DO 287 - Graze Against the Machine: Breaking Up Big Ag, Rewilding America, and the Future of Food

Doomer Optimism

Fresh from dinner with Wendell Berry in Kentucky, the crew discusses Paul Kingsnorth’s new book and the deep tensions in American agriculture. From Trump’s controversial beef deal with Argentina to the packing monopolies squeezing ranchers, we explore why our food system prioritizes industrial products over actually feeding people.Topics include: the soybean-ethanol scam, why 80% of corn never becomes human food, land prices and the return-to-the-land movement, the death of email jobs and rise of excess labor, and why California could have fed tens of millions on acorns and salmon alone. Plus: the case for a new agrarian think tank, the difference between living as creatures versus machines, and why we need a million cowboys to restore America’s ecosystems.Featuring reflections on nationalism vs. patriotism, the regulatory capture of agriculture, fiat currency, and farmland prices, and why the real abundance agenda has nothing to do with cheap beef from Argentina.