Interview - Will Potter
Our guest today Will Potter’s new book, Little Red Barns, started as a tale about censorship in journalism around industrial agriculture, but became something much bigger: a 10 year investigation look at how factory farming, an ages old mythos of family farms, and the rise of authoritarian politics have all worked in tandem to produce social, economic, and ecological disaster.
Will is an investigative journalist and author of Green Is the New Red. In this conversation, we talk about what he found writing Little Red Barns, from the industry's efforts to keep cameras out of factory farms to what that secrecy is really protecting.
In this episode, we explore:
The story of the “little red barn” that masks a darker truth about industrial agriculture
What led Will to spend a decade investigating factory farms and how the project grew beyond ag gag laws
How ag gag laws work, and how they've been used to prosecute journalists and whistleblowers
Competing visions for what comes next: What role animals play, and should play, in our food system
How Will connects factory farming to the broader rise of authoritarian politics
More about Will:
Will Potter is an award-winning investigative journalist and TED Senior Fellow who exposes political repression and the erosion of civil liberties.
His reporting and commentary have appeared in The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, and Rolling Stone, and has helped overturn prosecutions and challenge censorship laws. He has been invited to testify before the U.S. Congress, the Australian Parliament, and the Council of Europe, advocating for protest rights and press freedom.
His landmark book Green Is the New Red revealed how governments and corporations have labeled nonviolent activists as “terrorists.” Counter Terrorism Unit surveillance documents described it as “compelling and well-written.” His new book, Little Red Barns, is the result of a 10-year investigation into factory farms and rising fascism, and was recently named one of Publishers Weekly’s most-anticipated releases and a starred review.
Will’s journalism and scholarship have been heavily influenced by growing up in the hardcore punk scene, and he has collaborated with bands including Rise Against. He was previously a Knight-Wallace Fellow and visiting professor at the University of Michigan, and was named the distinguished journalist-in-residence at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. He was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas.
————-
Agrarian Futures is produced by Alexandre Miller, who also wrote our theme song. This episode was edited by Drew O’Doherty.