Zephyr Teachout: Reorganizing Food Systems For Real Food

290: Antitrust scholar Zephyr Teachout explains how monopoly power has reshaped food, retail, health care, media, technology, and nearly every other part of American life. A handful of grocery companies now control much of the marketplace, while dominant distributors use kickbacks and other questionable methods to control of shelf space. Zephyr lays out practical ways states can begin reversing that concentration. Drawing on the history of farmer-led populist movements, she argues that real food depends on democratic markets, strong communities, and alliances capable of challenging corporate oligarchy.

https://realorganicproject.org/zephyr-teachout-reorganizing-food-systems-for-real-food

The Real Organic Podcast is hosted by Dave Chapman and Linley Dixon, engineered by Brandon StCyr, and edited and produced by Jenny Prince. The Real Organic Project is a farmer-led movement working towards certifying 1,000 farms across the United States. Our add-on food label distinguishes soil-grown fruits and vegetables from hydroponically-raised produce, and pasture-raised meat, milk, and eggs from products harvested from animals in horrific confinement (CAFOs - confined animal feeding operations). To find a Real Organic farm near you, please visit: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.realorganicproject.org/directory⁠⁠⁠⁠ We believe that the organic standards, with their focus on soil health, biodiversity, and animal welfare were written as they should be, but that the current lack of enforcement of those standards is jeopardizing the ability for small farms who adhere to the law to stay in business. The lack of enforcement is also jeopardizing the overall health of the customers who support the organic movement; customers who are not getting what they pay for at market but still paying a premium price. And the lack of enforcement is jeopardizing the very cycles (water, air, nutrients) that Earth relies upon to provide us all with a place to live, by pushing extractive, chemical agriculture to the forefront. To read our weekly newsletter and get firsthand news about what's happening with organic food, farming and policy, please subscribe here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.realorganicproject.org/email/⁠