wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Will Allen discusses cashing in his retirement fund to buy a two-acre plot near Milwaukee’s largest public housing project to build the country’s preeminent urban farm—a food and educational center that now produces enough vegetables and fish year-round to feed thousands of people. In The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities he describes founding Growing Power to prove that local food systems can help troubled youths, dismantle racism, create jobs, bring urban and rural communities closer together, and improve public health.

Daniel Imhoff talks about the Farm Bill, an economic and policy engine that drives the nation’s food and farming system and provides nutritional assistance to tens of millions of Americans. In Food Fight: The Citizen’s Guide to the Next Food and Farm Bill, Imhoff offers a resource to deconstruct this complex bill, and he urges people to vote with their forks.

Helena Bottemiller, a reporter for The Food & Environment Reporting Network, looks at the controversial animal feed additive, ractopamine hydrochloride, which is widely used in the united states but the EU and China have banned it’s use, citing health concerns.

Joe Nasr, Co-author of Carrot City, takes an in-depth look at the growing number of urban farms, gardens, and parks around the world. He’s joined by Eli Zabar, who tells us about the vegetables he grows in the greenhouses situated on the roof of his marketplace, The Vinegar Factory, and Annie Novak, co-founder of the Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Brooklyn.

A sweeping overhead shot of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and abstract aerials of dryland farming in northeastern Spain. See a slideshow of Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky's large-scale chromogenic color prints here.

When we’re in the supermarket, trying to figure out what to cook for dinner, the issues of immigration and migrant laborers usually aren’t on our minds. Yet migrant workers pick much of the produce that ends up on our tables. On today’s Underreported segment, GQ correspondent Jeanne Marie Laskas describes the season she spent with the migrant workers who pick the fruits and vegetables we find in our supermarkets, and why our food system depends on them. Her article "Hecho en América" appears in the October issue of GQ.

Farmers upstate have been devastated by Hurricane Irene – and at a crucial harvest time. We’ll speak with Jacquie Berger, executive director of Just Food as well as Cheryl Rogowski, whose farm has suffered great losses.

Former city-dweller Kurt Timmermeister describes the life and livelihood of a modern-day farmer. In Growing a Farmer: How I Learned to Live Off the Land he tells about his initial stumbles in his quest to establish a profitable farm near Seattle, and he shares the specifics of making cheese, raising cows, and slaughtering pigs, and it will entirely change the way we think about our relationship to the food we consume.

Alfred Portale, Executive Chef & Partner of Gotham Bar & Grill, and Tim Stark, of Eckerton Hill Farms, discusses “Greenmarket to Gotham.” All summer, Gotham has featured a different farmer each week and (almost) exclusively uses their produce for a two-course, vegetarian lunch menu (for $25). The series is also a fundraiser for Grow NYC's program "Grow to Learn" that helps schools plan, implement and manage their school gardens. Tim Stark's farms, in Pennsylvania, are famous for their tomatoes and chiles; he’s also the author of Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer.

Former city-dweller Kurt Timmermeister describes the life and livelihood of a modern-day farmer. In Growing a Farmer: How I Learned to Live Off the Land he tells about his initial stumbles in his quest to establish a profitable farm near Seattle, and he shares the specifics of making cheese, raising cows, and slaughtering pigs, and it will entirely change the way we think about our relationship to the food we consume.

Author Barry Estabrook decided to write about tomatoes because they almost killed him. He was driving in Naples, Fla. when a few tomatoes bounced off the cargo truck in front of him, narrowly missing his windshield. At the next stoplight, he was amazed to see that the tomatoes littering the street were unscathed after falling off a truck that was traveling at 60 miles per hour. How did the tomato— once summer’s tastiest treat — become the bland specimens available in most grocery stores now? And how can we fix it?

Kristin Canty, director of the documentary “Farmageddon,” talks about the ongoing problems with our nation’s food supply, and argues that the U.S. government actively colludes with agri-businesses to keep our food unsafe. The film shows family farms that were raided by the government, exposing what Canty calls the covert war on American farmers and co-ops that supply fresh, unprocessed foods to consumers. She’s joined by Gary Cox, General Counsel, Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund, and Linda Failace, owner of Three Shephard’s Cheese, an artisanal cheese making business in Mad River Valley, Vermont, who are both featured in the documentary. “Farmageddon” opens July 8 at Cinema Village.

Oran B. Hesterman shows how our food system's dysfunctions are unintended consequences of our focus on efficiency, centralization, higher yields, profit, and convenience. He defines the new principles and the concrete steps necessary to restructure it. Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All introduces people and organizations across the country who are making a difference—from bringing fresh food to inner cities, to fighting for farm workers' rights, to putting cows back on the pastures where they belong. He provides practical information for how to get more involved.

Katherine Leiner talks about the new food revolution and new generation of taking up sustainable farming and focusing on healthy, natural food. She’s joined by Jen Small and Mike Yezzi, who raise heritage pigs at Flying Pigs Farm. In Growing Roots: The New Generation of Sustainable Farmers, Cooks, and Food Activists, she profles farmers, beekeepers, fishermen, chefs, food activists, and cheesemongers.

Katherine Leiner talks about the new food revolution and new generation of taking up sustainable farming and focusing on healthy, natural food. She’s joined by Jen Small and Mike Yezzi, who raise heritage pigs at Flying Pigs Farm. In Growing Roots: The New Generation of Sustainable Farmers, Cooks, and Food Activists, she profles farmers, beekeepers, fishermen, chefs, food activists, and cheesemongers.

In 1970, there were nearly 650,000 dairy farms in the United States. Today, there are only 54,000 farms—many of them run by large operators who dominate the industry. As milk prices have fallen—fetching half as much in 2009 per gallon as they did in 2008—small dairy farmers have taken a huge hit. Barry Estabrook explains the crisis facing small dairy farmers in the United States and efforts to pass a price-fixing agreement in Congress. Barry Estabrook’s article, "A Tale of Two Dairies," appears in Gastronomica.

Fourth-generation farmer Eric Herm discusses commercial agriculture's strain on natural resources, ecosystems, and the farmer. Son of a Farmer, Child of the Earth, a Path to Agriculture’s Higher Consciousness looks at the harsh economic realities and complicated legislation facing farmers, as well as GMO crops and excessive chemicals.

Kristin Kimball talks about her transformation from a freelance writer in New York City to a farmer in Upstate New York. After she interviewed a young farmer, she ended up leaving the city and moving near Lake Champlain to start a new farm with him. The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love is the chronicle of their first year on Essex Farm, and their ambitious plan to grow everything needed to feed a community.

It’s the tail end of apple season. Steve Clarke of Prospect Hill Orchard in Milton, New York, joins us to taste some of the local and antique varietals found in New York State—from the Newtown Pippin to the Black Twig. We'll also speak with Emily Vaughn, biodiversity coordinator with SlowFoodUSA.

Farmer Lee Jones used the concept of ice wine to create a particularly sweet, crunchy new type of spinach. Try out this recipe for tortellini with fennel, tomatoes and spinach.