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Who Should Determine The Value of Food?

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It does not take much imagination to look back to the dawn of human-kind to see that food was our first money.  I want that stone axe you made and will pay for it with this venison I killed.  Deal?
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Though we now live in the most modern of times, when the electronic gadgets of science fiction have become more familiar to us than ears of garden-fresh sweet corn, food is still real money.
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We sometimes lose track of real money, and come to think the paper certificates governments print by the trillions is real money.  But unless those government certificates are guaranteed by something real, like gold or food, they are not real money, they are simply government certificates.
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Sometimes governments get carried away with their ability to print certificates.  When that happens, the ability of those certificates to buy real things, like food, is diminished in direct proportion to the speed at which governments print their certificates.  As printng certificates is very easy for governments to do, sometimes they simply print too many, and things get out of hand…
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In 1923, one loaf of bread cost 200,000,000,000 German Marks.

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Now, that 1923 loaf of bread was not worth any more, or less, than a 2013 loaf of bread.  What is different is the value of the German Mark.
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That food is real and government certificates may not be real, is a major problem for governments that like to print certificates by the trillions.  This problem leads us to ask…
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Who should determine the value of food?

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Can We Shop Our Way Back to a Strong Local Economy?

WEEKLY NEWS TOPIC
Busting Out Big – Think Local First

Michael Olson hosts
Stacey Mitchell, Institute for Self Reliance
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Can we shop our way back to a strong local economy?
Since 1994, the number of farmers markets in the U.S. has increased from 1,744 to 7,864, and more than 1,000 local grocers have opened their doors in neighborhoods throughout the land.
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The United States is truly beginning to think local first when buying its food.
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But so much for thinking big about buying small.  U.S. business continues to grow big… bigger… biggest:  Five U.S. banks now hold 56% of all the money.  One grocer now sells 25% of all the food. One website now sells 33% of everything sold online.
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Big business is getting bigger, small business is getting smaller.  What happens when medium-sized business becomes, as the saying goes, “roadkill?”  How then will big business continue to increase its market share, if not by taking the share held by small business?  And by individuals?
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Will big business make it impossible for individuals to grow food for their  communities, and themselves, in order to continue expanding its market share?

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This thought­, and the fact the citizens across the land are now being prosecuted for growing their own food on their own property, lead us to ask…
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Can we shop our way back to a strong economy?

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The Elite Meat

Michael Olson hosts
Custom Butcher Rian Rinn
&
EcoFarm Board Member Thomas Wittman
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Can we bring our food animals home?
A few decades ago, we lived with the animals we ate.  Many can still remember those days.  I do.  As a young boy growing up on the grandparent’s farm near Belfry, Montana, I helped feed, nurture, kill and butcher the animals we ate.
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Tending to the animals was just part of the job of growing up on a working farm, and on the farm, every person, and every animal, had a job.  There were no pets on the farm.
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We have since moved off the farm and into big cities. The animals we live with are now pets, and often given full-citizenship in the family, with rights to eat at the dinner table, watch TV on the couch, and sleep on the bed.
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The animals we eat now live behind the high walls of distant factories, where they cannot be seen, heard, smelled or touched.  When word gets out, often via purloined video, of how our food animals are treated, we city people shudder in horror.  How can they be so mean to animals?
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But truth be told, those factories treat our food animals about as humanely as possible, given the exingencies of raising thousands of them in tightly packed containers.  It simply can’t get much better for our food animals, unless we bring them home, and so we ask…

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Can we bring our food animals home?

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Hand in Hand with Enviros and Ranchers

Food Chain Radio Show #802 • December 22, 2012
Michael Olson hosts Sierra Foothills Conservancy
&
Sierra Lands Beef
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Can environmentalists and ranchers work together to make money and preserve the land?
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As the Hatfields and McCoys of the American West, environmentalists and ranchers are seldom seen walking the same side of the street.
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In fact, environmentalists and ranchers are traditional enemies because each side champions a different use for the land. Environmentalists want to preserve the land in its natural state; ranchers want to use the land to earn a living. There has not been much room in the middle for “just getting along,” and so the two communities have not been just getting along.
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Since the environmental community is backed by the city, with all its votes and dollars, it has been able to purchase large parcels of ranchlands throughout the West and set them aside as conservancies. But a funny thing happened on the way to preserving all that land: invasive species of plants moved in and took over the landscape.
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As the environmental community pondered what to do with all the weeds it was now conserving, someone put forth the idea of bringing back the ranchers and their animals to graze away the weeds. This suggestion leads us to ask…
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Can environmentalists and ranchers work together to make money and preserve the environment?