The Checkout

Episode 125: Grocery Update- Meat Industry Accountability & Profit Inflation

Episode 124: Johnnie Kallas Talks Data and the Labor Upsurge

Episode #124 Notes 1:00 - How did you get into tracking labor strikes as data? 2:00 - Is there an actual labor uprising in the country right now? 4:00 - What is your methodology for data collection for labor strikes? 6:05 - Key findings from Johnnie’s research. 9:00 - What types of industries have been striking recently? 11:00 - What motivates folks to go on strike generally? 14:00 - On distinctions between Organizing vs. Strikes. 16:00 - What are unions roles in labor strikes? 20:20 - On Strike...

Episode 123: FoodTank Presents Magaly Licolli & Gerardo Reyes

Episode 122: Lindsey Allen & Point Of Origin

Episode #122 Notes 1:00 - How did you get interested in supply chains? 8:45 - What’s the vision for Point of Origin? 11:00 - Colonization and the food system. 15:10 - Why is food getting so expensive? 18:00 - The war in Ukraine and it’s impact on food and the supply chain. 21:00 - IMF, structural adjustment, and colonization. 28:00 - Examples of what can be done improve and make supply chains more just. 34:50 - What’s next for Point of Origin....

Episode 121: Cortlin Harrison On Unionizing Starbucks

Episode 120: Understanding Unionization with Bob Funk of LaborLab

Episode 119: Rosalind Alexander-Kasparik on How Texas Is Still Stealing Black Owned Farmland

Episode #119 Notes 1:00 - On Alexander Farm in Texas. 3:15 - On the farm’s historical connection to The Pony Express. 9:00 - The family’s connection to cowboys. 17:30 - Tracing the lineage of the farms’ historical roots, and the existential threat to their farm currently. 56:00 - What you can do to help support their farm.

Episode 118: Why Kim Kelly Wants Workers To “Fight Like Hell”

Episode 117: Timothy A. Wise On Rethinking The Green Revolution

Episode #117 Notes 1:00 - Tim’s background and experience in international agriculture. 2:30 - Defining the Green Revolution and Tim’s recent findings. 5:30 - On donor funded studies and implications. 11:00 - On Ag Tech, philanthropy, and African agriculture. 21:00 - On the war in Ukraine, and potential impact on African agriculture. 32:00 - On GMO discourse. 37:00 - Scientists and Agroecology. 43:00 - Closing thoughts.

Episode 116: Liz Carlisle & the Deep and Diverse Roots of Regenerative Farming

Episode #116 Notes 1:00 - What led you to write Healing Grounds? 4:00 - Why focus on Regenerative, rather than Organic? 6:00 - What is the significance of land, land stewardship, and indigenous land ownership in the US? 10:00 - What is beyond the soil of Regenerative Agriculture? 13:15 - On slavery and food. 18:30 - On the Green Revolution and Food Sovereignty. 18:00 - What’s been the response from some of your new food products? 28:00 - On immigrants and agroecology. 36:15 - On the potential fo...

Episode 115: Adam Maxwell of Voyage Foods

Episode #115 Notes 1:00 - On Adam’s experience in the food industry. 4:15 - Adam’s background in science and molecular engineering. 6:15 - On creating flavors and formulations for industrial foods. 10:30 - What is the process of developing new flavors and formulations for food companies? 14:00 - Mitigating “off-notes”. 15:30 - How Voyage Foods develops food products without GMO’s. 18:00 - What’s been the response from some of your new food products? 21:00 - On labelling Voyage Foods’ unique prod...

Episode 114: Dr. Steven Osuna on Racial Capitalism and Class Suicide

1:00 - How did you end up studying racism and political economy? 3:50 - What is your definition of Neo-Liberalism? 8:30 - On racial capitalism in the food industry. 16:00 - How do you identify Neo-Liberal policies? 18:45 - How is Neo-Liberalism different than Libertarianism? 26:00 - On Black Radical Tradition. 30:00 - On thinkers and scholars on racial capitalism. 40:00 - On contemporary protests and how it ties to Black Radical Tradition in the US. 41:00 - On the concept of Class Suicide. 50:00...

Episode 113: Max Ajl & A People’s Green New Deal

Episode #113 Max Ajl Notes :30 How did you come to write A People’s Green New Deal? 7:30 What is the history of the global south’s movements and how the Green New Deal has watered these down? 21:00 On vegan neo-colonialism. 32:00 On the links between global capital and the plant-based industry. 51:00 Can you tell us about the concept of Degrowth?

Episode 112: Kathy Finn of UFCW 770

Episode #112 Kathy Finn, UFCW 770 :30 Happenings of the labor movement in Souther California. 2:15 What’s your role at UFCW, and how do you find yourself in this line of work? 4:30 What is the current status of the current labor negotiations with grocery retailers, and can you describe some of the illegal activities they are engaging in? 8:30 What are the policies and working conditions they have imposed? 11:30 On hazard pay mandates. 14:40 What is the appeal of unionizing through UFCW? 18:35 Cl...

Episode 111: Pat Mooney on Who Really Feeds The World

Episode #111 Pat Mooney Notes :30 On how small farms nourish 70% of the world’s population. 3:00 On the study “Which Farms Feed the World and Has Farmland Become More Concentrated?” 8:30 On Food Sovereignty and industrial agriculture. 17:30 What do large, corporate food entities stand to gain from changing our narrative around food production? 21:00 Can you tell us about the concept of Degrowth?

Episode 110: Professor Silvia Secchi and Iowa’s Industrial Agriculture

Episode Notes 1:00 - What is your area of study and research? 9:20 - On the farming sector in Iowa. 13:30 - On farm subsidies. 17:40 - On the ethanol industry. 23:00 - On producing for feed for factory farming and resulting externalities. 32:00 - The role of policy in changing conventional agricultural practices in Iowa. 38:00 - On farm workers in Iowa. 40:30 - On President Biden’s plan to take on the consolidated meat industry. 44:00 - On reforming the USDA to better serve non-conventional inte...

Episode 109: Grocery Update: The Need For Anti-Trust, Part 2

Robinson-Patman Act: https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/price-discrimination-robinson-patman

Episode 108: Grocery Update: Understanding Anti-Trust Part 1

Episode 107: Workers Defense Project

Episode #107 Notes 1:00 - What is The Workers Defense Project? 2:00 - Why is there a focus on construction workers? 4:00 - How is Workers Defense Project organized? What’s it like working in this trade? 10:00 - How is it different working construction in Texas, as opposed to other parts of the country? 14:00 - What is the Theory of Change for Workers Defense Project? 16:00 - Workers Defense Project’s approach to policy work in Texas. 20:00 - Key campaign victories for Workers Defense Project. 24...

Episode 106: Talking Common Sense Solidarity

Episode #106 Notes :30 Defining ‘Working Class’ 3:30 On Jarred’s research methods for Common Sense Solidarity 7:50 High level findings from the report. 15:00 On how gender plays into research findings surrounding politics and identity. 20:00 On how political views change on racial lines. 23:00 On how political views change on economic status. 28:00 On how political views change with geography. 34:30 Economically progressive vs. Socially progressive 41:30 Closing thoughts...

Episode 105: Bakery Workers Standing Up to Cub Foods

Episode 104: Grocery Update 2022: From Food Inflation to Food Insecurity

Episode 103: Dr. Sarah Taber on Food Safety and Food System Viability

1:00 – How did you end up writing about food and farming? 9:15 - On food safety and it’s larger implications in food systems. 17:30 - On-farm food safety issues. 23:00 - On the roots of inequity and colonialism in the food system. 30:00 - On conventional food production and policy intersections. 37:30 - On the development of rural demographics. 48:15 - On Wendell Berry 57:00 - Critiques of the Good Food Movement. 1:05 - On farm viability. 1:13 - Book Recommendations! The Dictator’s Handbook Terr...

Episode 102: RWDSU Local 338, Organizing Farmworkers in New York State

Episode 101: Manpreet Kalra On The Indian Farmers Uprising

1:00 – Can you tell us a bit about what it’s like to farm in India? 4:00 – How is farming different and similar to farming in the US? 6:00 – What in India is farming concentrated? 10:30 – What are the socioeconomic policies being pushed in India government right now, and how does it impact farmers? 12:45 – How are these policies related to the 70’s Green Revolution? 19:00 – How have farmers resisted these laws and policies? 22:00 – What policies need to change in India? 24:00 – What can we do to...

Episode 100: Magaly Licolli On Organizing Poultry Workers

1:00 – What got you interested in organizing foodworkers in meat processing? 5:00 – What is it like to work in a meat processing plant? 8:00 – How are meat processor workers treated by their employers? 10:30 – How has COVID impacted the lives and work of workers in meat processing plants? 14:30 – What role should OSHA play in regulating working conditions? 16:15 – How have workers responded to poor working conditions during COVID? 20:00 – How has COVID impacted the families and communities of th...

Episode 99: Cristina Lujan of BCTGM Local 37 & the Rich Foods Strike

Episode 98: Lauren Baker on Agroecology

1:00 – What motivated you to build a compendium of agroecogology? 5:00 – What was discussed at the UN Food Summit you attended? 7:00 – Can agroecology feed the world? 11:00 – Is agroecology scalable? 15:30 – Can agroecology provide meaningful livlihoods? 18:00 – Can agroecology help solve climate change? 24:00 – How can agroecology be molded with the current framework for the globalized food system? 28:30 – What is agroecology, exactly? 31:30 – How do we prevent agroecology from being gentrified...

Episode 97: Adnan Durrani On Building Halal Brands

Episode #97 Notes 1:00 - What motivated you to start Saffron Road? 4:15 - What does halal mean? And what are the standards and certifiers around it? 8:00 - What was the path to market for your company? 11:20 - What were your biggest challenges getting to market in the first few years? 13:15 - How do you handle naysayers in the halal space? 21:00 - On Saffron Road’s certifications and sustainability standards. 24:00 - What lessons have you learned that you’d share with us? 28:00 - How have you ma...

Episode 96: Kellogg’s Strike Recap with Victor Francia, BCTGM Local 50G