Gracy Olmstead, senior writer at The American Conservative and senior contributor at The Federalist, joined Ben in studio to discuss her latest reporting on small scale American farmers, the regulatory burdens facing them, and the culture leading children to flee the family business. She also reviewed the summer blockbuster “Stranger Things.”
Olmstead interviewed farmers across the country about the politics and policies that impact their businesses. “Everything that the federal government has put in place has really been fostered by the farm lobby–these big factory farms who have all the power in Washington who are able to keep smaller players out,” Olmstead said.
Once a majority agrarian society, American farming now struggles in the face of a culture that makes farming out to be a lesser, blue collar job. “What I see as being incredibly important about the generational family farming model is the longevity that it produces, in terms of loyalty to community and family, and then the way it makes you take care of the land you own.”
Later in the hour, they discussed the ’80s nostalgia captured by the new series “Stranger Things,” and it’s strength in storytelling through a child’s eyes. “If the focus had shifted away from the kids and the teenagers, it could have just been an X-files episode,” Domenech said. “I did find it interesting that this was a story that was more about the kids than it was the adults and that’s not something you typically see in this genre.”
Listen here:
