Talk of the Towns 1/11/13

Producer/Host: Ron Beard
Engineer: Amy Browne

Issue: Community concerns and opportunities

Program Topic: Maine’s Own Organic Milk and Betting the Farm, a documentary film
Key Discussion Points:
a) Questions for Bill
What is your own background and how did you become involved in MOOMilk?
What is MOOMilk doing that is so rare and inspiring in today’s “economy as usual”—what is different about your business model? (low profit corporation)
What has been the sometimes difficult road from start-up to present day, some of which was covered in Betting the Farm?

Questions for Aaron Bell (by phone at about 10:15)
Give us an overview of Tide Mill Organic Farm, that you and your wife Carly DelSignore operate in Washington County
How did you learn that you were being dropped by Hood Milk, and what led you to consider another model, that became MOOMilk?
How would you describe the difference in approach that MOOMilk is taking to selling your milk?
What signs do you have that this approach will work in the long run?
What does this approach say about the future of small farms in Maine?
Betting the Farm chronicles your lives as you faced very difficult challenges… looking back, what led you to persevere in the face of those challenges?
What are you most pleased viewers will take away from the film? What do you want your customers to know about your life, your way of farming?

Interview with Cecily and Jason (from October 26 Talk of the Towns)
How did you come to work together? What led to the creation of Pull Start Pictures?
What do you remember about your own introduction to film, growing up?
How did you each get started telling stories through film?
How do you approach the process of making a film?
What led you to the story of Maine’s Own Organic Milk, and what inspired you to believe there was a full-length documentary there?

Guests by name and affiliation:
A) Bill Eldridge, CEO, MOOMilk
B) Aaron Bell, Tide Mill Organic Farm (733 2551)
C) Cecily Pingree, Pull Start Pictures (recording)
D) Jason Mann, Pull Start Pictures (recording)

RadioActive 1/10/13

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: The LePage Medicaid cuts approved by the federal government; continuing efforts to eliminate BPA from food packaging in Maine

Key Discussion Points:
a) This week, the federal government gave a decision on the significant Maine Care cuts the LePage administration and the Republican led Maine legislature made last session.
b) The governor had hoped to make $20 million in cuts , but now is looking at $4 million. The cuts that have been allowed, however, will still cause 15,000 low income Mainers to lose their Maine Care health insurance and over 5,000 low income seniors and Mainers with disabilities to lose some coverage.
c)This summer a citizen initiative, signed by 900 Mainers, was presented to the Maine Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) asking the board to pass a rule requiring that the toxic plastic additive Bishenol A (BPA) be removed from bay and toddler food packaging sold in Maine. The board is slated to make a decision this month.

Govenor LePage issued a memo last week requesting the BEP to deny the ban on BPA in toddler food packaging.

Guests:
Sarah Gagne Holmes, executive director of Maine Equal Justice Partners , www.mejp.org
Emma Halas-O’Conner, grassroots organizer with the Environmental Health Strategy Center, www.preventharm.org