Introduction

#162: Live from the Saving Real Organic Conference at Churchtown Dairy in October 2023, and moderated by Matt Sheffer of Hudson Carbon, Zephyr Teachout and Dave Chapman field (tough) questions from audience members about the fate of the US anti-monopoly movement and its ability to impact our food system for the better.

https://realorganicproject.org/symposium-2024/

Zephyr Teachout is an attorney and law professor at Fordham University. She is the author of Break'em Up: Recovering Our Freedom from Big Ag, Big Tech, and Big Money and a 2018 candidate for Attorney General in New York State. Once upon a time she was a farmhand at Real Organic Project certified KillDeer Farm in Norwich, Vermont.

Dave Chapman owns and operates Long Wind Farm in East Thetford, VT, which concentrates on soil-grown glasshouse tomatoes that are produced year round. Dave and ellow Vermont tomato farmer Davey Miskell noticed the suspicious appearance of  hydroponic tomatoes from other countries being sold with the USDA organic sticker several years ago. Their research led to a web of injustices affecting real organic farmers, including berry growers, dairy producers,  grain farmers and more. The Real Organic Project was founded in 2017 and has evolved into an add-on food label. It is a100% farmer-led organization.

Matt Sheffer is a farmer, writer, and researcher who serves as the Executive Director of Hudson Carbon, a non profit organization studying how to accurately track and measure carbon capture in soil.

To watch a video version of this podcast with access to the full transcript and links relevant to our conversation, please visit:

https://realorganicproject.org/zephyr-teachout-dave-chapman-matt-sheffer-panel-episode-one-hundred-sixty-two

The Real Organic Podcast is hosted by Dave Chapman and Linley Dixon, engineered by Brandon StCyr, and edited and produced by Jenny Prince.

The Real Organic Project is a farmer-led movement working towards certifying 1,000 farms across the United States this year. Our add-on food label distinguishes soil-grown fruits and vegetables from hydroponically-raised produce, and pasture-raised meat, milk, and eggs from products harvested from animals in horrific confinement (CAFOs - confined animal feeding operations).

To find a Real Organic farm near you, please visit:

https://www.realorganicproject.org/farms

We believe that the organic standards, with their focus on soil health, biodiversity, and animal welfare were written as they should be, but that the current lack of enforcement of those standards is jeopardizing the ability for small farms who adhere to the law to stay in business. The lack of enforcement is also jeopardizing the overall health of the customers who support the organic movement; customers who are not getting what they pay for at market but still paying a premium price. And the lack of enforcement is jeopardizing the very cycles (water, air, nutrients) that Earth relies upon to provide us all with a place to live, by pushing extractive, chemical agriculture to the forefront.

If you like what you hear and are feeling inspired, we would love for you to join our movement by becoming one of our 1,000  Real Friends:

https://www.realorganicproject.org/real-organic-friends/

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