform groups to make substantial changes to the food quality and options available for school children in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Chicago and many other cities. Alexa took time out of her crazy schedule to give us the download on GFPP’s history, criteria, stakeholders and impact to food systems. For more info, go to https://goodfoodpurchasing.org .

“Resiliency is about up’ing our game on how much food is produced, processed and stored locally”

David Zuckerman is the Lt. Governor of Vermont and is currently running to be Governor of Vermont. Dave is a lifelong activist, farmer, hemp and cannabis advocate and GMO labeling pioneer. He has held a variety of local and statewide political offices in Vermont for over 25 years. His policy positions on employment, agriculture, healthcare and the environment are compelling and applicable in Vermont and beyond. Dave also brings a great deal of common sense, humility and empathy to a fractured and divisive political campaign season. Vermont is lucky to have David Zuckerman!

To support the campaign, please go to: https://www.zuckermanforvt.com .

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Tom Philpott is an Austin native, a columnist for Mother Jones and is the author of Perilous Bounty, a hard-hitting analysis on the industrial food system and it’s fragility, from California’s Central Valley, to Iowa’s Corn Belt. Tom got his start as a financial journalist and was smitten with the food movement during the campaign to save NYC’s Community Gardens over twenty years ago. Tom has also worked on a small farm and has published hundreds of articles on the food system, all with an eye towards social justice and a healthier, more resilient food supply.

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Tiffany Washington is an Austin-based combat veteran and Organic farmer, and runs Dobbin-Kauv Garden Farm. Tiffany served in the U.S. Navy and was trained as an Organic farmer by Farmshare Austin, an 18-week farmer education program, as well BattleGround to Breaking Ground, a one year Texas A&M program that helps veterans get into farming as a business. Tiffany is also an Organic Intellectual whose family has lived in the Austin area for over 150 years. Tiffany has done extensive research into the lives of Black farmers and Freedman colonies in Austin and Central Texas, including the insidious history of land theft and dispossession that gave rise to the current wave of gentrification and food apartheid in one of the country’s most segregated cities. Tiffany is an heir to the agricultural legacy of such luminaries as George Washington Carver, who trained thousands of Black farmers in regenerative farming methods, and Booker T. Whatley, the founder of community supported agriculture. We feel honored to have spent time with Tiffany to hear her story. To support Tiffany, check out her GoFundMe here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/veterans-urban-farm-needs-your-help.

Chris Newman of Sylvanaqua Farms joins The Checkout for an intensive, deep dive into his worldview, his farming techniques and his broad critique of modern, industrial agriculture, including the regenerative and Organic farming sectors. Sylvanaqua Farms is an integrated, sustainable farm in the Northern Neck of Virginia producing pastured pork, eggs and chicken, and more. They are working on becoming employee-owned and are raising investment so they can scale their production and impact. Chris has a great sense of humor, a deep understanding of history and an inspiring story to share.