Food Sleuth Radio

Did you know that our food and farming choices impact bird populations? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Dan Scheiman, Bird Conservation Director at Audubon Arkansas. He'll discuss the damaging effects of widely used agricultural and lawn-based pesticides (dicamba, neonicotinoids) on trees, insects and birds, as well as the benefits of citizen science and policy advocacy.  For parents with children at home Audubon offers educational resources:  https://www.audubon.org/conservation/audubon-adventures Related website:   https://ar.audubon.org/conservation/dicamba-danger 

Did you know that the new “GMO” food labels required in January 2022 will not say “GMO,” but instead say “bioengineered”?   Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Anne Ross:, attorney with an advanced degree in Agriculture & Food Law from the University of Arkansas. As policy advisor for the Cornucopia Institute, Ross investigated organic import fraud. She shares her expertise in analyzing food labeling, including “natural” and “non-GMO” labels, and discusses overall organic integrity. Related website:   www.cornucopia.org 

Did you know that Native Americans understand that food systems are ecological systems? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Dina Gilio-Whitaker, adjunct professor of American Indian studies at California State University at San Marcos, and Policy Director and Senior Research Associate at the Center for World Indigenous Studies. She'll discuss her informative new book, As Long As Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice from Colonization to Standing Rock (Beacon Press, 2019). Ms. Gilio-Whitaker compares European relationship to land, vs. the holistic perspectives of Native Americans. She asks us to question our own relationship to the land, and the indigenous people who lived here before us. Related website:   https://dgwconsulting.org/ ; www.dinagwhitaker.wordpress.com 

Did you know that farmers plant dicamba-resistant crops is defense of neighbors’ use of this herbicide? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Terry Fuller, farmer and chair of the Arkansas Plant Board. Fuller discusses why farmers use dicamba, the resulting crop damage, and the vandalism he’s experienced on his farm simply for speaking out about dicamba risks and calling for stronger regulation on the poison’s use.   Dicamba, is manufactured by Bayer (formerly Monsanto) and has been linked to widespread damage to trees, native plants, specialty crops and soybeans that are not genetically engineered to resist it.  Widespread risks to our ecosystem have been reported by the Xerces Society, in their publication, “Drifting Toward Disaster: How Dicamba Herbicides are Harming Cultivated and Wild Landscapes.”  https://xerces.org/sites/default/files/publications/20-021.pdf. There have also been multiple reports on NPR: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/02/14/584647903/these-citizen-regulators-in-arkansas-defied-monsanto-now-theyre-under-attack https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/10/26/559733837/monsanto-and-the-weed-scientists-not-a-love-story Related website:   https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/sep/25/state-official-victim-of-vandals/ 

Did you know that soil health predicts plant health and nutritional quality? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Gladis Zinati, Ph.D., Director of the Rodale Institute’s Vegetable Systems Trial.  Zinati describes how organic farming methods influence soil microbial health, and nutrient uptakes improve the nutritional value of our food. Watch Zinati’s webinar here:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VximNfpTOoA Related websitehttps://rodaleinstitute.org/science/vegetable-systems-trial/ 

Did you know that meat-packing plants have been centers for Covid-19 outbreaks? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Leah Douglas, staff writer and associate editor at the Food and Environment Reporting Network. Douglas discusses her ongoing investigations into COVID-19 outbreaks in meat packing and processing plants, as well as her story on racism within the FFA.  Douglas’ Covid-19 mapping project can be found here:  https://thefern.org/2020/04/mapping-covid-19-in-meat-and-food-processing-plants/ Her report on racism in FFA here:  https://thefern.org/2020/09/at-the-nations-largest-student-farm-organization-a-reckoning-on-race/ Related website:  https://thefern.org/ag_insider/few-states-release-data-about-covid-19-in-the-food-system/ 

Did you know that food manufacturing brought into question a food’s purity? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Benjamin Cohen, Ph.D., environmental historian, Chair of Engineering Studies and Associate professor at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa, and author of Pure Adulteration: Cheating on Nature in the Age of Manufactured Food. Cohen discusses the history of adulterated food, the nature of trust, and argues that food labels are less important than knowing how food is produced. Cohen’s maps of adulterated foods can be found here:  https://purefood.lafayette.edu/ Related website:  http://www.brcohen.net/ 

Did you know that children are more vulnerable to the effects of pesticides in our food supply and that switching to an organic diet can significantly reduce their exposure to these toxins?  Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Kendra Klein, Ph.D., Senior Scientist at Friends of the Earth and co-author of new research showing the value of organic food and farming in protecting public health. More data on this research can be found here: www.organicforall.org Related website:  https://foe.org/issues/food-and-technology/ 

Did you know that food served in jails and prisons does not promote mental and physical health? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Keri Blakinger, staff writer for the Marshall Project who was formerly incarcerated in upstate New York. Blakinger describes the food and other hidden living conditions in prison, as well as the impact of Covid lockdowns on food quality. See Blakinger’s reporting at the Marshall Project website, including this story on what some prison food looks like: https://www.themarshallproject.org/.../ewwwww-what-is-thatRelated website:  https://www.themarshallproject.org 

Did you know that “urban agriculture” is not new? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and registered dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Monica M. White, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Environmental Justice at the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, in the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. White is the author of the award-winning book, Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement. White reflects on African American farmers’ long connection to the soil - a tool for resilience and resistance. White discusses the power of cooperatives, and heroes in African American food and agriculture, including Fannie Lou Hamer, and George Washington Carver, who said: “there is probably no subject more important than the study of food.” White also describes her critical role as “scholar activist.” White’s presentation at the University of Michigan can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzhbIeutIjI&list=PLY-HA3-cbCGdC2dqjlZAv8cfOU6B-Noqw&index=9Related website:  www.monicamariewhite.com