Farm to Taber - Deep dive: food distribution with Errol Schweizer

Deep dive: food distribution with Errol Schweizer

Explicit content warning

09/04/23 • 45 min

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Farm to Taber

There's a saying in food justice: "There's plenty of food to feed everyone! The problem is distribution."

But when we talk about reforming the food system, farms get all the spotlight. We rarely focus on distribution- even though we know it's the key to solving hunger. How does food get from the farm to people? Who decides where crops should go? Wow do those decisions trickle down to the place where most Americans get their food- retail grocery stores?

Errol Schweizer joins the pod to talk food systems, reform, and how some of the most lauded food reformers in America missed their goals by ignoring nuts-and-bolts distribution issues. If you like nerdy deep dives into topics that don't normally get much attention, this episode is for you! This interview is a two-part series. The second half releases on Farm to Taber's Patreon later this month.

Errol Schweizer writes and podcasts about food systems, based on over 20 years in food handling and distribution.

Transcript

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's a saying in food justice: "There's plenty of food to feed everyone! The problem is distribution."

Errol Schweizer writes and podcasts about food systems, based on over 20 years in food handling and distribution.

Transcript

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Bonus episode: Chicken farming & money [TRAILER]

This is a short clip of a bonus episode for Patreon followers. Subscribe to Farm to Taber on Patreon for the full episode!

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Today we talk contract broiler farming! This is the type of farming famous for "giant barns full of chickens that the farmers don't own." If you've ever wondered why farmers would keep farming in a way that "everyone just knows" makes them poor, this episode digs into why!

Joining us today is @Woofpickler- farm kid, ag business owner, & former combine tech. We'll have a good time pulling some themes out of the contract broiler business and tying them into the ag sector at large.

Trailer transcript

Info sources we use for this episode:

2018 sociology thesis on broiler farming

USDA report on broiler farmer finances: the source for the finance data used in this podcast. USDA doesn't do deep dives on broiler farm finances very often; changes since the data were collected are addressed in the episode.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.