About this episode

Dana DiPrima discusses the hijacking of the regenerative agriculture label by industrial corn and its implications.

On June 25th, President Trump signed an executive order advancing regenerative agriculture. The same afternoon, the USDA quietly finalized a Regenerative Feedstock Rule that lets industrial corn claim the regenerative label to sell more ethanol. Sixty-eight percent of corn farmers already qualify, which means almost nothing has to change in the field. The word is doing the work. In this solo episode, Dana traces how a term that small farmers built with cover crops and real soil work got picked up and handed to industrial corn. Then she goes back fifty years to explain how we got here, starting at the gas pump. How ethanol is made, why we grow so much corn, the dead zone the size of New Jersey in the Gulf of Mexico, the war in Iran driving it all forward, and who actually pays the price. It's never just about food. One Bite is Everything From your plate to the rest of the world, One Bite is Everything explores the connections between food, health, community, the environment, and the economy. Through conversations with farmers, chefs, researchers, advocates, and food system leaders, host Dana DiPrima examines how food touches every aspect of our lives and why understanding our food…

People in this episode

Host: Dana DiPrima

Topics covered

• regenerative agriculture
• industrial corn
• ethanol production
• food systems
• environmental impact
• agricultural policy

Keywords

• regenerative agriculture
• corn farmers
• ethanol
• USDA
• environment
• food policy
• agriculture
• Gulf of Mexico
• New Jersey
• President Trump

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: USDA

Products: ethanol

Places: Gulf of Mexico, Iran, New Jersey

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