This week on a brand new season of What Doesn’t Kill You, host Katy Keiffer welcomes writer Tom Philpott to discuss a plethora of inter-related topics, kicking off the show with a discussion on the California drought situation and its coinciding water politics, plus how almond and pistachio farmers are responding. Currently there are minimal regulations in California regarding ground water, and as Tom explains, the problem is that the legislation that is in place may not have an adequate chance to benefit anyone at the rate water sources are being depleted. Conversation turns to general precipitation amounts throughout the state and with numbers dwindling, Tom discusses the effect this will likely have on the economy as well as farm workers. After the break, Katy brings up Tom’s writing on the impact of chemicals on field workers and gets his thoughts on exactly what’s going on before delving deeper into labor conditions in the food industry. Tune in for another thought-provoking show! This program was brought to you by The International Culinary Center.

“If we can ‘de-Californify’ the food supply while we push for better conditions for workers on factory farms then we can start to see a future that doesn’t look quite so grim.” [44:36]

—Tom Philpott on What Doesn’t Kill You