Food systems, explained from the ground up.
Farm To Table Talk treats agriculture as both a local relationship and a global system. Episodes move from garden economics and restaurant sourcing to farm bills, shipping routes, robotics, and plant genetics.
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Farm To Table Talk treats agriculture as a living system with many moving parts. Food starts in soil, but it does not stay there. Recent conversations follow products through cold chains, trucks, rail alternatives, ports, grocery timelines, public policy, restaurant kitchens, family pantries, laboratories, and farm fields using robotics. The show is especially strong when it explains the hidden middle of the food system. A discussion with Peter Friedman turns fresh meat exports into a race against time, where cold storage, tandem drivers, Oakland shipping schedules, and Korean grocery shelves all matter. That kind of detail gives the show its character. It is not romantic about agriculture, but it is not dismissive of local food either. Small gardens and big logistics both get taken seriously. Natalie Bogwalker connects growing food with grocery costs, mental health, nature, ancestry, and a less cash-dependent household economy. Jeremy and Stacey Hill bring the same practicality to preservation, co-ops, freeze drying, and starting with one manageable change. Other episodes widen the lens. Orion Samuelson appears through an interview about farm broadcasting, farm bills, presidents, world food supply, and the importance of farmers making their voices heard. Felipe Ricachenevsky discusses plant research, CRISPR, biofortified rice, and why plants sit at the center of human and animal nutrition. Chris Reineschek explains a southern farm-to-table restaurant built around seasonal ingredients and community trust. Mike Thompson talks through farm bill politics, food security, wine grapes, olives, and the bipartisan structure that has historically linked rural and urban interests. Jaisimha Rao adds the technology frontier, with robotic systems that identify weeds and apply different treatments in a single pass. Across these subjects, the show favors conversation over performance. It asks how agriculture actually works, who depends on it, and what changes when science, policy, markets, and weather meet everyday food.
Made for: For food-curious listeners, growers, policy watchers, chefs, homesteaders, and anyone who wants clearer context on agriculture beyond simple local-versus-industrial arguments.
What sets it apart: The show connects intimate food choices with the infrastructure behind them, putting gardens, genetics, shipping lanes, restaurants, farm bills, and robots into one practical agricultural conversation.
Is it best that our food is Local and Organic or Big and Conventional? Our view is “Both, and..” We don’t come to the table with a bias, except that good farming like good food comes in all shapes and sizes. Farm to Table Talk explores issues and the growing interest in the story of how and where the food on our tables is produced, processed and marketed. The host, Rodger Wasson is a food and agriculture veteran. Although he was the first of his family to leave the grain and livestock farm after five generations farming in America, he’s continually worked for and with farmers though-out America and around the world. From directly managing commodity boards and councils to presently building t…
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Roger Wasson turns agricultural systems into practical business questions about financing, logistics, technology and production.
Farm To Table Talk follows food through the decisions, machinery and infrastructure that move it from production to market. Roger Wasson uses guest interviews to connect farm-level choices with commercial realities, asking how fresh meat reaches overseas buyers, how a processor…
Fresh beef races a clock to Korea, and suddenly your grocery aisle has a thriller.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A fresh meat shipment to Korea shows how transport timing affects freshness and value.
Roger Wasson and Agriculture Transportation Coalition guest Peter Friedman follow a fresh meat shipment bound for Korea, where timing matters at every stop. Flying agricultural products is generally impractical, Friedman says, and rail takes too long for this load.
Felipe explains several routes to rice with more iron and zinc.
Felipe thinks plant research gets too little funding compared with medicine, especially given its potential to improve the quality of food. Talking with Roger Wasson, he walks through his work on rice with more iron and zinc.
Stacy and Jeremy suggest starting food preservation with one favorite food and help from people nearby.
Stacy and Jeremy make food preservation feel manageable: pick one food you already like and find out whether preserving it saves money or gives you better quality food with ingredients you know. They also see value in working with people nearby.
A weed-identifying machine leads to a pointed conversation about targeted spraying and farm robots.
Roger Wasson's Farm to Table Talk conversation starts with a machine that identifies weeds and chooses between two herbicides. His guest describes dual tanks and separate sets of nozzles that can treat different weed species in a single pass.
Chris Roach explains how a USDA-backed loan could support his Kentucky meat processing operation.
Chris Roach sees a favorable USDA-backed loan as a way to repurchase his meat processing facility and cover its operating budget. He is clear that the financing would be a loan, not a grant. From there, he turns to the work behind selling pasture-raised livestock as meat.
Odd questions, followed patiently down to the incentives.
Family grief, public questions, and the responsibilities of care.
Nadine Clopton discusses how Rodale Institute connects healthy soil, healthy food, and healthy people through regenerative agriculture and food as medicine.
Peter Friedman discusses the challenges of transporting agricultural products through global chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz and the need for creative new routes.
A tribute to legendary farm broadcaster Orion Samuelson, featuring his interview about dreaming big and his life's work supporting farmers and informing consumers.
Natalie Bogwalker discusses how growing your own food can reduce expenses, improve health, and provide mental fulfillment.
A discussion on the underfunding of plant research compared to medicine, highlighting the importance of plants as primary energy sources and their potential for producing nutrients and medicinal molecules.
Chef Chris Rainosek discusses his farm-to-table restaurant Noble South in Mobile, Alabama, emphasizing seasonal ingredients and community trust.
Congressman Mike Thompson discusses concerns about the new Farm Bill, including food security cuts and the separation of food security from agricultural policy.
Jeremy and Stacey Hill, the operators of Gooseberry Bridge Farm in southwest Missouri, describe how a 12-acre homestead supports vegetables, livestock, and agritourism.
Jay Rao says Nikko Robotics turns crop spraying into a plant-level task by using cameras, AI, and two separate tanks on a tractor-mounted robot.
Chris Roach says Better for Butchery bought Porter Road’s Princeton, Kentucky facility in July 2025 after Porter Road filed bankruptcy in March.
Dr.
John Kempf discusses the launch of an AI that combines algorithmic recommendations with a chatbot for agronomic data, reflecting on the journey from historical Amish farming to modern technology.
Stuart Gillespie discusses the global food system's challenges and opportunities in an interview on Farm to Table Talk.