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Podcast: Flipping the Table

Michael Dimock, director of PHI’s Roots of Change, hosts dynamic and enlightening conversations with people who are flipping the table to create new ways to feed the world.

Honest conversations about food, farming and the future

Food production causes more damage to the planet than any other human activity, contributing to global warming; lost biodiversity; degraded soil, water, air and rural economies; and epidemics of diet-related disease.

This podcast, hosted by Michael Dimock, presents dynamic and enlightening conversations with people who are flipping the table to create new ways to feed the world. Their ideas will inspire action and positivity in our challenging times, and appeal to listeners and sponsors who strive to create healthy and resilient people, communities and economies.

Michael Dimock is director of Roots of Change, a think-and-do tank working to ensure emergence of a sustainable food system in California. Roots of Change is a program of the Public Health Institute.

Narsiso Martinez

S8 Ep 3 - Artist Narsiso Martinez Paints Portraits of Farmworkers on Produce Boxes

A former farmworker himself, gifted artist Narsiso Martinez paints farmworker portraits on flattened produce boxes, which now hang in museums, galleries and homes. Narsiso is lifting up men and women that most people never see or hear, but upon whom our very lives depend.

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Kelly Ryerson, known as Glyphosate Girl

S8 Ep 2 - Kelly Ryerson, known as Glyphosate Girl and a MAHA Mom

In February 2026, President Trump signed an Executive Order defining glyphosate as critical to national security. This created a firestorm among the mostly mother-powered stream of the MAHA movement insisting HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr., eliminate risky or toxic chemicals from agriculture and food ingredients. Kelly Ryerson, a nationally recognized MAHA member often seen lobbying Congress, shares her thoughts on MAHA’s response to the Trump Administration’s support for the controversial herbicide.


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cover image for the Roots of Change S8 Ep 1 of the Flipping the Table podcast

S8 Ep 1 - Aria McLauchlan and Harley Cross of Land Core Protect Our Soil

It is rare for business-oriented folks to commit their lives to policy work. But the cofounders of Land Core are doing just that. With business backgrounds they understood how federal farm policy needed to change in order to create healthy and resilient agriculture. They are creating tools and farm bill programs that offer a brighter future by weaving bipartisan support for good soil policy.

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cover image for the Roots of Change S7 Ep22 of the Flipping the Table podcast

S7 Ep22 - Terra Madre Americas: Segment 9: Meat as Medicine for People & the Planet: The Gifts of Nutrient Density

Flipping the Table Co-host Coco Sanabria engages Mary Purdy (l), Sara Keough (c) and Stephan van Vliet (r) to answer the question can meat heal both our bodies & the environment? They share the emerging nutrient density science & how regeneratively raised meat supports human health while restoring ecosystems.

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cover image for the Roots of Change S7 Ep21 of the Flipping the Table podcast

S7 Ep21 - Terra Madre Americas: Segment 8: Lamb & the Land: How Shepherds Are Feeding People & the Landc

The relationship between sheep & humans stretches back 12,000 years. These docile and productive animals provide delicious meat & high-quality fiber. Robert Irwin, Dylan Boeken and Sallie Calhoun share why lamb matters, how thoughtful grazing sustains ecosystems & how their industry can reduce toxic waste and us of herbicides, while it reduces fire danger.

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About the Podcast

Flipping the Table - logoPHI’s Roots of Change’s (ROC) collaborative network of organizations, businesses and governments hopes to make regenerative agriculture and healthy food accessible to all people including individuals, community-based organizations, food producers and businesses, advocating nonprofits, government agencies and more. ROC is committed to improving our culture’s understanding of our food system from field to table, its production systems and markets, and the policies that guide its function. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Youtube.

Host: Michael Reid Dimock is the program director of Roots of Change at the Public Health Institute. From a leadership role in the global Slow Food Movement to leadership of winning policy campaigns, for two decades he has led catalytic work to transform thinking and laws governing our production of food and management of farms. He serves on the advisory board of the UCLA Law School’s Resnick Food Law and Policy Program as well as the nonprofit boards of Farm to Pantry and the Wild Farm Alliance. Author Katrina Fried and Photographer Paul Mobley feature Michael in their book Everyday Heroes: 50 Americans Changing The World. His global network of allies and social media followers links 140,000 individuals and organizations.

Producer: Courtney Grace is a sound designer, vocalist, and music producer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She studied Sound Design at San Francisco State University and started her music and sound business, Courtney Grace Music and Sound in 2015. She has worked on several podcasts, films, and songs, and has worked on projects with Google and Skywalker Sound. Aside from work, she is very passionate about social justice issues, video editing, graphic design, and enjoys healthy foods and adventurous hikes in nature.

 

Originally published by Roots of Change


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