Pantry Paratus Radio, Episode 031:
Interview with the author David Gumpert
You cannot sell a mattress unless it is properly marked, should the government allow GMO foods to be sold sans label? Formerly the small business editor for the Harvard Business Review and later the senior editor for Inc., Magazine David knows how the biz works. The trouble is that food is now big business in America, actually one of the few industries we still have left. Couple that with the fact that America’s soils are (still) rich enough to produce commodity crops by the megaton and you have an emerging narrative rife with political funding, corporate cronyism and literally the power of life and death—perhaps food should be tucked away with the other unmentionables like politics and religion. With a B.A. from the University of Chicago and an advanced degree in Journalism from Columbia, I hope that you enjoy our chat with the designated moderator for the Joe vs. Joel debate, the one and only David Gumpert.
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We talk about:
-Getting to know David
-The nature of big Ag, market forces and their connection with the levers of power
-In meat and dairy in particular, there are just a few companies that control 55-80% of the market place (depending on the commodity), this is the definition of an oligarchy. In this position you can set prices—good work if you can get it.
-Controlling costs, selling food futures, contract farming, and “accelerants” to the process to get the highest profit margin
-Drop in prices to the farmer means drop in quality to the consumer—horray for “cheap food”
-Since 1980 we have lost 90% of our dairies!
-“This factory food of questionable quality may be hurting their health.”
-There is no eye contact with the farmer when the food gets sucked up into “the system”
-What happens when farming success is based on growth? Pasture to CAFO’s
-Historically food has always been keenly a problem for those in power. Up until WWII the concern was based on maintaining supply because shortages causes uprising
-After WWII we had the industrial power, powerful chemical agents, mechanized implements and the green revolution bringing an era of plenty
-So now we have solved the supply problem and people are not worrying about sufficient calories, but the quality of the food and the effects thereof
-When durable goods are no longer produced like they used to be in America, then it becomes politically expedient to export American topsoil, a.k.a. commodities. So to keep GDP up, we want to make food cheap so that people are free to spend their money elsewhere.
-Not a problem of one party or the other, rather it is an effort to maintain the status quo
-80% of all pharmaceuticals produced are used on farm animals creating conditions that breed very resilient diseases
-Best practices seem to be voluntary and to change the way CAFO’s raise animals is very costly
-The upcoming Joe vs. Joel debate on whether or not GMO foods should be labeled. This is a fund raiser for our friends at the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund and the opening for the annual Weston A. Price Foundation International Conference in Atlanta.
-David Gumpert will be moderating the debate between Dr. Joe Mercola, M.D. and the unforgetable Joel Salatin.
-The GMO debate centers around regulation, pro and con. You cannot sell a mattress unless it is properly marked, should the government allow GMO foods to be sold unmarked? What are the market forces involved? What should the consumer know?
-Connect with your farmer!
-Wrapping up and what you can do as an informed consumer
Links:
David Gumpert’s first book: The Raw Milk Revolution 
David Gumpert’s latest book: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Food Rights
David Gumpert’s blog, The Complete Patient (great food rights news source)
The FTCLDF presents the not-to-be-missed GMO Debate (#GMOdebate)
Pantry Paratus blog on visting Polyface Farms
The Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund
The Weston A. Price Foundation
Pantry Paratus Radio interview with Sally Fallon Morell (awesome!)
Pantry Paratus blog on visiting Sally Fallon Morell’s farm (P.A. Bowen Farm)
Pantry Paratus Radio interview with Kimberly Hartke, publicist for the Weston A. Price Foundation
Proviso:
Nothing in this blog constitutes medical advice. You should consult your own physician before making any dietary changes. Statements in this blog may or may not be congruent with current USDA or FDA guidance.