- [Narrator] "Flatland in Focus" is brought to you in part through the generous support of AARP, the Health Forward Foundation, and RSM.
- Welcome back to "Flatland in Focus," I'm your host, D. Rashaan Gilmore.
And tonight, we'll be looking at the benefits of localizing our food systems and the challenges facing the growers working to get their food to your table.
(gentle upbeat music) (transition whooshing) Over the decades, the growth of large-scale animal agriculture has resulted in a market dominated by just a handful of globally operating companies.
Study after study has shown that over-reliance on this scaled approach results in a massive drain not only on natural resources like land and water but federal subsidies as well.
But when the playing field is leveled and smaller farm operations can compete in this market, a shift to regenerative farming practices and a more resilient food system is made possible.
So tonight, we delve into the heart of America's food chain and explore the dynamic between regenerative agriculture and the colossal presence of Big Ag.
Let's hear the stories of resilience, innovation, and the push for policy change that supports a healthier, more equitable food system for all.
(transition whooshing) (gentle music) - Sustainability and resilience is absolutely the number one issue facing our food system.
We saw in the pandemic that farmers' markets in Missouri were able to quickly pivot and respond to need for food.
The way we've organized some of our food system into these very large production units like industrial-sized livestock facilities, very large processing plants, we saw those kind of have a hiccup, especially at the beginning of the pandemic.
- We've shown how well we perform under stress during COVID.
We never missed a lick.
This is this year's calf crop right here.
These are the Wagyu Angus calves.
I mean, from a carbon perspective, we gotta be very, very negative.
I mean, we don't have the transport on live animals.
We're rotationally grazing our pastures.
We're trying to add all the alley we can and keep as much of it here on the farm as we can as far as slaughter, waste, nutrients, and all of that to rebuild our soils.
This is so much the opposite of the industrial model.
You can't get further from it.
I think it's been one of the major human follies ever in history that we would think that we're gonna feed the world from a single or a handful of corporations.
It's not resilient, it's not dependable, it's not sustainable, it's not safe.
It's abusive to people and abusive to animals.
- One of the things I think that's most frustrating about the food system today is that food is simultaneously too cheap and too expensive.
It is too cheap because we often exploit farmers, workers, and the environment, right?
At the same time, it's too expensive.
And a lot of people can't even make the choices to eat healthy because they don't have enough income.
Good, healthy food shouldn't be too expensive for the very workers who might serve you that food or stock that food in the grocery store or process that meat.
- Consumers don't even realize what their food is costing.
They go to the grocery store, they buy food.
Hey, they haven't paid the subsidy bill yet, which is a huge amount that they're having to pay to farmers to produce below cost of production.
The government supports and pays subsidies and insurance on corn and soybeans and all the things that feed an industrial model of agriculture.
And that highly processed food industry, that's the most profitable for big corporations and conglomerates.
And meanwhile, we're not encouraging the production of good, healthy food.
- I would say one of the places that perhaps might be the biggest issue for farmers who are thinking about alternatives is around crop insurance.
And it's really important for them, by the way, with climate change.
But we don't have those kinds of insurance programs for these farmers who are using diversified strategies to really manage their risks, but not getting any support from the federal government, reducing their motivation for trying other strategies that could reduce risk from climate change and so on.
(gentle music) - What Patchwork is we buy hogs from our producers on the hoof.
We bring 'em into small independent meat packing plants.
90% of Missouri hog producers have been put outta business in one generation.
85% of U.S. hog producers put outta business in one generation.
And 50% of the U.S. pork industry is controlled by two foreign multinational corporations.
- I have spent some time looking at concentration ratios, which are an imperfect measure of competition in a marketplace.
Concentration ratio, a CR4 of 40% or more indicates that the market is acting much more like a monopoly.
So we see almost turkey, hogs, beef, all of these are greater than 40%, and there are serious questions being raised if we want to have all of these markets act like monopolies.
- When you have four corporations controlling over 70% of the pork, when you have four corporations controlling over 80% of the beef in this country, I mean, that's what antitrust is supposed to be guarding against, one of the main purposes of our government.
Because if you enforce antitrust laws and you create more fairness out here and more distribution of wealth to farmers and consumers, then you don't need as much government for safety nets because people don't need safety nets 'cause they're getting paid a fair wage.
The corporate model is the opposite of that.
- The issue is, is that we had a serious reconsideration of antitrust law back in the 1980s, and we started to see a focus on efficiency and on price as the arbitrary of if the market is competitive or not.
But it's about what can we do to provide for farmer livelihoods, for worker livelihoods, for resilient businesses, for making sure everybody's fed.
And those are the key issues that the food system has to address in a time of change, of climate change.
- The agriculture is at the bottom of what has become a series of crises related from the climate all the way down to the soil.
And as it is a part of the problem, it is also a part of a set of potential solutions.
One set of alternatives is, in a sense, a scaling back down.
It's a re-embedding of farming agriculture in place to where farming once again becomes producers and consumers seeing each other.
We need help from the federal level all the way down to the national level to help set the policy context so that these folks can do the right things and be rewarded for it.
- Equitable social relationships are really at the heart of making the food system work well for communities, for farmers, for workers, for the environment.
Local systems are really an important component of that, regional systems are an important component of that, and global systems can potentially play a role, but people in their communities need to be able to decide how they wanna participate in the food system, as a farmer, as an eater, as a worker.
That's the important thing.
(gentle music fades) (transition whooshing) - All right, welcome back to the studio for our roundtable discussion.
We're joined tonight by local farmers and advocates who are pioneering the movement for sustainable farming right here in our community.
So with me in studio is Brien Darby, the executive director of Cultivate Kansas City, Shane New, regenerative agriculture advocate and farmer, Tim Gibbons, communications director at Missouri Rural Crisis Center, and Mike Rollen, founder of Ophelia's Blue Vine Farm.
I wanna start this conversation with you, Tim, and ask what are some of the policies that you believe are holding local producers back from making it more difficult, or making it more difficult for them to thrive as independent operators?
And frankly, what policy proposals do you think could make a difference for these farmers and producers?
- I'm with the Missouri Rural Crisis Center.
We're a statewide farm and a rural membership organization.
We've been organizing since the '80s to fight for independent family farmers in rural communities.
We're working on policies and we're also working on the ground to ensure that farmers can stay in business and can continue to raise livestock independently.
It's a farm bill year.
So that's a very big broad question.
And if you look at the 2022 census that just came out, which was from 2017 to 2022, the United States lost 150,000 cattle producers, Missouri lost 10,000 cattle producers, We went from 50 to 40,000 cattle producers.
We need policies that ensure that farmers can stay on the land, make money, contribute to their local economies, but also that consumers can have meat that's raised and food that's raised by family farmers, not food that's raised by multinational foreign corporations.
- The American consumer, the average person at home are going to the supermarket, they think that most of the food that they get in their local grocery store is from a farm just 50 miles down the road or just outside the county line.
But what is the true reality?
And I'm gonna ask you Mike to opine on that too just after, Brien.
- Sure.
So at Cultivate Kansas City, we work really closely with the urban farmer in the Kansas City Metro area.
Urban farms are anything from a backyard to half an acre, a couple acres, more on the perimeter of the city.
And I would say that I wish that more local food was available in our community.
But I think we've seen, in the Kansas City area, great strides have been made on getting more availability through farmers' markets, through opening up markets to wholesale channels for farmers to be able to sell to wholesale clients.
So we're always looking for policies that will allow a wider consumer base to be able to afford to support the local farmer.
Some of those policies are going to be directed at the farmer to give them a leg up in their production, and some are gonna be directed at the consumer to give them more purchasing power.
- Can you share, just from your perspective, how Ophelia Farms integrate sustainable practices and what led you to those practices?
And don't you worry, for one minute, Shane, I'm coming to you next, but how did you find yourself in this space and how does that look like in practice?
- So for us, we didn't have the million-dollar loan.
If we would've had the million-dollar loan, we wouldn't have had to been sustainable.
- [D. Rashaan] Right.
- You know, I started my greenhouse with just an empty lot.
So every step of the way, that was $100 here, $1,000 dollars here, $100 here, buying all of this stuff.
And so to keep my costs low, I had to look for cost-saving measures.
And those happened to be sustainable.
For many years, I've rented greenhouses space, greenhouse space that was, it was ran by electric and gas, and we would all split the bill.
And it was a lot of money.
It was thousands of dollars.
When coronavirus happened, I said, "How can I do this cheaper?"
And I bought a pellet stove.
And so I heated the greenhouse, I bought all my rosemary, I dug it up and brought it in the greenhouse, impeded it with a pellet stove.
So now we had hooked up with kc grow.
We have a greenhouse, we have two 1,500 gallon tanks inside.
We have gutters on the greenhouse.
It's on a slope.
It's in between two trees.
Everyone would tell this project, no, but it works because it's just, it's my idea of just showing you these sustainable models harvesting water.
- So really, it's a prime example of the old expression that necessity being the mother of invention.
I mean, you did what you had to do.
From your knowledge base here, can you share the principles of regenerative agriculture?
Like what does that actually mean?
And why is it vital for not only the environment but for our communities and our country's food security?
And how does it influence quality?
- One, it's utilized as context.
So context is what is your driving force, or could be your local community, could be economics, could be multiple things.
The next is minimize soil disruption.
Try to do no-till practices 'cause we know a tillage does disrupt the soil structure, which leads to erosion, either water or wind.
The next thing is how do we armor that soil, cover that soil up.
There's this vast world of microbiology within the soil.
And if we don't keep those flourishing, it inhibits water cycle and nutrient cycle.
The next one is how do we add diversity within our systems?
That could be crop rotations, that could be cover crops in between cropping.
Next one is if we can integrate animal lives into the system.
Again, animals are critical.
It helps move biology throughout the system.
We can also look at capturing economic gains through that.
But it really, what it go boils back down to is how do we enhance our energy cycle?
I mean, capture as much solar energy as possible and pull carbon back outta the atmosphere, pump it back into the soil to feed the biology, and that leads into the water cycle.
- Well, I just have to interject and ask, I mean, we live in a time where people are very content to refute science.
Science is not science, fact is not fact, truth is always relative, and all those things.
So I wonder, as you're going out into whether urban or rural communities or talking to policy makers or others, is there resistance to this notion of doing things that actually are regenerative and that protect the environment?
- Well, it's obviously rapidly growing.
I mean, the interest in regenerative agriculture, but how do we enhance soil function systems, capture economic gains?
We talk about profitability, as Tim mentioned, the farms and ranches.
If we can enhance the energy cycle and the water cycle and the nutrient cycle, that's income that a farmer ranch isn't exuding to pay for an input they may not need.
And then really, most producers, I mean, it's just a lack of knowledge, lack of education.
I mean, like myself, when I went through college, we didn't really talk about how soils functioned.
It started to be accepted more widely, I feel, now.
- At the national level, do policy makers, federal legislative, do they get it?
According to the North American Meat Institute, four companies comprise about 70% of total U.S. beef production, four companies.
And I'm fully aware that at least one of those, and perhaps the largest, is Brazilian-based or not even headquartered in the United States.
So when we talk about any economic benefit and when we talk about food security, how is it possible that one of the four largest food or beef producers in this country isn't even from this country, or operated here?
- Well, let's say, say the name, it's JBS, and they also are number two in pork, and they also own Pilgrim's Pride Poultry.
So they not only are vertically integrated and monopolistic with Walmart.
- [D. Rashaan] Well, we have pork, beef, and chicken.
- Well, yeah.
So they can play these things off each other.
One thing that we have been advocating for since we began was strong enforcement of antitrust laws.
So that a few corporations can control an entire market.
Because like you said, as a consumer, not only through their control of the market they're able to pay producers less, they're also able to charge consumers more.
And that 70% number is actually 85% within beef, four corporations control 85 of beef.
- Okay, so how does the Missouri Rural Crisis Center help farmers organize?
And then the follow on to that is, what has been the impact of those efforts?
I mean, is this like the proverbial story of David and Goliath here?
- [Tim] Yeah.
- How do they compete?
- Well, we listen first, we understand history.
We understand the policy of history.
Like we study that, that's very important.
Corporate agribusiness likes us to believe that we're here because of inevitability.
Like this is the only place we could be, and because of efficiency.
The reality is we're here is because they control our democratic process and they pass laws that they write and they stop good laws that we fight for.
That wall of corporate power between us, the people, and the democratic process is strong.
And we're beating our heads against it to try to get real policies to support farmers and consumers alike.
- How does a local food system relate to more sustainable food production and consumption, given the backdrop that Tim just shared with us?
- We're up against pretty bad odds, right?
- [D. Rashaan] Yeah.
- Yeah.
So I think I say this a little tongue in cheek, but according to the USDA, urban ag wasn't really a thing until about 2018 when they wrote it into the 2018 Farm Bill, established the Office of Urban Ag and Innovative production.
And then we started seeing all sorts of USDA agencies creating programs or expanding their existing program to be more amenable to the needs of the urban producer, often the local producer, the specialty crop producer.
- Do you have a sense of what is driving that interest from the USDA?
- It wouldn't have happened without groups like Cultivate KC and others around the country advocating for that inclusion and highlighting the good and important work that our producers in urban spaces are doing.
The newest stat out from USDA is that worldwide, 15% of our food is now grown in urban spaces.
And as we to urbanize, the prediction is that that will only go up.
- Well, and certainly we know that more of the world is moving toward the cities.
According to Johns Hopkins Center for Livable Future, 78% of Americans want federal farm funding to prioritize food for people over food for, our feed for livestock.
But 30% of that goes to producing feed crops for dairy, eggs, and meat, 13% of it goes to food grains to feed people, and 4% goes to fruits and vegetables.
It seems like we've got this thing completely turned upside down or inside out.
And so Shane and Mike, I'd be interested to know what are the major challenges that both of you face compelling or competing against major agribusiness?
And how do you navigate these obstacles, both in rural and in urban settings?
And neither of you can take first swing at that.
- I mean, in agriculture right now, most producers, I think last stat I seen or heard was age 62.
So we've got an aging populace in agriculture, and no one really stepping in to fill the voids.
- So that there's a huge generational gap.
I mean, if you talk about sustainable farms and sustainable farming, if there's nobody being trained up to take on that work, we are gonna be facing another sort of crisis in the agriculture labor force, if you will.
- There are some huge challenges.
For me, we had to learn, I guess, the game of agriculture.
The wholesaler going through a wholesaler, going through a middleman, and it could cause some serious issues.
I see a lot of farms actually have been become bankrupt because of that.
They overextend themselves in credit.
And then those contracts that they may have get canceled.
- How do you see the organization impacting local food and market access for Black farmers and consumers?
- When you look at it, it's just the fact of having other people that you can relate to and being together with them, creating these networks.
But I got into it because I wanted my kids to know what real food tastes like, real tomatoes, real apples.
And so there was an educational- - And can we just say there is a difference?
- [Mike] Yeah.
- You can taste the difference.
And I did not know that for very long time.
When you get something that's fresh, organic, and hasn't been over sprayed and all the things.
- And another thing, I mean, I bought this, I bought this in today to show you, guys, okay?
- This is a can of Great Value, this whole kernel corn- - [Mike] Canned corn.
- From Walmart.
- And we grow some of the best corn here in the Midwest, okay?
Look on the back of that and tell your viewers where that corn came from.
- Well, of course we live in the Midwest, so this corn naturally came from Thailand.
- [Mike] Okay.
- Thailand.
- Okay.
But not only that, what is it?
It has a warning label on it, doesn't it?
- [D. Rashaan] It does.
- What does it say?
- It says, "Consuming this product can expose you to chemicals, including lead, which are known to the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm."
And then for more information, there's a website listed.
I don't think any culture anywhere in the world, certainly in this hemisphere, would expect that kind of a label.
But I have to ask you to just really share your thoughts on that, Tim.
I mean, corn in a can here in America, here in Missouri.
I'm assuming you bought this locally, right?
- [Mike] Yes.
- Okay, but a product of Thailand, what are the factors that are involved in making that even a necessity for the business owner and what makes it appropriate for the individual consumer and family?
- We imported 3.7 billion pounds of boxed beef in 2023 into the United States.
- [D. Rashaan] From where?
- From Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Argentina, Costa Rica, I could keep going on.
And we imported 2 million live cattle.
And we don't have country of origin labeling.
That's says product of Thailand on it.
The meat that comes into the United States, they don't have to put where it comes from.
That is one step in, that's the first step in competition is in real open, fair competition is knowing where our food comes from and having consumers have the ability to pick U.S. beef.
We're fighting for that.
And then neither Farm Bill, both the House Farm Bill and the framework of the Senate Farm Bill has country origin labeling in it.
That's the first step.
And we passed in the 2008 Farm Bill.
It was implemented, cattle prices went up, consumers got to know where their meat came from, but then people like the North American Meat Institute, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, along with the World Trade Organization, said it was an illegal trade barrier because corporate agribusiness does not want us to know that they're importing that much meat into our country.
When corporations have control, I understand that it's their goal to maximize profits, but the purpose of a democratic process is to make rules so that we have a fight and shot out here.
- Well, and and quite frankly, I mean, it goes to my final question, I'd love for each of you to just share if you can in 15, 20 seconds or so, what is one thing that you want consumers to think about when they go into the store and they see this can of corn all the way from Thailand?
What is one thing that they should be conscious of when buying their food?
And is that a good way to begin to kind of vote with their dollars, if you will?
- Yeah, the thing I would say to anyone is align your purchasing with your values.
- [D. Rashaan] Love that.
If you want your money to stay local, you have to support your local growers.
- Shane, what do you think?
- I have to agree.
I mean, the consumer dollar is powerful.
Consumers need to ask where their food comes from, how it's grown, how it's raised.
Support locally.
I mean, I just, I'm in a rural community, where I'm from, it's amazing to me how many local, younger couples and individuals are coming out to our farm wanting to know how the food's grown, wanna know more about what we're doing.
- We have to get angry, we have to get upset, you know?
We have to tell these businesses that buying corn with lead in it that cause reproductive harm is stealing from us, stealing our life, stealing something we can't get back, and it's a big issue.
That's a national brand.
Someone sat around a table just like this, and all those people said, "That's cool."
- This is okay to do.
Yeah.
- "This is okay to do.
They're poor."
We can't local food our way out of corporate control.
And what we need to do is demand real representation at the democratic level.
Food and agriculture is a good, bad example of what happens when corporations control our democratic process.
But we see it in healthcare, we see it in energy, and we see what's happening to our climate and our environment and our economies that's due to that.
So we got a big thing we're up against right now, and that's fighting for real democracy.
- Well, I wanna say to our viewers at home, I know that we live in a time where we almost have to be in near constant, a near constant state of rage about all of the things.
But I can't think of anything that's more important than the food that we eat and our health and our safety, safety of our families.
That's where we wrap up tonight's episode of "Flatland in Focus."
You've been hearing from Brien Darby, who is the executive director of Cultivate KC, Shane New, regenerative agriculture advocate and farmer, Tim Gibbons with the Missouri Rural Crisis Center, where he serves as their communications director, Mike Rollen, founder of Ophelia's Blue Vine Farm.
Be sure to visit flatlandshow.org for more from our series, "Harvesting Change," produced by Cami Koons, my colleague and friend here at Flatland.
And now on a personal note, as some of you already know, this will be my last episode as your host of "Flatland in Focus."
I'm stepping away from this work with a heart full of gratitude from stories on the housing crisis and public safety to environmental justice and reproductive rights.
It's taken a village to bring this program to life.
And so to our incredible crew of producers and journalists, especially Cody Boston and Chris Lester, thank you for your dedication to bringing critical stories to light.
I must also acknowledge my friend and mentor, both up close and from afar, Nick Haines, for his mentorship that helped me to grow into this role.
Growing up in Kansas City's urban core, I never imagined a place for myself as a little, Black, gay boy being at the table like this.
It wasn't a path I sought, but one that found me, helping me to see not only a place for myself at the table, but to also see that my knowledge and perspective contributed to an Emmy award-winning show that we are all incredibly proud of creating and bringing to you month after month for the past three years.
Now, the time has come for me to transition my focus towards BlaqOut, the organization I founded seven years ago, to support the Black LGBTQIA community.
I'm excited about the opportunity to deepen that impact and strengthen my commitment to advocacy and justice.
The same passion that has frankly powered "Flatland in Focus" these past three years.
Thank you, Kansas City, for the pleasure of your time these past three years.
Let's keep making a difference together.
- [Narrator] "Flatland in Focus" is brought to you in part through the generous support of AARP, the Health Forward Foundation, and RSM.
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