UC Davis CLEAR Center Director Dr. Frank Mitloehner, who is also a professor and air quality specialist at the Northern California university, joined host Chip Flory and Davis Michaelsen to discuss the recent New York Times and Greenpeace articles discussing the Center’s funding from animal agriculture organizations. 

In the podcast, they discussed the need for industry funded research to advance sustainability efforts in animal agriculture. Given that government agencies only fund much less agricultural research, very little innovation and progress could be made without private funds.

Dr. Mitloehner emphasized that partnering with industry furthers the impact that research can have. In fact, outreach to the agriculture industry is a charge of his position as a cooperative extension specialist. 

Listen to Dr. Mitloehner on Agritalk Radio

Dr. Kevin Folta is a professor of the horticultural sciences department at the University of Florida. He also joined Chip and Davis to talk about how this kind of “journalism” ultimately leaves us worse off because it deters scientific research and communications.

From 2007 to 2010 he helped lead the project to sequence the strawberry genome. In 2015 he was the subject of a derogatory article by the New York Times that accused him of improperly receiving industry funds. He sued the Times for defamation, though he lost that lawsuit, the investigation did not find any wrongdoing on his part.  

Listen to Dr. Folta on Agritalk Radio

AgriTalk is the radio talk show for American agriculture. Hosted by Chip Flory and airing live two hours each weekday, AgriTalk covers farm production, policy and technology along with a heavy dose of market analysis. With expert input from a cavalcade of Farm Journal contributors, each broadcast provides farmers and ranchers with timely insights and information aimed at improving their operations.