Latin American countries have enshrined several progressive rights in their constitutions, however, the push for natural resource extraction has put those rights in conflict with the economic development pushes of their governments. Josh talks with Karen Hansen-Kuhn about the history of extractive industry in Latin America and how global trade and development policies are influencing the conflicts between industry and social movements. Karen recently attended a conference on the subject of Neo-Extractivism in Ecuador.

Josh talks with Katie Costello about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The nutrition title of the Farm Bill makes up nearly 80% of its total cost, helping to feed over 46 million people. We're talking about why SNAP works, how it improves health lifestyles, and why the House Farm Bill, which would have instituted stricter work requirements to receive SNAP, is a failing for American families. 

Josh talks with Steve Suppan about meat inspection in the United States and proposed rule change that would allow companies to do self-inspection, potentially leading to higher line speeds and greater safety concerns in an industry that already has a history of unsafe conditions.

 

Today, May 17th, is the deadline set by House Speaker, Paul Ryan, to have a NAFTA agreement on paper for Congress to take it up in 2018. Earlier this week, Josh talked with Sharon Treat and Karen Hansen-Kuhn about what the endgame might be for NAFTA and if anyone actually knows what is happening in this incredibly secretive process. 

Josh talks with Tristan Quinn-Thibodeau from Action Aid USA about the two new videos they put out on supply management and factory farming in Iowa. You can see the videos here: https://www.actionaidusa.org/work/agribusiness-family-farmers/

This week, the 9th National Farm to Cafeteria Conference will be held in Cincinnati, Ohio. IATP will be sending three staffers, Director of Development and Communications Josh Wise, Community Food Systems Program Director Erin McKee, and Community Food Systems Program Associate Katie Costello to the event. 

Last week House of Representatives Agriculture Committee chairman, Rep. Mike Conway, released his first draft of the 2018 Farm Bill. The bill did not have the support of the ranking member on the committee, Rep. Colin Peterson. Josh talks with Tara Ritter, IATP Senior Program Associate, to talk about the largely negative impacts that this draft bill would have, including the proposed elimination of the Conservation Stewardship Program. 

IATP launched the first 100% fair trade organic coffee company in 1996. As the company has grown, we realized it was time to set it free to keep growing and doing good work. In this episode, Josh talks with Lee Wallace, longtime CEO of Peace Coffee, who, along with her business partner, Kent Pilakowski, has assumed ownership of the company.

This week we're talking about labeling, and the attempt to ban it, in trade agreements. Josh talks with Sharon Treat about why multinational corporations seek to undermine public health protections through the trade negotiating process, what the history of challenging food labeling has been, and what the heck is going on with NAFTA renegotiation these days. 

Here, also, is a link to Sharon's blog on the subject: https://www.iatp.org/blog/lurking-in-trumps-nafta 

Last week, IATP launched the report, From the Ground Up: The State of the States on Climate Adaptation for Agriculture. Josh talks with Lachlan Anathasiou, who interned at IATP in summer 2017 about the research he did on the report and the report's findings.