When the daughter’s pet dog passed on after many years of friendship, she became very sad and teared up.  Hoping to ease her pain at the passing of her good friend, I said, “Honey, life is a succession of good dogs!”     

Not too much longer, the daughter started pestering for a new dog.  After an extended search, we were presented with a choice between two Cocker Spaniel puppies.  One was black, the other was gold.  As you might imagine, the wife wanted the black one, while the daughter wanted the gold one. 

Hoping to avoid having two puppies underfoot, I suggested a compromise.  “Why don’t we take the black one home and call her Goldie?”

It worked, and we had many good years of friendship with Goldie before she, too, passed on.  

But the compromise of that moment did not address the question of the day, which is,

“Where should the family go to find its next good pet?”

The label on the meat package reads, “Product of USA.” But the meat in the package could have come from Australia, Brazil or China, and be from one animal or hundreds of animals.  This leads us to ask: 

Should government be forced to accommodate local food farms?

The 1406th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson features Judith McGeary, Founder and CEO, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, for a conversation about the “Livestock Owned by Communities to Advance Local Foods Act” aka “Local Foods Act.” 

Topics include how the consolidation of the nation’s food supply chain has resulted in the diminishment of food quality and selection; why government supports the consolidation of food into ever fewer sources; and how government might be forced to accommodate local food farms.

A recent review of U.S. special education data revealed a three-fold increase in autism and a four-fold increase in delayed development among public school children.  That leads us to ask:

Can bad food make good genes go bad?

The 1405th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson features Dr. Renee Dufault, Executive Director and Principal Investigator, Food Ingredient & Health Research Institute, whose research points to one of the reasons for the three-fold increase in autism and four-fold increase in delayed development among public school children.

Topics include how Dr. Dufault’s research at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration led to her private research into the heavy metal contamination of ultra-processed foods; how nutritional epigenetics describes the deterioration of the brains of public school children; and how that mental deterioration is compounded through generations of people.

On August 10, 2018, a California jury awarded Benecia public school landscaper Dewayne Lee Johnson $289 million for the non-Hodgkin lymphoma he claimed was caused by exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller.  That award leads us to ask:

Should manufacturers be held accountable for the consequences of their pesticides?

The 1404the edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson features Attorney Brent Wisner, whose firm, Wisner Baum LLP, won the $289 million Monsanto Roundup lawsuit on behalf of public school landscaper Dewayne Lee Johnson.

Topics include what Wisner told the jury that convinced them to believe Johnson instead of Monsanto; how the pesticide industry is fighting back with House Appropriation Bill 453 to grant pesticide manufacturers immunity from lawsuits; and whether manufacturers should be held accountable for the consequences of their pesticides.

Michael Olson hoss Professor Catherine Keske, Ag Economist, University of California, Merced & Author, “Fast Food is Comforting, But…,”

It does not take long for weeds to take over one’s garden.  The same can be said for how quickly fast food can displace good food in one’s diet.  And so we ask:  

How does fast food displace good food?

Topics include the extent to which poor communities, like college students, rely on fast foods; how fast foods displace good foods; and what might be done to bring good foods back into the community’s diet.

Guest: Mark Cushing, CEO of Animal Policy Group and author of Pet Nation

Twenty years ago, Duke the Dog lived out in the backyard.  Now he lives in the house and sleeps in a bed.  And so we ask:

How did the United States become  a Pet Nation?

Topics include a look at how animals became pets that fly on planes with us; how the transformation from working animals to pets was made; and how pets are now transforming the nation’s economy.

A decade-long study of baby food released by Healthy Babies – Bright Futures claims that 95% of commercial baby food contains heavy metals that can result in autism spectrum and attention-deficit disorders.  And so we ask…

Should grocers be allowed to sell baby foods that contain toxic heavy metals?

Topics include how heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury pollute 95% of the nation’s baby food; what government and industry are doing to reduce the heavy metal pollution in baby food; and how attorney groups are putting the red-hot poker of litigation to the efforts of government and industry to reduce the pollution.   

Michael Olson with Washington State Congressman Dan Newhouse

Should China be allowed to buy up America’s best farmland?

Topics include why China is having trouble feeding its people; how China is buying up America's farmland; and whether Congressman Dan Newhouse and fellow legislators can stop China from buying up America's farmland.

Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson features Michele Thorne, Executive Director of The Good Meat Project

Given the economies of consolidation, 99% of chickens, 98% of hogs and 70% of cows are now grown and processed on industrial-scaled farms, most all of which use antibiotics, pesticides and pharmaceuticals.   

Topics include how the production of meat has been consolidated into the hands of very few, very big businesses; the consequence of that consolidation on the quality of food and environment; and how one might localize one’s meat supply chain with ethical meat from ethical farmers.

Have you ever purchased meat from its farmer?

Before the horse we walked everywhere, and it was a downright slog to get there.  But 4,750 years ago, a mutant gene began working its way through the horse herds of the Eurasian Steppes.  Then, about 800 years ago, Genghis Khan raced those horses throughout the World to conquer one and all.  And so we ask:

Have you ridden a horse?

The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Ludovic Orlando, Molecular Archaeologist, Founder of Anthropology & Genomics Institute, and Author of Horses: A 4,000 Year Genetic Journey Across the World, for a conversation about the search for the World’s first horses.

Topics include how the search for the World’s first horses was conducted; where the most likely birth place of the horse was found; and how the evolution of the horse was directed by the various needs of people.