Flipping the Table

Latest Episodes:

S5 - Ep#7 - What does grassfed meat really mean with Carrie Balkcom of the American Grassfed Association. Jul 18, 2023

Show notes

Grassfed, grass finished, pasture raised are all terms you see on meat and dairy packages these days. But what do they actually mean? Can they be trusted? Michael dives into this question with Carrie Balkcom the executive director of the American Grassfed Association. AGA is the nation's singular independent certification program that confirms livestock are fed only their natural diet for their entire lives.

S5 - Ep#6 - Deep Connections: Healthy Soil Leads to Healthy Plants, Animals and Humans Jun 13, 2023

Show notes

Spencer Smith is a self-described soil nerd who has raised livestock his whole life. He believes California is a great place to produce grass-fed beef. His goal as a consultant is to help livestock producers optimize the health of their land in order to ecologically, humanely and profitably manage businesses that deliver healthy food for humans.

S5 - Ep#5 - Will California's Nutrition Incentive Program (CNIP) live on? May 18, 2023

Show notes

Since 2016, California has provided $30 million in matching funds to attract nearly the same amount from the USDA in order to provide SNAP families with matching dollars to support their purchase of healthy fresh and organic produce. Minni Forman, Valeria Velazques Duenas and Shawn Harrison, who manage nutrition incentive programs in their communities, share their work and the impact of both CNIP and the Market Match promotion of incentives offered at over 200 farmers markets and farms stands in California.

S5 - Ep#4 - How Cliff Pollard and Cream Co, Inc. provide the missing middle link in creation of West Coast regional regenerative meat supply chains Apr 08, 2023

Show notes

In the national effort to reanimate local and regional meat supply chains serving primarily organic and regenerative ranchers, the key is a what is known as a "cut and wrap facility." These are where animal carcasses are skillfully cut into steaks, chops and roasts and ground into burger and hot dogs sought by shoppers, restaurants and cafeteria food providers. Cream Co, founded by Cliff Pollard, fills this vital niche on the nation's west coast.

S5 - Ep#3 - Jacob Katz, senior scientist for the nonprofit California Trout, describes how flexible farmers are a solution to major endangered species problems Mar 14, 2023

Show notes

California has declared that species diversity is a major environmental goal. After 150 years of intensive agriculture, achieving that goal is a challenge. But there is a great example underway on the Sacramento River where endangered salmon are being saved by proactive rice farmers. The Nigiri Project reveals an approach that has implications for crop and livestock operations across the state and the nation.

S5 - Ep#2 - Leonard Diggs and the Regenerator Project on cultivating the next generation of women and BIPOC farmers and ranchers Feb 14, 2023

Show notes

We need more farmers and many of them must be women, Black, Indigenous and other people of color in order to sustain the nation's food abundance and heal the wounds of the nation's persistent racism. After a 35-year farming career, Leonard Diggs, a Black farmer from California's Great Central Valley, is fully engaged in supporting the emergence of that healing generation of new farmers.

S5 - Ep#1 - Food recovery at scale: Rick Nahmias on the birth and growth of Food Forward Jan 18, 2023

Show notes

Food justice and climate change demand an end to good waste. Food Forward in Los Angeles is the most impressive food recovery program we've ever seen. Founder Rick Nahmias shares the story of how he and his team have delivered over 1 billion servings of food to 150,000 people per day.

S4 - Ep#12 - A Look Back at the Roots of Change story in its 20th year of existence Dec 20, 2022

Show notes

Flipping the Table is a production of Roots of Change, a program of the Public Health Institute. Roots of Change has been a major catalyst in the growth and power-building of the good food movement. It was launched in 2002 and this episode features a conversation with 4 individuals who have been deeply involved in its founding and evolution and offer perspectives on what has worked and what has not.

S4 - Ep#11 - Update on the Achieving of Resilient Communities project and more with Maureen McGuire, CEO of Ventura County Farm Bureau Nov 15, 2022

Show notes

After talking about the day's farm tour on the Oxnard plain of Ventura County to educate CalPolySLO engineering students working to keep drinking water cool for farmer workers in hot fields, Maureen and Michael explore how to solve the many complex challenges faced by farmers in a time of intense political polarization, climate change and escalating prices.

S4 - Ep#10 - How Siskiyou County might save good ranches and healthy meat in the age of industrial concentration and climate change. A conversation with Grace Woodmansee and Tom Tomich Oct 11, 2022

Show notes

You have probably heard how challenging it is to keep a farm or ranch alive in today's industrial food system. Low prices, high barriers to market entry and climate impacts are killing off the family ranches that are the primary sources of meat. Big corporations are capturing the vast majority of the wealth and impoverishing rural communities. Hear about one attempt to turn the tide in one of the most rural regions of California, which is home to many good people and beautiful ranches seeking more direct relationship to urban eaters.

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