The Ruminant: Audio Candy for Farmers, Gardeners and Food Lovers
The Ruminant: Audio Candy for Farmers, Gardeners and Food Lovers
Jordan Marr
For people passionate about farming, gardening, food politics, food security, and the intersections among these topics. Jordan Marr, a certified organic farmer in British Columbia, interviews farmers, gardeners, academics, and journalists about stuff farmers and food system nerds care about. If where and how your food is produced matters to you, this podcast is produced for you!
A Critique of Canada's Pesticide Oversight
In the summer of 2023, Bruce Lanphear, Professor of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, resigned his position as co-chair of a recently formed Science Advisory Committee of the PMRA, which regulates pesticide use in Canada. Dr. Lanphear felt he could no longer lend his credibility to the agency following disagreement about the Terms of Reference provided to Lanphear and seven other scientists comprising the committee. Lanphear has been critical of aspects of Canada's pesticide oversight regime. I invited him on the show to discuss the topic. You can read about Bruce's resignation here and here, or check out this google search.
Sep 10, 2023
1 hr 8 min
I Threw Out The Turkey You Sold Me.
The Ruminant's first ever holiday special! Fellow Canadians, don't @ me. The original version of this piece was produced for Canadian Thanksgiving, for radio.
Nov 22, 2022
14 min
Big Chicken, Indebted Farmers
The US chicken industry is dominated by just a few very large, vertically integrated companies. They directly control every stage of chicken production from hatching to distribution, except that they outsource the riskiest stage--raising the birds from chick to mature bird--to independent farmers. In this episode, guest Patti Anderson of the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future describes this system, explains how it traps many farmers in debt, and tells us about the most recent effort to make the system more just for farmers.After that: the farmer questionnaire!Some links related to the chicken conversation and the proposed rule changes:Patti suggests this blog post for a summary of the rule changesA recent op-ed in Civil Eats about the tournament systemHere's an official summary of the proposed rule-changes
Sep 17, 2022
47 min
The Case for Slower
This ep: we introduce a new segment called Farm Sounds. This time: when the tradeoff that comes with a gain in efficiency on the farm doesn't feel worth it. Plus another installment of The Farmer Questionnaire.
Jul 9, 2022
23 min
Crop Wild Relatives in Plant Breeding
This episode I speak with Dr. Patrick Byrne, Professor Emeritus of Plant Breeding and Genetics at Colorado State University. Our topic: crop wild relatives, the forebears to all of the agricultural crops we love and depend on. Patrick helps us understand the relationship between, say, Teosinte and modern corn, and why the conservation of these wild relatives is crucial to the improvement of our crop cultivars. Links: Grin-U.org: a great repository for online learning materials on plant genetic resources conservation and use.Free Ebook: Crop Wild Relatives & Their Use in Plant BreedingOr some related videos insteadOur guest on the Farmer Questionnaire in this episode was Tracy Robertson of Stony Mountain Farm in BC's Cariboo Region.
Jun 2, 2022
53 min
The Very First One. It's about potting blocks!
The interview we planned to record yesterday and release today was postponed, so I dug up the very first episode of the show, from way back in 2012, until now never released on the newer podcast feed. It's an interview with Jason Beam about potting blocks, you lucky ducks. We'll be back with a new episode in two weeks, promise.
May 19, 2022
1 hr 6 min
The Biggest Little Disappointment
This episode: to mark the release of an update (sort of?) to Netflix's big, farmy 2018 hit The Biggest Little Farm, herein we review both the original documentary (Netflix) and an update, called The Return of the Biggest Little Farm, which dropped on Disney+ on Earth Day. Also: another installment of The Farmer Questionnaire!This episode was produced by Jordan Marr & Philippa Mennell.
May 5, 2022
42 min
I Hope You Die: Livestock Farmers on the Threats They Receive
This episode, three farmers who slaughter animals reflect on the experience of encountering hate, vitriol and worse from animal rights activists. This episode was produced by Jordan Marr & Philippa Mennell.
Apr 21, 2022
47 min
Did Certified Organic Pay a Price for its Success?
This episode: Rebecca Kneen, a BC-based organic farmer & brewer, whose roots and activism in the organic sector go back decades, on the evolution of organic standards and oversight over time, some aspects of which she has misgivings about. Rebecca put her thoughts down in an open letter that was the basis for this coversation; you can download a PDF of that letter here.Also: Jessica Bell of Split Creek Farm Grade A Goat Dairy in South Carolina answers our first ever Farmer Questionnaire!
Apr 7, 2022
1 hr
Let's Whet Together
Hi Everyone! Herein: four audio segments I think you'll enjoy. Each comes from a 25-episode podcast series I'm in the middle of producing for my province's annual organic conference.  So yeah, this is a teaser for the conference, but be assured that each segment in this episode stands alone as an interesting piece of audio on its own merits.  More info on the conference here: https://bcorganic2021.eventbrite.ca
Jan 8, 2021
56 min
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