silver investors. call today eight hundred to avoid seven go. on our team we've told you a lot about these cyber legislation snaking their way through congress and what it means for your internet freedom but what does co-founder of apple steve was was me i'd have to say about it our t. has the exclusive interview with the man who helped shape technology into what it is today. and from one apple to another you watch what your weight by exercising and eating healthy but who's watching the farm lobby and the legislation as they're trying to sneak through congress coming up we'll tell you who is planting seeds of lawmakers haves and how the farm bill will affect you. and from the days of the five food groups to g m o's in space food our tastes palates have come a long way along with the meals we consume daily coming up a look at the future of food.

it's friday august tenth ten pm here in washington d.c. i'm liz wahl and you're watching our t.v. we start off this hour with a look at a piece of legislation that should be coming up for a vote sue but it's one that congress seems to keep putting off it's called the farm bill and is restructured and renewed every five years far from a simple bill to help farmers the bill is all encompassing and deals with everything from food to biofuels to food stamps and as our to correspondent christine reports there's a growing concern that powerful lobbying interests will have a major impact on the future of food in the country. for those facing hard times places like this do still exist in most major cities washington d.c. included and the need is growing exponentially since two thousand and eight there

has been a twenty five percent increase the number of families saying your citizens who need our food assistance the capital area food bank provides food to organizations who distribute it to those in need many part of the supplemental nutrition assistance program or snap formerly known as food stamps it's a program facing extreme cuts in the upcoming farm bill at snap a skirt a person literally that's getting less let's say one hundred dollars the snap could have their benefit reduced to maybe fifty to sixty dollars and this is the person that maybe has a family of three or four people in fifty sixty or fifty or sixty dollars that go a long way. after that they must go elsewhere but programs like this are far more complicated than they see the rules and regulations laid out in the complex and large piece of legislation so this is the current version of the farm bill that the house is debating in the summer so this is double so i. don't really have the pages

in its newly released report cultivating influence the two thousand and eight farm bill lobbying frenzy food and water watch breaks down the forces behind the ingredients of the bill an example of too many cooks in the kitchen over the course of the bait of the two thousand and eight farm bill over a thousand and two teens new companies trade associations groups lobbied they spend one hundred seventy three million dollars was our calculation so who has the greatest influence when it comes to setting food policy in the united states many experts say it's actually wal-mart they've got nearly four thousand stores across this country many of them super centers and in just the last fifteen years have gone from about six percent to twenty five percent of total. grocery sale that means not just more profit but much much more power other major lobbying influences include monsanto kraft foods the american sugar alliance and the national

restaurant association whose money speaks louder than those who receive help from places like this. the great need by people has resulted in food banks more and more space are open to live free with forty eight thousand square feet our new food distribution center with one hundred twenty three thousand square feet and with that greater need of facing the deeper cuts it could be a recipe for hardship for more and more americans in washington christine for our team but it's more about how lobbyists in washington may dictate what's on your dinner plate i'm joined now by r t correspondent christine for south christine welcome so i want to talk more about this the way that lobbying and the amount of lobbying dollars that goes into impacting the farmers bill i mean how exactly does that oh i have a lot of props here to kind of demonstrate yeah it's how they how does it may add does it become more affordable to buy you know canned green beans instead of fresh

green beans i want to get from here to here there's a lot going on why is it all of a sudden more affordable to get to get out of a carol that's the thing that's so interesting when you talk about the farm bill because there's not just a farm lobby you have comprise that you within this farm bill so many as you heard in my report a thousand different entities a lobby and so on the one hand you have recently associations and lobbying groups that represent grocers and they want of course for the food to be as cheap as possible they want to be able to you know sell this for sixty nine eighty nine cents but then you have the people growing the corn the farmers they want to be able to make some money they want their work to pay all. for them so they can make money when they sell the food so there are so many different interests and what you have is a giant game of tug of war when it comes to putting together this bill because you have so many different interests that not only don't want the same thing they want

the opposite things so the short answer to your question is we don't really know exactly how they do it but they do use a whole lot of money a whole lot of resources and influences you have at least forty people in the two thousand and eight farm bill farm bill forty of the lobbyists that were working to put it together are former members of congress or staffers of members of congress so you have a whole lot of connections a major revolving door in terms of some of the influences that go into this monster piece of legislation that as you had mentioned this piece of legislation is all encompassing and it affects all kinds of things and i guess ultimately it also affects food prices food prices again then you get into the demographics of who can afford to get fresh produce like you know fresh fruits and vegetables and who can afford to get you know canned goods i mean how does that play into it well you know as we also mentioned in the in the report a lot of people don't know what the farm bill is where funding for food to this food stamp or snap program comes from and the next farm bill is expected to make

cuts not only in terms of the amount people get but who is eligible for that so you have that aspect and one thing but the most interesting thing i mean the farm bill also and it dictates the way nutrition programs work and what they include it dictates investments in rural development it talks about things like biofuels ethanol regulatory oversight of things like commodity programs so it's not just you know kraft foods and tyson foods and wal-mart it's also financial services companies that talk about you know commodity trading so it's really really interesting all that is involved in this and listening to everything that is involved in this i mean who. as interest does this legislation then serve well a whole lot of people's and that's why so many people fight for it so as i mentioned the poor i'm going to give you this example of wal-mart's now this is a battle they actually didn't win despite being a major powerhouse in setting food policy in this country one of the things that

they wanted to do and so far haven't gotten their way but i wouldn't be surprised if we do see them getting their way in the future they want to take off country of origin labeling so as somebody shopping in a grocery store i know i would like to know where my food comes from what country what state i was trying to buy local when i can in my local farmer's markets it's something that some people care about and some people don't so we should have the option to know you know where these green beans were made guess what wal-mart wanted to make it so the country of origin was taken off labels so you don't know if your food is made in china or india or anywhere. you know even if it does matter to you they want to make it so that information is not available so these are the types of things that you know these groups are fighting for and it's interesting because you mention the labeling in other countries g.m.o. labeling and these types of labeling is mandatory but here in the us i mean is this you know just another example of the power of lobbyist i was a little of course one of the most common names when we talk about g m o's is

monsanto their power their influence is astounding when it comes to the type of policies that are made and it's just crazy to know how much influence they have despite you know what is actually good for americans very interesting christine thanks so much very interesting report that is our t. correspondent christine. well keeping on the subject of food we want to talk now about the way americans shop for food is changing according to the national association of convenience stores food items accounted for sixteen point nine percent of a record one hundred ninety five billion dollars of convenience store sales in two thousand and eleven so that means americans are more and more turning to convenience stores to shop for food seems like it's becoming another fast food option well jeff lenard vice president of industry advocacy at the national association of convenience stores joined me earlier and talked about this growing

trend. well the trend of having stores with more who is a really hard thing is that to a certain extent the old days when gun stores do they have those if you're there they still. want convenience stores a lot of the things they use the use of the national name the seven letter word stores what we've seen a little less years is that in terms of our business. the demand for gas is two thousand and eight so we're gradually seeing less for the country and that is a for us a huge revenue driver resource profit. cigarette sales also on the line so you're seeing retailers who or. i want to find what you're talking about carry some fruit produce sandwiches you're talking about more food with the opportunity for the future at the same time customers who want more time but you're

seeing twenty two percent of furniture stores themselves so the idea is people are all of sudden always coming your first they want it now they want to keep it on the go at that facility. i know that you made the argument that convenience stores as we perceive them today will go from gas stations that sell food to food stores that happen to sell gas and that when you think of and essentially what's happening i think that's one of those things that could take years as some people look up as they did that happened you see examples of that across the country but by citing examples i guess it's also show that there are still ways when i was in if living in a store outside of dallas fort worth that i actually had a great last year just unbelievable a double edged of great things there then the stores that built sushi. so we're seeing that evolution people remember it wasn't too long ago that people thought of ethnic food. as the palate. it's

a little more open to nice healing who you're seeing there also saying people who get it and can be a source of irish if they're great in the stores they're doing as well but the goal is restaurant quality food convenience store can be the is the speed of service and the way. ok when you think convenience store you kind of think small mom and pop are already or seven eleven doria are there gas stations but what about gigantic wal marts that that kind of one stop shopping and that way how does that plan to everything. when you're competing when you're ready to out of the big wal-mart it makes you have to look at how you do so in terms of can be a source wal-mart offers a lot of great thing that a lot of stuff just if you're a convenience store located near a wal-mart there might actually be opportunity for you there because you may be able to get somebody that doesn't want after that they start flocking to all the

living to get that wal-mart's there so a lot of retailers don't like to be here wal-mart has good reason some can take advantage of that by emphasizing that they're a place to get stuff that. while marceau's you know a lot of the say well who every other retailer is how do you get somebody what they want it looks like price they can feel good about it on their way wal-mart i think the average very close or what our our stores the average experience both reported and all right so we are seeing this trend and clearly more people are turning to convenience stores to get their food just what does that mean in terms of american health we're already seeing this obesity epidemic how is this playing into into that. well there is just part of the equation is the calories is the calories looking at what's happening in terms of obesity i'll address the calories. what you're seeing in the wars is not necessarily solely or more with options as well so

you build it so it is not difficult something like yogurt not for dried berries or fresh fruit or sushi or sandwiches maybe the one advantage of the stores over some of the work for the chalet thought of the staff where quick service restaurant you probably have a little bit more options what is offered you aren't necessarily in it with the menu that was jeff lenard vice president of industry advocacy at the national association of convenience stores we want to hear oh and now on a specific food ever since industrial agriculture has started producing tomatoes they've begun looking the same that's because consumers want the right fist reddest roundest tomatoes and big businesses give them just that the question though is what producing genetically identical tomatoes does for their taste and nutritional value joining us to discuss this is barry estabrook he's the author of the book you

see there it's made a land how modern industrial agriculture destroyed our most alluring fruit very welcome so what in the world what happened to our tomatoes well. for the past thirty or forty years commercial readers. primarily for one thing. looking great or. are we going to run a window reader what are. you christian want to know and we've been to that would be hard. and it is so can you talk about what that essentially does to the tomato i mean we have some tomatoes here they look they look almost exactly alike they look good but really what does it do to their nutritional value and to the taste what what does that essentially do to these nice looking tomatoes. you know better both the praise the good stuff through

the better your my my opinion is that if they don't taste like anything you're ahead of the game you don't have some sort of all but interesting way a modern radio like the one you're holding there are far far fewer vitamin and mineral than the other nutrients other important nutrients like white in the beer antioxidant been a tomato that you could pick up in the grocery store in a bank. it's going to look weird well lighted room three much more rice and you go right down the line well they'll have less than they did fifty years ago and how did this happen i mean is this ultimately giving is this driven by customer demand know it's driven by what the farmers are paid or one large tomato farmer in florida quite honestly told me when i brought the subject to me said barry i don't get paid a cent. i don't get paid spent your trip i get paid for

so there was no room. for readers create. a speech just tomatoes and a lot of incentive for them to frequent the disorder were to go over drive huge quantities. baseless tomatoes and i know that a third of all fresh tomatoes a grown in the usa come from florida where they're bred to look this way what are the downsides to having to having them grown there. well if you're familiar with border you're going to be called the sunshine state. and it seems like revered a good place to grow tomatoes. from a from a commercial perspective you would have to be cool to try to grow tomatoes are going to play for florida the reason is is florida for a little bit more is extremely new and there's nothing that will cool plant quicker than humidity everything every bargain reducing your degree from guests that will

commit a crime committed. as so when it possible to have a tomato that's red right and delicious can we bring back those tomatoes that are good for you are they don't forget though they're not in fact. they're coming back and researchers at the university of florida or very close to coming out with a tomato that actually delivers flavor. here nutritious and can withstand the indignities of industrial production little rosy widely on the market in the next decade there's no reason it can't be just. into recent years when people will show during this debate the premium made and ultimately i mean when you have these tomato that i mean they look good but they're lacking a nutritional content i mean that's affecting america's diet. we particularly because we so so much so many tomatoes and tomato products when you

think about all the things you hold both all the ketchup all the fresh tomatoes are valid we need a huge quantity so a lot of our nutrients go to native. and they absolutely i mean americans we like to catch up on everything right. i know that in your book you talk about you know the conditions in florida the field where these are grown can you talk about that. well in the worst case scenario absolute abject like no other word for it and it's been many could who is seen from britain who are you read in the order. in the theater and we're talking about. being locked in chains shackles and chains being beaten if you don't work hard of being. killed if you try to escape and of course people being in school boarded the road in florida just like just

like just what is that sound like not well bury the sounds awful sounds like blame and human rights violation sounds exactly like you describe it like slavery how it how is it able to happen in florida. it's not like slavery is when they prosecute you and like a sixty two hundred places in. the property that under the thirteenth amendment of the constitution which is the amendment that reads. they do it because. unscrupulous pre-board who and companies that are interested in making things as unique strengths are for them so often will work in any corner and you can score like. the burial so going back to food i also we have we have a bunch of food ready to defend sideman and i'm looking at the of bananas here and they also look the same day and they they appear to be uniform and like meat some

made of it could there be a similar scenario playing out with bananas and other fruits and vegetables but those bananas you hold like almost every other commercial where manna in the world . are single garroting covered and. it's wonderful to hear your infection where you know fanatic ration when patients in certain areas of the world. you know when you get finger so genetic we remember. this isn't there any any ear infections that will kill so ultimately i mean with this the effect of you know food being becoming more commercialized then don and even when we talk a lot about the power of the lobbyists and the amount of lobbying dollars that goes into agriculture and food as this some ultimately it in effect of all that you're. change is the cream over the supermarket business in the last thirty years giant

companies like wal-mart or now the biggest grocery store. in america. and huge other grocery chains all getting by these huge buying organizations are reporting downward pressure on prices and so farmers have to take any shortcuts they can. what will it take barry to reverse this to bring back you know the good old tomatoes and to bring back the good old fruits and vegetables that were rich in nutrients and how do we how do we get that back. good. common good. i mean we are going here through all sorts of surveys showed that american consumers rank tomatoes for instance at the very bottom. right of the mark we still buys i think when people get educated and have

a good tomato if you get one row and locally in your little all and that the world . people will come a little berry we're out of time but that is very interesting thanks so much for coming on the show appreciated that with barry estabrook author of tomato land well the rise of genetically modified foods is enough to make some people's stomach turn but are willing are people willing to splurge to go all organic in order to avoid these foods or a harvest takes that question to the streets of the big apple. are you sheep in easy or all organic when it comes to what you eat this week let's talk about best i don't care you don't care so you don't care what you put into your bodies i do but i mean with the expense of organic food i mean it doesn't compute doesn't really make a difference i actually started using this year and i found out about it when i was

getting a facial and there's a place called free foods right down that way and they have the best juices i've ever had in my life kale spinach faisal i mean it's like and it's like changing it sounds delicious it's delicious and expensive actually it is expensive but if you think about it a glass of wine is like nine dollars and it costs the same amount why do you think organic costs so much more the regulation at least in that it's really strict on what you can do and how you do it so and the crop is smaller so that's the problem with the biologic should it be cheaper to be to the tomato yeah yeah it should. that's the world we live and yeah i'm a medical doctor is there to the. it is. a let's say polluted or or it's not healthy like contains a lot of trans fats and so on and so on then it can lead to cancer but genetically modified food cannot lead to consummate this nonsense so there's a lot of people that assert it dies why do you think they get away with that but why does the demo have such a bad rep i think it's mainly some kind of propaganda

a lot more people are interested to get healthier and other parts of the world so where do you think america falls in that spectrum very well obesity is the number one for kids here is it just a lack of knowledge or do people don't have the money time. we want to sit down for breakfast this morning and healthy just got here cannot find everybody's running and grab. that you're eating better now more ghana x. and i'm. on the streets because of the phrase. i know mine the same way if it's not there you won't eat it and suppress what a dog. whether or not you eat organically the bottom line is you might want to take a minute to consider the old average them you are what you eat. well that's going to do it for the news for tonight brooke be sure to tune in next

week for another great lineup here's a sneak peek of what we have in store for you. they've leaked it again the now infamous document drop site known as wiki leaks has unveiled a treasure trove of information for a skeptics to sort through this time on a strategic intelligence firm known as strat for the documents outlining a massive electronic spying system run by the u.s. government one unlike anything we've ever seen before but while wiki leaks may have hit the jackpot with these secret documents it could be in over its head that's because a massive cyber attack has now been launched against the site a sustained denial of service attack that continuously knocks wiki leaks offline so who is behind the attack and what are they trying to hide well on code this cyber mystery next week and if there's one thing d.c. inmates look forward to while serving time it's the special albion brief visits they get with their loved ones but it looks like even that privilege has now been

stripped away with a video visitation system replacing the in person visit so what does this mean for a country with the highest incarceration rates in the world well those are just a few of the stories we have in store for you next week along with more news and in-depth interviews so keep it tuned in to our t.v. and that's going to do it for tonight but for more on the stories we covered check out our you tube channel youtube dot com slash r t america you can also check out our website r.t.e. dot com slash usa and you can follow me on twitter at liz wall for now have a great night.

a client of american power continues. things in our country so bad that might actually be time for a revolution. and it turns out that a popular drink of starbucks has a surprising in radio. what drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decisions to break through it's already been made who can you trust no one who is your own view with a global missionary see where we had a state controlled capitalism is called sessions when nobody dares to

ask we do our tea question more. we just put a picture of me when i was like nine years old and just tell the truth. i confess i am a total get a friend that i love rather than get caught and pretty. he was kind of a yesterday. i'm very proud of the world without you she has played.