The Food Fix

You might not guess that Michigan is a haven for seafood since it is so far from the ocean. But the state has long had thriving commercial fisheries. And it has the potential for growth in both Canada and the U.S. Jim Diana recently organized The First Annual Seafood Summit at Michigan State University. Here he discusses the potential for aquaculture in the binational Great Lakes.

This interview by Mark Bashore aired on WKAR's Current State program on March 10, 2014. The Food Fix staff did the pre-production work.

Photo: Jim Diana

Tanzania is an East African country whose economy depends on crops like corn and rice. Climate change is causing warmer temperatures and unpredictable rainfall in Tanzania, and crop yields are suffering. But not all farmers are affected equally. Small farms are impacted more than large farms, and women farmers have added obstacles that make adapting to climate change extra difficult. Dr. Jennifer Olson, on the far right in this photo, is an associate professor in the Department of Media and Information at Michigan state University. Her research focuses on how the climate is changing in Tanzania, and how climate change is impacting Tanzanian farmers.

Dave Tschirley thinks about diets all the time, but not for himself. He is part of a group of researchers at MSU studying how the diets of people in Africa are changing dramatically as the continent becomes more urbanized. As Africans move to cities they are getting more of their calories from processed, packaged foods. Tschirley recently went on a research trip to Mozambique, and he is here to talk about this diet transformation.

Photo courtesy of Dave Tschirley.

This interview originally aired on WKAR's Current State program on December 1st, 2014. Current State's Mark Bashore conducted the interview. The Food Fix staff did the pre-production work.

In Malawi, farmers can only plant their main food crops during the rainy season. If the timing of the planting and the rains are out of sync, their families won't have enough to eat. Victoria Breeze, seen in this photo, is a PhD student in the Department of Geography at Michigan State University. She is researching changing rainfall patterns in Malawi, and plans to go to Malawi in March to set up weather stations to collect rainfall data.

"Maize is Life." This is what Erin Anders heard over and over from farmers in Malawi. Even though Malawians say "Maize is Life," it is not actually very nutritious, and malnutrition is a big problem in Malawi. Erin, at left in this image, explains how farmers in Malawi are adding a highly nutritious crop called pigeon pea to their fields.