George McGovern’s favorite comment on his long political career was the New York Times’ observation that “food, farmers and his fellow man” were the foundation stones of his thinking. They still are. Growing up in South Dakota, he saw some of the best farmers in the world flounder in the Dust Bowl.
Nearly 30 years after his anti-Vietnam presidential campaign, it’s the food and farm paradoxes that preoccupy George McGovern: 800-million people in the world are still hungry today, even though the food production grows faster than population. Some of McGovern’s arguments today are with his own grandchildren: on genetic modification of grains, for example. Does high-tech food aid disrupt third-world production? Does the world need a Farmers’ Corp, on Peace Corps lines? George McGovern’s plan to end hunger in our time is here.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
George McGovern, former Senator and Democratic Presidential nominee and author of “The Third Freedom: Ending Hunger in Our Time”
and Peter Rosset, Co-Director of Food First — The Institute for Food and Development Policy