Today on the show, we celebrate Earth Day by hosting Sarah Lloyd, director of special projects at the Wisconsin Farmers Union, in the studio for a conversation about agriculture and dairy farming in Wisconsin. What is the future of family farming? This free-ranging conversation covers issues like agro-business, debt in farming, the role of distribution […]
The Grand Food Bargain with Kevin D. Walker
“We’ve created a narrative around food that says that food will always be there, and that we can take food for granted,” says Kevin D. Walker, professor at Michigan State University and author of The Grand Food Bargain and the Mindless Drive for More. He argues that we have forgotten what food scarcity is like […]
Climate Change and the State of Agriculture
Tonight, the Perpetual Notion Machine again looks into climate change. This time, how the impacts of climate change will/have effected agriculture and farming, and what, if anything, can farmers do in terms of current farming practices to adapt to the new realities of climate change. It seems that agriculture will need to develop new and […]
Freedom Farmers with Monica M. White
We kick off our first week of winter pledge drive with today’s episode about food justice. Our guest is Monica M. White, professor of community and environmental sociology and author of Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement. She, Patty, and fundraising volunteer Kathy Hoveland have a lively conversation about the history of […]
Water Advocacy in Wisconsin
In his State of the State address last month, Governor Tony Evers declared 2019 the year of clean drinking water. For today’s episode, Patty talks to Kriss Marion and organic farmer Scott Laeser of Clean Wisconsin to discuss water advocacy in Wisconsin. “I looked at [the frog] and he looked at me, and we had a […]
Food, Farming, and Monopolies
“Go big or get out!” That was the advice of Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz to farmers in the 1970s. For today’s episode, Patty is joined in the studio by law professor Peter Carstensen and Wisconsin Farmers Union member Oren Jakobson to discuss the role of monopolies and anti-trust law in family farming and the […]
