Heartland Stories Radio

View Details

LeAnna Compagna is a third generation organic farmer in Middlebury, Vermont. Together with her husband they are farming on their own dairy farm as well as on LeAnna’s parents farm that became an organic farm in 2007, when her parents sold the herd of cows that had come with the farm and replaced it with a herd of organic Dutch Belted dairy cows. Tune in to learn more about:

LeAnna’s story of becoming an organic dairy farmer;
Small family farms;
Becoming a steward of the land;
All about organic dairy cows;
Why farming is a 24/7 job;
How inflation is hitting the daily operation of the farm.

View Details

Piper Davis is a celebrated baker and partner at Grand Central Bakery, a regional chain of 10 cafes and artisan bakeries in the Pacific Northwest. An avid baker, cook and good food provisioner, she is the co-author of “The Grand Central Baking Book” and is Board Chair of the national nonprofit Chefs Collaborative. Tune in to learn more about:

Piper’s childhood and her love of baking inspired by her mom - Grand Central Bakery founder, Gwyneth Bassetti;
The artisan bread revolution;
The power of deliciousness;
About Grand Central Bakery and their mission to produce delicious food and treat their employees well;
The tomato story and the challenges of purchasing local ingredients, from wheat to vegetables.

View Details

Dr. Philip Landrigan is a pediatrician and epidemiologist, as well as Professor, Director of the Global Public Health Program and of the Global Pollution Observatory at the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society at Boston College. His research focuses on toxic chemicals in the environment and their effects on children’s health and development. Tune in to learn more about:

Pesticides and children's health;
Fetal programing, epigenetics & windows of vulnerability;
What parents can do to protect their children's health;
The Heartland Study.

Dr. Landrigan urges parents to "Vote for children", by asking their representatives what they are doing to protect their children from the rising health issues that a lot of them are facing like autism, learning disabilities and childhood cancer.

View Details

George Siemon is an organic pioneer and the co-founder and former CEO of CROPP/Organic Valley. In September 2022, George was one of the recipients of the 2022 Honorary Recognition Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. The Honorary Recognition Award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to their professions, their communities and the university. Tune in to learn more about:

George’s path into organic farming;
His involvement in pioneering organic standards for livestock;
How organics has proven that it can feed the world;
How a stable price helped organic family farms;
About alternative ownership models, like co-ops and trust ownerships;
The art of governance and why it is important that we learn how to work and get along together.

View Details

Dr. Marianne LeGreco is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in the Department of Communications Studies at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. She is also the co-author of “Everybody Eats: Communication and the Paths to Food Justice” which was published in 2021. Tune in to learn more about:

Marianne’s inspiration for studying communications;
The four legged stool of the food system;
Food access and poverty;
Her book “Everybody Eats: Communication and the Paths to Food Justice” and the question “who gets to bring the table?”;
The nurturing of new leaders in food;
The little food pantries and mobile food markets in neighborhoods;
The Food Research and Active Center;
Her thoughts on the 2023 Farm Bill.

To learn more about Dr. LeGreco, listen to her TEDxGreensboro talks Building Vibrant Food Systems and Vibrant Food Systems Redux.

View Details

Antonio Roman-Alcalá is an educator, researcher, writer, and organizer based in Berkeley, California who has worked on issues of sustainable food systems for nearly 20 years. Antonio is currently an Assistant Professor at California State University, East Bay teaching Geography and Environmental Studies. Previously, he co-founded San Francisco’s Alemany Farm, the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance, and the California Food Policy Council, and his 2010 documentary film, “In Search of Good Food”, can be viewed free online. Currently, Antonio maintains the blog www.antidogmatist.com, the North American Agroecology Organizing Project. Tune in to learn more about:

The story on how he became involved in food systems;
His 2010 documentary film “In Search of Good Food”;
His PhD dissertation “Histories of Othering, Practices of Solidarity, and Prospects for Emancipatory Convergence Among California’s Food and Farming Movements in Times of Resurgent Rightwing Power”;
Five practical strategies for those who work to change the food systems.

To learn more about Antonio, go to his blog www.antidogmatist.com.

View Details

Rick Nahmias is the founder and CEO of Food Forward, and an award winning photographer and writer who is focused on the faces and stories of marginalized communities. He is an internationally recognized speaker on food justice and social innovation issues and his work has been profiled in dozens of media outlets. Tune in to learn more about:

The story on how Food Forward was born;
How Food Forward recovers fruits and vegetables that would have been wasted from backyard fruit trees, public orchards, farmers markets, and the downtown Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market and distributes them to marginalized communities;
How 250,000 pounds of fresh produce a day is being collected and distributed;
About “The Migrant Project”;
Why eating healthy is a way out of poverty for marginalized and underserved communities.

To learn more about Rick Nahmias and Food Forward go to www.foodforward.org.

View Details

Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin engages immigrants, farmers old and new, and established agricultural entrepreneurs in his life's work of designing, refining, and championing a global model for poultry-powered, planet cooling, scalable and regenerative agriculture. Reginaldo has immersed himself in this work by launching the non-profit Regenerative Agriculture Alliance, co-founding the Tree-Range® Chicken brand, and recently being named CEO of Tree-Range® Farms. He is creating opportunities to heal the earth, and bringing back the hope of a restorative future by introducing real and tangible ways we can change the world today through regenerative practices. He is also the author of the book “In the Shadow of Green Man: My Journey from Poverty and Hunger to Food Security and Hope". Tune in to learn more about:

Regenerative agriculture and the regenerative poultry system;
Tree-Range® Farms, and why they are putting chicken back where they belong - in the jungle;
Ancestral wisdom of the regenerative system;
Access to land and finance.

To learn more about Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, go to http://www.treerangefarms.com.

View Details

Bill Tracy is a Professor in the Department of Agronomy and Chair of the Masters program in Agroecology as well as Clif Bar and Organic Valley Endowed Chair in Plant Breeding for Organic Agriculture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Tune in to learn more about:

Sweet corn breeding;
Breeding for climate;
Why diversity of crops and perennials are important;
The experiments with perennializing of sweet corn;
Nixtamalized corn.

To learn more about Professor Bill Tracy go to https://agronomy.wisc.edu/bill-tracy/.

View Details

Dr. Erin Silva is an Associate Professor and State Extension Specialist in Organic and Sustainable Cropping Systems in the Department of Plant Pathology as well as the Director for the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at UW-Madison. Tune in to learn more about:

Her work in agroecology and how this is associated with organic agriculture;
Why we need a diversity of crops and a diversity of farmers;
On farm research;
The Organic Grain Resource and Information Network (OGRAIN), a comprehensive program to provide educational support to new, transitioning and experienced organic grain farmers;
Research on growing domestic organic sunflowers and sunflower oil;
Climate smart agriculture;
Why investment in organic research will benefit everyone in the agriculture system;
Why we need a sustainable and more healthier food system.

To learn more about Dr. Silva go to https://cias.wisc.edu/directory/17158/.

View Details

Cathy Erway is a James Beard and IACP (The International Association of Culinary Professionals) award winning food writer and the author of the cookbooks “The Food of Taiwan”, “Sheet Pan Chicken”, and the memoir “The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove”. She hosts the podcast Self Evident, exploring Asian America's stories. Tune in to learn more about:

Cathy’s experience living in New York and how she learned to stop eating out and eating at home;
Her blog about not eating out in the city;
Food and packaging waste;
Her inspiration for writing the cookbook “The Food of Taiwan”;
Day and midnight markets in Taiwan;
Her podcast on Heritage Radio Network Eat your words;
Self Evident, the community podcast that explores Asian American stories.

To learn more about Cathy, go to https://theartofeatingin.com/.

View Details

George Siemon is an organic pioneer and the co-founder and former CEO of CROPP/Organic Valley. In September 2022, George was one of the recipients of the 2022 Honorary Recognition Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. The Honorary Recognition Award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to their professions, their communities and the university. Tune in to learn more about:

George’s path into organic farming;
His involvement in pioneering organic standards for livestock;
How organics has proven that it can feed the world;
How a stable price helped organic family farms;
About alternative ownership models, like co-ops and trust ownerships;
The art of governance and why it is important that we learn how to work and get along together.

View Details

Frances Moore Lappé is the author or co-author of twenty books about world hunger, living democracy, and the environment, beginning with the three-million-copy Diet for a Small Planet in 1971. She is the co-founder of three organizations including the Oakland-based think tank Food First and the Small Planet Institute, which she leads with her daughter, Anna Lappé, and the Small Planet Fund, which channels resources to democratic social movements worldwide. Tune in to learn more about:

What she learned during the pandemic;
About Diet for Small Planet 50 years later;
Her experience with the farmers in the Midwest from the 1980s to today;
The concentrated power of corporations in the food industry;
Why she is a “possibilist” and she believes that voices and actions count and can make a difference;
What democracy really means and about Democracy Movement;
The culture of valuing and taking responsibility of our natural resources.

To learn more about Frances go to https://www.smallplanet.org.

View Details

Lauren Perkins is a 4th generation organic dairy farmer at Perk Organic Dairy Farm in Frankford, West Virginia. Lauren grew up on the 1,000-acre farm that her great-grandfather started in 1942. At 26, she became the first woman in her family to manage the dairy farm. Tune in to learn more about:

The story of how Lauren’s grandfather started as a dairy farmer;
How the farm transitioned to organic and become part of Organic Valley Family Farms;
Why farming organic became sustainable for Lauren’s family;
How Lauren’s farm is surrounded by developments and how they turned the farm into a preservation, ensuring that future generations can still farm;
About Generation Organic (“Gen-O”), Organic Valley’s program to nurture farmers under the age of 35, providing education and giving them the tools to support their operations;
Lauren’s love for soil, animals and people and her visions for the future of agroecology.

View Details

Robert Gottlieb is Professor Emeritus of Urban and Environmental Policy and the Founder and former Director of the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College. Professor Gottlieb research is focused on environmental and food justice, care politics, power and inequality, global cities and the infrastructure of everyday life. He is also the author of numerous publications, including 14 books. His newest book “Care-Centered Politics” was published this year by MIT Press. Tune in to learn more about:

His move from New York City to Los Angeles in 1969;
The link between community action and academic research;
About the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College;
The community building process and the pioneering of the farm to school initiative;
His newest book “Care-Center Politics: From the Home to the Planet”and how care oriented politics and economy can shape and reorient issues in health, environment, food justice, climate and inequality.

To learn more about Professor Gottlieb go to https://www.oxy.edu/academics/faculty/robert-gottlieb.

View Details

Wade Miller is the Vice President of Farm Resources and Sustainability at Coulee Region Organic Produce Pools (CROPP)/Organic Valley, the nation’s largest organic, farmer-owned cooperative and one of the world’s largest organic consumer brands. Tune in to learn more about:

Wade’s career path in agriculture;
Sustaining family farms and recognizing that they are the caretakers of the earth;
The newly awarded grant from the USDA to CROPP/Organic Valley that provides resources to accelerate 1,200 new carbon reduction and removal projects on 500 Organic Valley farms;
The seed of low carbon organic milk;
Interventions on farms that have carbon impacts like silvopasture, that will model carbon impact and direct farmer payments for carbon reduction and removal;
Why farmers are a solution, not a problem to climate change.

To learn more about Wade’s work and CROPP/Organic Valley go to https://www.organicvalley.coop/.

View Details

Nicole Rakobitsch is the Director of Sustainability at Cooperative Regions of Organic Producer Pools (CROPP)/Organic Valley. Organic Valley is America's largest cooperative of organic farmers and one of the nation's leading organic brands. Tune in to learn more about:

Nicole’s path that led her to sustainability and to Organic Valley;
Why organic farmers are the real stewards of the land;
The $25 million grant awarded to Organic Valley that focuses on helping small organic family farms establish and measure on-farm practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
The issue with methane gas from farms;
Silvopasture, agroforestry and other climate smart farming practices;
Carbon sequestration and what climate smart food really is;
Carbon insetting;

To learn more about Nicole’s work and CROPP/Organic Valley,

go to https://www.organicvalley.coop/why-organic-valley/sustainability/.

View Details

Dr. Niesha Douglas is an educator, author and writer. Dr. Douglas has over 15 years

of experience in higher education and over 6 years of experience in community

development. Dr. Douglas is a community activist that believes in giving back to the

community that helped her grow and develop into a professional and leader. She has

served on several committees regarding food insecurity/hunger and was chosen to

lead a discussion on Community Activism in Adult Education at the 2016 Adult

Education Research Conference in Charlotte, NC. She is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina and the co-author of “Everybody Eats: Communication and the Paths to Food Justice” which was published in 2021. Tune in to learn more about:

Niesha’s journey into learning about food insecurity in her community in Greensboro, North Carolina;
Why trust in community activism is essential;
Becoming a community leader and a role model and why we need more than just one leader;
Poverty and food apartheid;
Why food is love and why it brings people together.

View Details

Dr. Niesha Douglas is an educator, author and writer. Dr. Douglas has over 15 years

of experience in higher education and over 6 years of experience in community

development. Dr. Douglas is a community activist that believes in giving back to the

community that helped her grow and develop into a professional and leader. She has

served on several committees regarding food insecurity/hunger and was chosen to

lead a discussion on Community Activism in Adult Education at the 2016 Adult

Education Research Conference in Charlotte, NC. She is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina and the co-author of “Everybody Eats: Communication and the Paths to Food Justice” which was published in 2021. Tune in to learn more about:

Niesha’s journey into learning about food insecurity in her community in Greensboro, North Carolina;
Why trust in community activism is essential;
Becoming a community leader and a role model and why we need more than just one leader;
Poverty and food apartheid;
Why food is love and why it brings people together.

View Details

Dr. Marion Nestle is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, at New York University in the department she chaired from 1988-2003 and from which she retired in September 2017. She is also Visiting Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell. Dr. Nestle holds honorary degrees from Transylvania University in Kentucky and the Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York. She is the author, co-author, or co-editor of fourteen books, several of them prize-winning and the recipient of several awards and honors. In 2011, Michael Pollan ranked her as the #2 most powerful foodie in America (after Michelle Obama) and Mark Bittman ranked her #1 in his list of foodies to be thankful for. Tune in to learn more:

Her forthcoming book “Slow Cooked - An Unexpected Life in Food Politics”;
Her path into nutrition;
The rise of public interest in nutrition and health;
Her story on the meat lobby and on "...you cannot advise Americans to eat less meat…”;
Why the goal of the food industry is to sell food not to feed people;
The impact of corporate America on nutrition and why finding out who's paying for any study in nutrition is important;
Which industry would benefit if people would eat less and healthier;
Why growing food for fuel is “crazy”;
Solutions for changing the world through food.

To learn more about Dr. Nestle, go to https://www.foodpolitics.com/.

View Details

Dr. Marion Nestle is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, at New York University in the department she chaired from 1988-2003 and from which she retired in September 2017. She is also Visiting Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell. Dr. Nestle holds honorary degrees from Transylvania University in Kentucky and the Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York. She is the author, co-author, or co-editor of fourteen books, several of them prize-winning and the recipient of several awards and honors. In 2011, Michael Pollan ranked her as the #2 most powerful foodie in America (after Michelle Obama) and Mark Bittman ranked her #1 in his list of foodies to be thankful for. Tune in to learn more:

Her forthcoming book “Slow Cooked - An Unexpected Life in Food Politics”;
Her path into nutrition;
The rise of public interest in nutrition and health;
Her story on the meat lobby and on "...you cannot advise Americans to eat less meat…”;
Why the goal of the food industry is to sell food not to feed people;
The impact of corporate America on nutrition and why finding out who's paying for any study in nutrition is important;
Which industry would benefit if people would eat less and healthier;
Why growing food for fuel is “crazy”;
Solutions for changing the world through food.

To learn more about Dr. Nestle, go to https://www.foodpolitics.com/.

View Details

Dr. André Leu is the international director of Regeneration International, an organization that promotes food, farming and land use systems that regenerate and stabilize climate systems, the health of the planet and people, communities, culture and local economies. He is an internationally recognized speaker and the author of “Growing Life”, “Poisoning our Children” and the “Myths of Safe Pesticides”. Dr. Leu was the longest serving President of IFOAM – Organics International, the world change agent and umbrella body for the organic sector, for which he is currently the IFOAM Ambassador. Together with his wife Julia, he runs an organic tropical fruit farm in Daintree, Australia. Tune in to learn more about:

About IFOAM and their mission to bring true sustainability to agriculture across the globe;
How the organization Regeneration International got started with the mission to promote, facilitate and accelerate the global transition to regenerative food, farming and land management;
The People’s Food Summit, which is a parallel event to the UN World Food Day, that was organized out of the need to create a different summit to promote agroecological, organic and regenerative food systems;
What is regenerative and degenerative in farming;
His books “Poisoning our Children” and “Myths of Safe Pesticides”.

To learn more about Dr. Leu’s work, go to https://regenerationinternational.org/.

View Details

Dr. André Leu is the international director of Regeneration International, an organization that promotes food, farming and land use systems that regenerate and stabilize climate systems, the health of the planet and people, communities, culture and local economies. He is an internationally recognized speaker and the author of “Growing Life”, “Poisoning our Children” and the “Myths of Safe Pesticides”. Dr. Leu was the longest serving President of IFOAM – Organics International, the world change agent and umbrella body for the organic sector, for which he is currently the IFOAM Ambassador. Together with his wife Julia, he runs an organic tropical fruit farm in Daintree, Australia. Tune in to learn more about:

About IFOAM and their mission to bring true sustainability to agriculture across the globe;
How the organization Regeneration International got started with the mission to promote, facilitate and accelerate the global transition to regenerative food, farming and land management;
The People’s Food Summit, which is a parallel event to the UN World Food Day, that was organized out of the need to create a different summit to promote agroecological, organic and regenerative food systems;
What is regenerative and degenerative in farming;
His books “Poisoning our Children” and “Myths of Safe Pesticides”.

To learn more about Dr. Leu’s work, go to https://regenerationinternational.org/.

View Details

Dr. Marianne LeGreco is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in the Department of Communications Studies at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. She is also the co-author of “Everybody Eats: Communication and the Paths to Food Justice” which was published in 2021. Tune in to learn more about:

Marianne’s inspiration for studying communications;
The four legged stool of the food system;
Food access and poverty;
Her book “Everybody Eats: Communication and the Paths to Food Justice” and the question “who gets to bring the table?”;
The nurturing of new leaders in food;
The little food pantries and mobile food markets in neighborhoods;
The Food Research and Active Center;
Her thoughts on the 2023 Farm Bill.

To learn more about Dr. LeGreco, listen to her TEDxGreensboro talks Building Vibrant Food Systems and Vibrant Food Systems Redux.

View Details

Dr. Marianne LeGreco is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in the Department of Communications Studies at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. She is also the co-author of “Everybody Eats: Communication and the Paths to Food Justice” which was published in 2021. Tune in to learn more about:

Marianne’s inspiration for studying communications;
The four legged stool of the food system;
Food access and poverty;
Her book “Everybody Eats: Communication and the Paths to Food Justice” and the question “who gets to bring the table?”;
The nurturing of new leaders in food;
The little food pantries and mobile food markets in neighborhoods;
The Food Research and Active Center;
Her thoughts on the 2023 Farm Bill.

To learn more about Dr. LeGreco, listen to her TEDxGreensboro talks Building Vibrant Food Systems and Vibrant Food Systems Redux.

View Details

Naima Dhore is a first-generation Somali-American farmer, activist and educator committed to look after mother earth and community building. She is the Program Director at the Somali American Farmers Association and owner of Naima’s Farm LLC, where she supports future Somali-American farmers in Minnesota. Tune in to learn more about:

Naima’s home country of Somalia and their food;
Her story on becoming a first-generation Somali-American farmer;
About the Somali American Farmers Association and their work;
Access to land for immigrant farmers;
Her hopes for the future.

To learn more about Naima’s work, go to https://www.somaliamericanfarmersassociation.com.

View Details

Naima Dhore is a first-generation Somali-American farmer, activist and educator committed to look after mother earth and community building. She is the Program Director at the Somali American Farmers Association and owner of Naima’s Farm LLC, where she supports future Somali-American farmers in Minnesota. Tune in to learn more about:

Naima’s home country of Somalia and their food;
Her story on becoming a first-generation Somali-American farmer;
About the Somali American Farmers Association and their work;
Access to land for immigrant farmers;
Her hopes for the future.

To learn more about Naima’s work, go to https://www.somaliamericanfarmersassociation.com.

View Details

Don Stuart has worked in natural resources and the environment for over 40 years. He served as Pacific Northwest Regional Director for the American Farmland Trust, was the Executive Director for the Washington Association of Conservation Districts, as well as a former Alaska commercial salmon troll fisherman, a formerly practicing Seattle trial attorney, and a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps during the VietNam War. Don’s new book entitled “No Farms No Food: Uniting Farmers and Environmentalists to Transform American Agriculture” was published by Island Press in April 2022. Tune in to learn more about:

The history of the relationship between farmers and environmentalists;
The American Farmland Trust;
The birth of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in 1985, where farmers enrolled in the program agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and plant species that will improve environmental health and quality in exchange for a yearly rental payment;
Integrated pest management as a sound solution to pesticides;
Climate change driven by agriculture and how agriculture can actually be part of the solution.

To learn more about Don go to https://donstuart.net/.

View Details

Dr. Annie Shattuck is an Assistant Professor at Indiana University. Her research interests include sustainable food systems and food politics in the United States, and agrarian change, agricultural development and rural health in Southeast Asia. She is a former National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, and a fellow of the Institute for Food and Development Policy, also known as Food First. She received a PhD in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley in 2018. She is co-author of the book "Food Rebellions! Crisis and the Hunger for Justice" with Eric Holt-Giménez and Raj Patel. Tune in to learn more about:

Her life changing trip to Laos and how she started working with different NGOs on pesticides;
The story of Joy, a pesticide applicator from Laos;
The systemic problem for people to have a decent life in rural areas;
How the commercialization of agriculture in Laos has resulted in an over 3,600% increase in pesticide imports in the last decade;
Why data and science is important to understand the bigger picture and to understand the story;
Her thoughts on alternative solutions for agriculture.

To learn more about Dr. Annie Shattuck go to https://geography.indiana.edu/about/faculty/shattuck-annie.html.

View Details

Immigrating to the United States in 1986, Javier Zamora worked in the service industry in southern California for 20 years before going back to school at the age of 43, earning his GED and a degree in landscape design before enrolling in the horticulture program at Cabrillo College. Sharpening his farming skills through the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA), he started farming organically in 2012 on 1.5 acres. Today, as owner of JSM Organics, he farms over 100 acres on California’s Central Coast. He is also a mentor to other farmers and a leading voice in the local organic community. Tune in to learn more about:

Javier's story from being an immigrant to becoming an organic farmer;
His love and passion for growing flowers, fruits and vegetables;
How climate change is changing the way we farm and why water management is a big issue in California's farming community;
Getting to know your farmer and learning how the food is grown;
His life mission to help future farmers succeed.

To learn more about Javier, go to https://www.jsmorganics.com.

View Details

Dr. Julie Guthman is a Professor of Social Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her publications include four books and over forty articles in peer-reviewed professional journals. In 2017 and 2018, Dr. Guthman received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Tune in to learn more about:

Her book “Wilted: Pathogens, Chemicals, and the Fragile Future of the Strawberry Industry” and her interest in researching highly toxic soil fumigants;
The history of the strawberry industry in California, in particular the conditions of plants, soils, chemicals, climate, and labor that once made strawberry production so lucrative but now are threats that jeopardize the future of this industry;
Solutions for reducing chemical use on strawberries;
Her new research on how Silicon Valley is trying to transform the food system;
Her future book that will focus on solutions.

To learn more about Dr. Guthman go to https://feministstudies.ucsc.edu/faculty/index.php?uid=jguthman.

View Details

Dr. Teresa Mares is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Vermont and is the Associate Director for the Graduate Program in Food Systems. She received her M.A. (2005) and Ph.D. (2010) in Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of Washington. She also completed a graduate certificate in Women Studies at the University of Washington.

Dr. Mares’ research focuses on the labor in the food system, food security and food sovereignty, and migration from Latin America. Her first book “Life on the Other Border: Farmworkers and Food Justice in Vermont” was published by University of California Press (2019)”. Tune in to learn more about:

Farming in Vermont;
The three pillars of food systems - social, economic and environment;
Her book “Life on the Other Border: Farmworkers and Food Justice in Vermont”;
Why migrant farm workers are called essential workers;
How migrant farm & food workers are valued in the US versus other countries;
The excitement of students for education in the area of food systems and why we have an obligation to do better in this area;
Her own journey on becoming a teacher in food systems and food justice;
The “Milk with dignity” campaign by Migrant Justice;
Her hope for the future of the food systems.

To learn more about Dr. Mares and her work go to https://www.uvm.edu/cas/anthropology/profiles/teresa-mares.

View Details

This week we are revisiting one of our interviews with Dr. Leonardo Trasande.

Dr. Leonardo Trasande, Jim G. Hendrick MD Professor, is the Director of the

Division of Environmental Pediatrics and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of

Pediatrics at the New York University (NYU) School of Medicine. Dr Trasande is also the

author of the 2019 published book “Sicker, Fatter, Poorer: The Urgent Threat of

Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals to Our Health and Future . . . and What We Can Do

About It.” Tune in to learn more about:

Endocrine disruptors, the chemicals that interfere with the body’s hormones;
The five categories of chemicals we all need to be aware of and avoid: Bisphenol, Phthalates, Pesticides, Flame retardants, Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS);
Obesogens (a category of endocrine disruptors) and why prevention is important;
The problem with fertility and low sperm count;
How to avoid and reduce your exposure to flame retardants.

Dr. Trasande is recommending that it is never too late to completely avoid and limit your exposure to any toxic chemical, and there are always short, medium and long term benefits for your health. There are simple steps that anyone can take, by simply choosing food, packaging, furniture, cosmetics that are free of these chemicals.

To learn more about Dr. Trasande’s work, go to: https://www.leotrasande.com/about.

View Details

This week we are revisiting one of your interviews with Kelly Ryerson.

Kelly Ryerson is an environmental health writer, filmmaker, and ardent public health advocate. After alleviating her own chronic illness by eating a gluten-free and organic diet, she realized that toxins and chemicals were at the core of the explosion in chronic disease in the United States. Determined to make the issue of glyphosate’s impact on the microbiome more well-known, she began the blog Glyphosate Girl. She continues to focus on the ways in which our food system, soil, and microbiome have been corrupted by both the rampant use of toxic herbicides and the regulators who support the agricultural chemical industry. Tune in to learn more about:

Her own story of battling chronic/autoimmune disease and depression;
Her A-ha moment when she found out that Roundup is being sprayed on wheat;
Why she started the blog Glyphosate Girl, which covers the Monsanto cancer trials, glyphosate science, and glyphosate’s contribution to intestinal permeability;
The leaky gut and how glyphosate kills the "good bacteria" in the gut leading to so many health issues;
Her reaction when she found out that glyphosate was detected in her daughter's baby tooth.

To learn more about Kelly visit her blog: https://glyphosategirl.com.

View Details

This week we are revisiting one of our interviews with Raj Patel.

Raj Patel is an award-winning author, film-maker and academic. He is a Research Professor in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin and a Senior Research Associate at the Unit for the Humanities at the university currently known as Rhodes University (UHURU), South Africa. Raj’s latest book, co-authored with Rupa Marya, entitled “Inflamed: Deep Medicine and The Anatomy of Injustice” was published on August 3, 2021. Tune in to learn more about:

How his newest book co-authored with Rupa Marya on systemic inflammation was written during the pandemic;
Why our world, society and bodies are inflamed;
The connection between our microbiome and the earth and how when we harm the world around us we harm the world in us;
The meaning of deep medicine;
The psychological harm of capitalism;
About the film Raj co-directed entitled “The Ants and the Grasshopper”.

Raj is reminding us that, “ If you carry a large debt load, your body is inflamed because of your worry about debt….if you are in debt, or worried about your job or healthcare, if you carry daily anxiety then your body is inflamed….The way to resolve that is through a culture that reassures you that we are taking care of one another, regardless of age, gender, immigration status or ability to pay.”

To learn more about Raj’s work go to https://rajpatel.org.

Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice

View Details

This week we are revisiting one of our interviews with Dr. John Ikerd.

Dr. John Ikerd is a retired Professor Emeritus of Agricultural & Applied economics at the University of Missouri, author, speaker as well as a leading figure in the sustainability revolution—one who is capable of deep insights but also has the capacity to engage everyone in the conversation and work.

Tune in to learn more about:

Lessons learnt from the past, especially the 1980s farm crisis and the current lessons we are learning from the COVID-19 pandemic;
The industrial food system operating as an assembly line;
Food insecurity and how sustainable, regenerative agriculture can change rural communities;

Dr. Ikerd emphasizes, "The only way that we can actually deal with the problems and we can create a healthy sustainable food system is to fundamentally change the system".

For more information about Dr. Ikerd's work, visit his homepage at www.johnikerd.com.

View Details

Jacob Hundt is Executive Director, Board Member and a Faculty member at Thoreau College in Viroqua, Wisconsin. Growing up on a dairy farm in the Driftless Region of southwestern Wisconsin and one of the founding students of the Youth Initiative High School, Jacob gathered inspiration for transformation in higher education through his studies at Deep Springs College, the American University in Bulgaria, and the University of Chicago. Tune in to learn more about:

Jacob’s own journey and background that led him into the educational field;
Holistic higher education at Deep Springs College;
What a microcollege is and what type of education it offers;
Thoreau College, its programs, and partnerships in the community;

To learn more about Jacob and Thoreau College go to https://thoreaucollege.org/.

View Details

Dr. Michelle Perro is a veteran pediatrician with over 40 years of experience in acute and integrative medicine. Dr Perro has transformed her clinical practice to include pesticide and health advocacy more than fifteen years ago. She is also the co-author of the book “What’s Making Our Children Sick” as well as Executive Director of the non-profit scientific website “GMO Science”. Tune in to learn more about:

The difference between acute and integrative medicine;
The root cause of disease and why food is medicine;
The global issue of obesity and insulin resistance chemicals (obesogens) in the food;
How Big Ag is supported by the government;
What is making our kids sick and the connection between gut and our overall health;
How to get off the chemical food wheel;
Why being sick is the new normal and how the only way to change it would be to start with the pantry first;
Dr. Perro’s new upcoming book “Making Our Children Well”;
The link between infertility and pesticides;
Why it is important to include more plants into your diet.

To learn more about Dr. Perro go to https://drmichelleperro.com/.

View Details

Dr. Molly Jahn is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she holds appointments in the Department of Agronomy, the Nelson Institute, the Global Health Institute (on leave 2019-20 for Government Service), and a $0 appointment in the Wisconsin School of Law. She is currently on an Interagency Personnel Agreement from UW-Madison to work as a Program Manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Tune in to learn more about:

The risks in the US food system and why they should be a concern;
The multiple breadbasket failure;
How COVID revealed the fragility of the food system;
The negative effects of driving diversity out of the food system;
How conflicts are a real threat to the stability of the food system;
The future of microbial foods.

To learn more about Dr. Jahn and her work go to https://jahnresearchgroup.net/who-we-are/molly-jahn/.

View Details

Andy Fisher is the Executive Director of the Ecological Farming Association and has been a leading force for social justice in the anti-hunger and food movements in the U.S. since the mid 1990s. He co-founded and led the Community Food Security Coalition for over 17 years and published his first book “ Big Hunger, The Unholy Alliance between Corporate America and Anti-Hunger Groups” in 2017. Tune in to learn more about:

His upbringing in Ohio;
How hunger/food insecurity is defined;
Food banks are wealthier now compared to before of the pandemic;
His book “ Big Hunger, The Unholy Alliance between Corporate America and Anti-Hunger Groups”;
How Smithfield donates thousands of pounds of meat to food banks while polluting the environment with their CAFOs;
The influence of executives in the food industry that are also sitting on the board of the food banks;
Why food banks are not allowed in Scotland and their new model to move away from them.

To learn more about Andy go to https://www.bighunger.org/.

View Details

This week we are revisiting our interview with Tony Bedard.

Tony Bedard is the Chief Executive Officer of Frontier Co-op, whose mission to nourish people and planet is rooted in corporate social responsibility. Tony has also led more than 25 humanitarian missions to El Salvador and Haiti to support projects in the areas of education, clean water, and healthcare. Tune in to learn more about:

The story of Frontier Co-op and their products;
Tony's story of growing up in rural Iowa in a family with 16 kids and his career starting at Frontier back in 1991;
Frontier Co-op's corporate social responsibility;
Frontier Co-op's apprenticeship program of hiring former inmates, refugees, homeless people and their amazing giving back projects;
The sustainable sourcing program Well Earth Program.

To learn more about Frontier Co-op go to https://www.frontiercoop.com.

View Details

This week we are revisiting our interview with Professor Dave Goulson.

Dave Goulson is a Professor of Biology at the University of Sussex (England), who specializes in bee ecology. Professor Goulson has published more than 300 scientific articles on the ecology and conservation of bumblebees and other insects, plus seven books, including the Sunday Times bestsellers “A Sting in the Tale” (2013), “The Garden Jungle” (2019), and “Silent Earth” (2021). In 2015 he was named number 8 in BBC Wildlife Magazine’s list of the top 50 most influential people in conservation. In 2018, 2019 and 2020 he was named as a “Highly Cited Researcher” by Thompson ISI. He founded the Bumblebee Conservation Trust in 2006, a charity which has grown to 12,000 members and is a trustee of the Pesticide Action Network, as well as an “Ambassador” for the UK Wildlife Trusts, and president of Pesticide Free Scotland. Tune in to learn more about:

His latest book “Silent Earth”, in which in the tradition of Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking environmental classic Silent Spring, he explains the importance of insects to our survival, and offers a clarion call to avoid a looming ecological disaster of our own making;
His fascination about insects that started from an early age and why they are important to us and to our lives;
The pollination factor, even coffee and cocoa need pollinators;
The difference between bumblebees and honeybees, and the unknown fact that there are over 20,000 of known bees species;
Neonicotinoids and their negative impact on soil, streams and bees;
Insects as food - and how 80% of the world actually eat insects;
Global warming and the impact on insects;
His wish for each one of us is to welcome nature, to plant pollinator friendly flowers and don’t spray any pesticides and also to buy local, organic food.

To learn more about Professor Goulson's work go to https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p126217-dave-goulson.

View Details

Rachael Jones is a farmer and a co-founder of Locavore Farm and Sumac Creek Farm, which are situated 43-miles south of downtown Chicago in Kankakee County, Illinois. In 2013, Rachael was named Economic Development Leader of the Year by the Small Business Administration and in 2019 she received an Innovation in Agriculture Award from Kankakee County on behalf of the Daily Journal. The Joneses have pigs, sheep, chickens, goats and 120 different varieties of organically grown produce on their farm. Tune in to learn more about:

Her wonderful story of becoming a homestead farmer;
Her idea and model on the gathering around the table to enjoy the food grown on the farm together with friends;
The dine on the land program;
The challenges with the County on practicing agriculture and also agritourism;
What a real locavore is;
The education programs they offer on the farm.

To learn more about Rachael and The Locavore Farm go to https://www.locavorefarm.com/locavorefarm.

View Details

Dr. Christopher Carter is an assistant professor of theology and religious studies at the University of San Diego and a pastor in the United Methodist Church. He just published his first book “The Spirit of Soul Food: Race, Faith, and Food Justice” and is on the board of directors of Farm Forward, an anti-factory farming non-profit. Tune in to learn more about:

His grandfather’s experience being a migrant farm worker picking cotton, and attending school until 4th grade during Jim Crow laws;
The colonization of food and why we overlook Indigenous food when we look back in history;
The consequence of racial trauma;
What soul food is;
Why the foundation of our food system is based on structural racism;
His own journey on becoming a vegan;
About Farm Forward and the anti-factory farming non-profit.

To learn more about Dr. Christopher Carter go to https://www.drchristophercarter.com/spirit-soul-food. You can buy his new book here or at your local bookstore.

View Details

Liz Carlisle is an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies Program at UC Santa Barbara, where she teaches courses on food and farming. She has written three books about regenerative farming and agroecology: “Lentil Underground” (2015), “Grain by Grain” (2019, with co-author Bob Quinn), and most recently, “Healing Grounds: Climate, Justice, and the Deep Roots of Regenerative Farming” (2022). Tune in to learn more about:

Her new book on climate issues, justice and regenerative farming;
What we can learn from the ongoing climate chaos;
The colonial food system, extractive agriculture and the result of taking carbon out of the soil;
The problem with subsidies for corn and soybeans monocultures;
Why people of color own just 2 percent of the agricultural land in the US;
The amazing stories of women of color reconnecting with the earth and their roots by bringing back bison, preserving forest land, rejecting monoculture, rotating crops and recycling nutrients.

To learn more about Liz go to https://www.lizcarlisle.com. You can order her new book here.

View Details

Tammi Jonas is an agroecologist, farmer, mindful meatsmith, agrarian activist, author and academic with a focus on ethical, ecologically sound and socially-just food system. Tammi is the President of the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance and the founder and owner of Jonai Farms and Meatsmiths, a 69 acre farm in Eganstown (Australia), where together with her husband, she pasture raises happy, tasty, heritage-breed Large Black pigs. Tune in to learn more about:

The story of how as a vegetarian she decided to start a farm and raise Large Black pigs;
Capitalistic industrial agriculture vs. ethical small family farms;
Why rebuilding the local food system within communities can revitalize local economies;
Australia’s efforts to use less herbicides in comparison to the US;
Female leadership in agriculture;
The grassroots work and programs of the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance.

To learn more about Tammi’s work go to http://www.tammijonas.com.

View Details

Chef Michel Nischan is the founder and Executive Chairman of Wholesome Wave, the founder of Wholesome Crave, and co-founder of the James Beard Foundation’s Chefs Action Network. Michel is a four-time James Beard Award winning chef with over 30 years of leadership advocating for a more healthy and sustainable food system. Tune in to learn more about:

Michel’s memories of working on his grandfather’s farm;
How a climbing accident pushed him to finally found the non-profit organization Wholesome Wave;
The mission of Wholesome Wave to address diet-related diseases by helping low-income Americans buy and eat healthy fruits and vegetables;
The lack of affordability for healthy food and the disastrous consequences for the chronically ill;
The Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP), a program that brings together stakeholders from various parts of the food and healthcare systems;
About Wholesome Crave, a company that creates flavorful, nutritious soups;
How health care institutions are trying to improve the quality of their food and how UC Davis Medical Center partnered with Wholesome Crave to offer their soups in their cafes.

To learn more about Chef Michel Nischan go to https://www.chefnischan.com.

View Details

Elena Terry is the Executive Chef/Founder of Wild Bearies, a non-profit community outreach catering organization that supports participants to overcome alcohol and other drug abuse issues or emotional traumas. One of her goals has been to develop mentorship programs that help build stronger communities within the Indigenous Food Sovereignty movement. Developing the Native American Food Sovereignty Association’s Food and Culinary mentorship program in 2020, Elena emphasizes the healing nature of working with traditional indigenous ingredients while building community. Tune in to learn more about:

Wild Bearies and their mission to heal through real food and bringing communities together;
The power of how ancestral knowledge of food and animals is being passed from one generation to the next;
The cooperation with the Indigenous Seed Savers Network as well as Dream of Wild Health in continuing the stewardship of ancestral seeds;
The story of the bean seed that came back to the tribe;
The memories of her great-grandmother cooking over on open fire and the stories that were shared;
Learning how to butcher from her own grandmother;
What decolonized food is;
Elena’s philosophy that while food is medicine, the real medicine is in the creation and the relationships we build around food.

To learn more about Elena and her work go to https://wildbearies.org.

View Details

Together with his wife Sandra Belin, Larry Jacobs founded Jacobs Farm, a successful northern California organic farming operation specializing in fresh culinary herbs in 1980. In 1986, they launched Del Cabo, a collective with a unique vision for social change and sustainability. Sandra and Larry were awarded the prestigious Organic Trade Association’s (OTA) 2007 Organic Farming Leadership Award for “innovation in organic farming practices, their extensive work to educate farmers on organic conversion, and for being pioneers in their fields”. Tune in to learn more about:

The story on how Larry and Sandra started their organic farm;
The epiphany that sparked Del Cabo;
The increase in pests in Baja California, the challenges they pose to organic farmers, and the solutions that are being sought to mitigate them;
About the ClimateLab, which preserves farmers’ livelihoods and the future of organic produce in the face of global climate change;
His hope for young people coming back to the land and changing the food system.

To learn more about Larry and Jacobs Farm go to https://www.jacobsfarmdelcabo.com.

View Details

Sarah Nelson is the Executive Director for the organization 18 Reasons, a non-profit cooking school in the San Francisco area, with the mission to empower the community with the confidence and creativity to buy, cook and eat good food every day. Tune in to learn more about:

Why and when we stopped cooking and the negatives effects it had/has on our health;
About 18 Reasons and why flavor and deliciousness needs to be incorporated into nutrition;
How home cooking can be sustainable while it incorporates budget and shopping planning;
About Bi-Rite Family of Businesses’ desire to create a space where community members could deepen their relationships with food and with each other;
How sharing food, recipes and the experience of cooking can benefit a community on an emotional, psychological and social level.

To learn more about Sarah’s work go to https://18reasons.org.

View Details

Dr. Ricardo Salvador is a senior scientist and director of the Food and Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. He has over four decades of experience working with citizens, scientists, economists, and politicians to transition our current food system into one that grows healthy foods while employing sustainable and socially equitable practices. Tune in to learn more about:

About the Union of Concerned Scientists and their mission to fight back when powerful corporations mislead the public on science;
How the pandemic demonstrated that most of the food industry values profits over the health and well-being of their workers;
The political and economical power of the food industry;
How the current food system exploits people and the environment;
The issues with corporate research, their studies and their powerful message to the public;
The power of policies in food and farm.

To learn more about Dr. Salvador and The Union of Concerned Scientists, go to https://www.ucsusa.org.

View Details

Michelle Horovitz is co-founder and Vice President of Innovation at Appetite For Change (AFC), a nonprofit social enterprise organization in Minneapolis, MN, which is dedicated to using food as a tool to build health, wealth and social change. AFC works with residents to build strong families and healthy, equitable communities around food. Tune in to learn more about:

The different reasons for starting Appetite For Change;
The racism of cities in the Heartland;
Why food is a tool to build health, wealth and social change;
How food chains are set up differently with products in lower income areas;
About North Market, a full-service grocery store and wellness center in North Minneapolis;
About Community Cooks, a major program of AFC where people come together to cook, eat and learn;
The involvement of youth and how they shape the programs and bring in new ideas incorporating music, art and poetry - check out their music video Grow Food;
How COVID changed and shaped new programs for the organization.

To learn more about Michelle’s work and Appetite For Change go to https://appetiteforchangemn.org.

View Details

Jeanette Burlingame is the Program Manager at the Community Hunger Solutions in Viroqua, Wisconsin. Community Hunger Solutions is dedicated to connecting healthy, locally produced food with community members who face barriers to access. Tune in to learn more about:

Jeanette’s story;
About Community Hunger Solutions and their programs;
How food pantries are still filled with processed food and how solutions on filling them with organic and nutritious food are being sought;
The work they do with their distribution partners;
How to best reach people that are food insecure;
Why education (early childhood and in schools) can be part of the solution.

To learn more about Jeanette’s work go to https://www.community-hunger-solutions.org.

View Details

Originally from New York, Alicia Kennedy is an accomplished food writer based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her weekly newsletter “From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy” delves into the topics of food culture, politics and media and has over 17,000 subscribers. She also contributed a recipe to the 50th anniversary of Frances Moore Lappé’s “Diet for a Small Planet”. Tune in to learn more about:

Alicia’s story on becoming a food writer;
Her weekly newsletter “From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy”;
How she became first vegan and then vegetarian;
What is really wrong with the industrial meat industry;
Why good and sustainable choices are not accessible to everyone;
Why your food choices are influenced by how much money you earn, how many jobs you have, and also the healthcare you receive;
The collective and individual nature of food;
The true cost of food.

To learn more about Alicia, go to https://alicia-kennedy.com/.

View Details

Dr. Robert Kremer is an adjunct professor of soil science in both the Division of Plant Science and the School of Natural Resources at the University of Missouri. Dr. Kremer served as a research microbiologist for 32 years with the Cropping Systems and Water Quality research unit in Columbia, MO. Tune in to learn more about:

The job of a microbiologist;
The billions of microorganisms found in a teaspoon of soil;
Why glyphosate will stay and built up in the soil for several years and harm beneficial microorganisms including those that act as biological controls of pathogens;
The discovery that Roundup ready soybeans and regular soybeans sprayed with glyphosate became overly infested with soil fungi during the dying process from the effects of glyphosate;
How glyphosate is taking out important nutrients from the plant, like manganese, iron and copper;
Why glyphosate is patented as an antibiotic;
About the project on the Mitigation of Potential Adverse Effects of Transgenic Crop Production for Long-Term Improvement of Soil Health;

To learn more about Dr. Kremer’s work, go to https://cafnrfaculty.missouri.edu/rkremersoilhealth/.

View Details

Dr. David Haas is the Robert A. Munsick Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Vice Chair for Research in the OBGYN Department at Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Haas, a former US Navy Medical Corps Commander, is also on the Board of Directors for the Heartland Health Research Alliance, the sponsor of our radio and podcast show. Tune in to learn more about:

His professional medical career;
Diabesity - the combination of having both diabetes and obesity;
Why a person’s health begins in the womb;
Preconception care is the key and could help to optimize health before pregnancy, during pregnancy and after
The Hoosier Moms Cohort (HMC) Study, which focuses on the prevention and progression of diabetes, especially in women with gestational diabetes;
The Heartland Study, which studies the potential impacts of herbicides on mother and infant health, including whether or not there is a connection between herbicide exposure and birth defects or developmental challenges;
Why premature babies are prone to more health challenges during their life.

To learn more about Dr. Haas’ work, go to https://precisionhealth.iu.edu/areas-of-focus/disease-research-teams/type-2-diabetes.html and https://hh-ra.org/projects/the-heartland-study/.

View Details

Dr. Asa Bradman is an expert in exposure assessment and epidemiology focusing on occupational and environmental exposures to pregnant women, children, and farmworkers living in agricultural communities. In 1998, he co-founded the Center for Environmental Research and Children's Health (CERCH) in the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. In 2020, Dr. Bradman joined the faculty at UC Merced. Tune in to learn more about: - Community based research; - The Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS) Study, which is the longest running longitudinal birth cohort study of pesticides and other environmental exposures among children in a farmworker community;

How pesticides can be brought into the house through paraoccupational exposure;
Why early exposure in the womb to pesticides can have negative effects on a child’s IQ, health and life;
The soup of chemicals that we are exposed to on a daily basis and how we can use our common sense to avoid them;
The business of chemicals, plastics and pesticides is one of money;
The future of the CHAMACOS study.

To learn more about Dr. Bradman and the CHAMACOS study, go to https://cerch.berkeley.edu/research-programs/chamacos-study.

View Details

Autumn Ness, Director of the Hawaiʻi Program of Beyond Pesticides, is a community organizer and policy consultant to state and county legislators on agriculture, pesticide, and housing policy.

Autumn was a leader in the historic citizens’ initiative for a moratorium on genetically engineered crops in Maui County, which won at the ballot box in 2014, but lost in courts when the chemical industry sued the County of Maui. She is a founder and Board Vice President of the Maui (food) Hub, which was formed at the beginning of COVID shutdowns to support Mauiʻs local organic farmers through the crisis, with a long term goal of using market demand and infrastructure support to drastically increase the amount of local, organic food being produced on Maui. Tune in to learn more about:

Her own story of becoming an activist in Maui;
Monsanto's testing and research facilities in Hawai'i and the citizen-led fight against them;
The hard lesson learned while working with county legislators on agriculture, pesticide, and housing policy;
Monsanto's recent guilty plea to 30 environmental crimes in Hawaiʻi, related to pesticide use violations and putting field workers at risk;
Lee Johnson's trip to Hawai'i in 2019 and his advocating against pesticides;
The Maui Food Hub, the local farm distribution network that took root during the pandemic.

To learn more about Autumn's work go to: https://www.beyondpesticides.org/programs/hawaii and https://mauihub.org.

View Details

Christopher Bradshaw is the Founder and Executive Director of Dreaming Out Loud Inc., a food justice social enterprise that seeks to create economic opportunities for the D.C. metro region’s marginalized communities through building a healthy, equitable food system. Bradshaw was named an Ashoka-American Express Emerging Innovator in 2015, one of Food Trust’s 20 Leaders Under 40, and the longest-serving member of the DC Food Policy Council where he co-chairs the Urban Agriculture working group. Under his leadership, Dreaming Out Loud has grown to a $600,000 social enterprise with six full-time staff members, and four seasonal farm and food hub assistants. Tune in to learn more about:

Dreaming Out Loud Inc., their mission and projects;
How the idea of founding this organization came to life;
The unequal access for Black communities to food that is shaped by policies in the D.C. area;
The two-acre Farm at Kelly Miller and the Food Hub;
About drive through and mobile farmers markets;
The involvement of students in the farming process;
About the DREAM Program, a 16-week incubator program for low-resourced food entrepreneurs residing in Washington, D.C.;
Their work on advocacy and public policies;
The spike in Community Supported Agriculture shares during the pandemic.

To learn more about Chris Bradshaw and Dreaming Out Loud Inc., go to https://dreamingoutloud.org.

View Details

Aimée Code is the Pesticide Program Director at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. For more than 20 years she has worked to promote ecologically-sound pest management. In 2013, she launched Xerces Pesticide Program. In this role, she works with community activists, farmers, scientists and decision makers to eliminate harmful pesticide uses and create resilient landscapes. Tune in to learn more about:

About the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and their work to protect the natural world through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats;
How pesticides harm pollinators;
More than 90% of all animals are invertebrates and the US has over 4,000 species of bees;
Why it is hard to collect data on the numbers of invertebrates;
The sad truth that if humans would disappear from Earth the invertebrates would still be able to survive, but not the other way around;
About Community Science, like the Bumblebee Watch;
The slight increase of the Western Monarch Butterflies;
About anthropogenic stressors and how we as humans can make choices that can support pollinators;
About Bee Hotels, which are natural nesting habitats for bees and other insects;
Steps and ideas on how to bring back pollinators;
The value of mosquitos;
How the current pandemic taught us to spend more time in nature and national parks.

To learn more about Aimée's work go to https://www.xerces.org.

View Details

Dave Goulson is a Professor of Biology at the University of Sussex (England), who specializes in bee ecology. Professor Goulson has published more than 300 scientific articles on the ecology and conservation of bumblebees and other insects, plus seven books, including the Sunday Times bestsellers “A Sting in the Tale” (2013), “The Garden Jungle” (2019), and “Silent Earth” (2021). In 2015 he was named number 8 in BBC Wildlife Magazine’s list of the top 50 most influential people in conservation. In 2018, 2019 and 2020 he was named as a “Highly Cited Researcher” by Thompson ISI. He founded the Bumblebee Conservation Trust in 2006, a charity which has grown to 12,000 members and is a trustee of the Pesticide Action Network, as well as an “Ambassador” for the UK Wildlife Trusts, and president of Pesticide Free Scotland. Tune in to learn more about:

His latest book “Silent Earth”, written in the tradition of Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking environmental classic Silent Spring, where he explains the importance of insects to our survival, and offers a clarion call to avoid a looming ecological disaster of our own making;
His fascination about insects that started from an early age and why they are important to us and to our lives;
Pollination facts, even coffee and cocoa need pollinators;
The difference between bumblebees and honeybees, and the unknown fact that there are over 20,000 of known bees species;
Neonicotinoids and their negative impact on soil, streams and bees;
Insects as food - and how 80% of the world actually eat insects;
Global warming and the impact on insects;
His wish for each one of us is to welcome nature, to plant pollinator friendly flowers and not to spray any pesticides, as well as to buy local and organic food.

To learn more about Dave Goulson's work go to https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p126217-dave-goulson.

View Details

Dr. Joan Dye Gussow is a Professor Emeritus of Nutrition and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, nutritionist, writer, and gardener. She was one of the first experts to advocate, as early as the 1970’s, that we “eat locally, think globally.” As a nonagenarian, she is still teaching, gardening and cooking her own food. Tune in to learn more about:

– The breakdown of our food system during COVID-19;

– Ultra processed food – 60% of food that Americans are eating;

– How to empower people with information;

– How the current pandemic is changing our food behaviors;

– Her own garden.

In 2010, Gussow told The New York Times, “You can’t be optimistic about the state of the world — what you can be is open-minded. You’re going to look for solutions, and you’re going to make your own life mean something. You can no longer think that accumulating money or the biggest house is the answer.”

View Details

Dr. Kara Young is an expert in food systems and racial inequality. Dr. Young worked as an Assistant Professor at the Ohio State University and currently sits on the steering committee of the Ohio Food Policy Network and the advisory circle of Kindred: "A Creative Accelerator for Artists of Color". Dr. Young has a decade of experience writing, organizing, teaching, and public speaking on food disparities, racial justice, and qualitative research methods. Tune in to learn more about:

Her own path into the field of food systems and racial inequality;
The connection between food deserts and food justice;
Lessons learned from the pandemic;
Her work teaching in Ohio with Local Matters and 4AllPeople;
About Kindred: "A Creative Accelerator for Artists of Color";
Her views and hopes on how to change food systems in the United States.

One of Dr. Young's favorite quotes - "Justice is what love looks like in public" by Cornel West - aptly describes communities today working together in the pandemic to make sure that nobody in this country goes hungry.

To learn more about Dr. Young's work go to: https://www.karaalexisyoung.com.

View Details

Jose Oliva is the Campaigns Director at HEAL Food Alliance and Director of the Chicago Area Food System Fund. Jose was the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Food Chain Workers Alliance, a national coalition of food-worker organizations that collectively represents over 350,000 workers. He is a 2017 James Beard Award recipient and a 2018 American Food Hero Awardee. Tune in to learn more about:

Jose's upbringing in Guatemala and his family's story of being persecuted and fleeing the country;
Jose's and his mom's experience working in the food system and the sad truth why food workers are the lowest paid;
Why labor is mostly left out when talking about food and agriculture;
About the Food Chain Workers Alliance, their work and projects;
About the Glass Floor Study on sexual harassment in the restaurant industry;
Who owns the food system and their roots back to slavery;
The minimum wage issue;
The current pandemic and the consequences for food workers;

To learn more about Jose's work go to https://healfoodalliance.org and https://foodchainworkers.org.

View Details

Atina Diffley is an organic farmer, public speaker and author of the 2013 Minnesota Book Award winner, "Turn Here Sweet Corn: Organic Farming Works", a memoir based on Atina’s life running the Gardens of Eagan organic vegetable farm. Her advocacy has addressed the pressures of suburban development, and she successfully led a legal and citizen campaign against the notorious polluters, Koch Industries, to create an Organic Mitigation Plan for organic farms in Minnesota. Tune in to learn more about:

What is new on Atina's 100 acre farm and why she started planting perennial crops;
Why monocropping is affecting the soil microbiome and insects;
Ecosystems and their value for farming;
Why organic can feed the world;
How planting two different plants next to each other - like asparagus and soybeans - can benefit both and reduce the use of pesticides;
Why knowledge is the best tool to share for growing plants without spraying;
The relationship that we have with the food that feeds us and with the soil it grows in;
The future of her farm and why she put her farm and the land into a conservation easement.

To learn more about Atina's work go to https://atinadiffley.com.

View Details

Beth Hoffman is a beginning farmer working almost 530 acres in Iowa. For the last twenty years, she has worked as a journalist covering food and agriculture. Her work has been aired and published on NPR's Morning Edition, The Guardian, The Salt, Latino USA, and the News Hour. Her new book "Bet the Farm: The Dollars and Sense of Growing Food in America" was published in October 2021 by Island Press. Tune in to learn more about:

Her own story of moving to Iowa, following her husband to farm and their new life as farmers;
The mindset of farmers that needs to change;
How subsidies for farmers really work;
A farmer makes only $0.14 for every $1 that is spent at the grocery store;
About "the bigger is better" myth and the race to grow and produce more;
Why farmers should work together and not be in competition with their neighbors;
What family farms really are.

You can order Beth's book at your library, or at your local independent bookshop.

View Details

Carey Gillam is an American investigative journalist and author with more than 30 years of experience covering food and agricultural policies and practices, including 17 years as a senior correspondent for Reuters international news service. She has specialty knowledge regarding the rise of biotech crop technology and the associated rise in pervasive pesticide use in our farming and food production system. Carey's second book, a legal thriller titled "The Monsanto Papers - Deadly Secrets, Corporate Corruption, and One Man's Search for Justice", was published in March 2, 2021 (Island Press). Tune in to learn more about:

-"The Monsanto Papers", her second book, which is the inside story of Lee Johnson’s landmark lawsuit against Monsanto;

What she has learned from the process of litigation and the internal documents from Monsanto that were trying to discredit her work and destroy her career;
The levels of deceptions by Monsanto;
How she transcribes the stories of farmers, scientists and academics in a way that is meaningful;
Why she thinks farmers are essential and critical.

Carey strongly believes that " Our food is where it all began, and we need to respect that and do everything we can to protect our food production system, our environment and the health of our children."

To learn more about Carey's work go to https://careygillam.com/ and https://usrtk.org/.

View Details

Loren Cardeli, Executive Director and co-founder of A Growing Culture, an organization that promotes ecological agriculture across the globe. Loren is a leader in a small but growing movement of farmer-centric organizations and has traveled around the world to help set up and run organic farms. Tune in to learn more about:

His personal experiences and memories of his family dinner table;
Why being heard is so important and why there are a lot of voiceless communities around the world;
How the very ones that are feeding us are starving;
Food waste, ethanol production, animal feed, corn - what is wrong with the current industrial agriculture in the US;
About his organization A Growing Culture and their mission to support farmers to change the broken food system and their collective learning through farmer-to-farmer exchange;
Why we have to change the view of how people see industrial agriculture and why the narrative and communication part are detrimental;
Why the local food movement won't save the world;

To learn more about Loren's work go to: https://www.agrowingculture.org/.

View Details

Sophie Ackoff is the Co-Executive Director of the National Young Farmers Coalition and has mobilized young farmers and their supporters for policy change since 2012. In 2019, she was named one of 25 Leaders in Food and Agriculture to Watch by the Food Tank. Tune in to learn more about:

Sophie's story about organizing farmers;
About the National Young Farmers Coalition and the integration of farmers of color into the coalition;
Why immigration reform is critical for farmworkers;
The current access to land issue for young farmers;
The ongoing work on policies for the next Farm Bill in 2023;
The efforts on equitable land transition;
How soil, climate change, and the environment are topics that the coalition is supporting in the next Farm Bill.

To learn more about Sophie's work go to https://www.youngfarmers.org/.

View Details

Before becoming Mayor of her hometown of Viroqua, Wisconsin in 2018, Karen Mischel spent 17 years in the Merchant Marine followed by her current occupation as an organic farm inspector. Tune in to learn more about:

Her story of growing up on a dairy farm in a small town in Wisconsin, her 17 years of traveling the world with the Merchant Marine, and working in the Steward Department and working with food;
Lessons learned in communication from working on the ship;
The challenges of managing a rural community with new and old residents;
Why hard conversations are important and non-violent communication is the key in her community;
Her work on banning herbicide spraying on public places in Viroqua and on leased public agricultural land;
Her focus on prioritizing clean water, healthy soil, organic farming, and community health;
Why educating people in the community should be a political responsibility.

To learn more about Mayor Karen and Viroqua go to https://viroqua-wisconsin.com.

View Details

Tony Bedard is the Chief Executive Officer of Frontier Co-op, whose mission to nourish people and planet is rooted in corporate social responsibility. Tony has also led more than 25 humanitarian missions to El Salvador and Haiti to support projects in the areas of education, clean water, and healthcare. Tune in to learn more about:

The story of Frontier Co-op and their products;
Tony's story of growing up in rural Iowa in a family with 16 kids and his career starting at Frontier back in 1991;
Frontier Co-op's corporate social responsibility;
Frontier Co-op's apprenticeship program of hiring former inmates, refugees, homeless people and their amazing Giving back projects;
The sustainable sourcing program Well Earth Program.

To learn more about Frontier Co-op go to https://www.frontiercoop.com.

View Details

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we are bringing you back this amazing episode about Cynthia Barstow and her organization Protect Our Breasts.

For Cynthia Barstow, Senior Lecturer of Marketing at Amherst Isenberg School at the University of Massachusetts and Founder and Executive Director of Protect Our Breasts, the fight against breast cancer is personal. In 2010, a routine mammogram led to her own breast cancer diagnosis—something faced by nearly 300,000 women each year. As her treatment began, so did a deep dive into breast cancer research, especially what causes the disease. Tune in to learn more about:

Her personal story of going through breast cancer and how the idea for her organization was born;
About the window of susceptibility, the period of developmental stages when a woman may be most vulnerable to environmental exposures, starting from the womb all through puberty;
About Protect Our Breasts, an organization that empowers women to make safer choices to protect their breasts during the most vulnerable periods of their lives and shares the conversation about chemicals in everyday products found on grocery shelves;
Why packaging is as important as the ingredients when it comes to toxins, as they can leak into the product;
The endocrine system explained;
How 85,000 synthetic chemicals have been introduced into the environment and only 7% have been tested for effects on human health;
About the

53 chapters of the organization in the USA, Canada, UK and India;

About how men can get breast cancer as well.

Cynthia's 'a-ha' moment that it’s younger women (up through their first full-term pregnancy) who are most susceptible to harmful chemicals and carcinogens that can lead to breast cancer later in life lead her to burst into tears. “Every day looking out on the sea of faces of those that I teach, those women were the ones that were susceptible. They were going through life believing it was their mother and their grandmother and their aunts, but it was them.” She realized that getting information to younger women about positive choices they could make to steer clear from certain ingredients in everyday products was more important than ever.

To learn more about her work and Protect Our Breasts go to: https://protectourbreasts.org/.

View Details

Ashley Koff is a registered dietician, an award-winning nutrition expert, and educator for doctors, nutritionists and fitness professionals. Her mission is to help people get better health powered by better total nutrition. She is the founder of the non-profit Ashley Koff Approved (AKA) and of The Better Nutrition Program. Tune in to learn more about:

The connection between the microbiome, soil and climate;
What is wrong with the food system and especially the marketing of food;
Why standards are needed especially for glyphosate levels;
The challenges of being a dietician today;
Her creative approach to helping her clients and why the understanding of our own body is the key to make better choices;
Lessons learned from the current pandemic.

To learn more about Ashley's work go to https://thebetternutritionprogram.com and https://ashleykoffrd.com.

View Details

Frances Moore Lappé is the author or co-author of twenty books about world hunger, living democracy, and the environment, beginning with the three-million-copy Diet for a Small Planet in 1971. She is the co-founder of three organizations, including the Oakland-based think tank Food First, the Small Planet Institute, which she leads with her daughter, Anna Lappé, and the Small Planet Fund, which channels resources to democratic social movements worldwide. Tune in to learn more about:

What she learned during the pandemic;
About Diet for Small Planet 50 years later;
Her experience with the farmers in the Midwest from the 1980s to today;
The concentrated power of corporations in the food industry;
Why she is a “possibilist” and she believes that voices and actions count and can make a difference;
What democracy really means and about Democracy Movement;
The culture of valuing and taking responsibility of our natural resources.

To learn more about Frances go to https://www.smallplanet.org.

View Details

Melody Meyer is an organic pioneer, with over 40 years of extensive knowledge in international trade, the marketing of organic food and organic industry policy. She is on the Board of Trustees for The Organic Trade Center and leads Source Organic, a company dedicated to Education, Advocacy, and Thought Leadership (EAT) for the organic industry and manages the Organic Matters Blog. Tune in to learn more about:

Her grandparents' organic and diverse farm in Iowa;
Her connection to growing and cooking their own food;
Her journey into an organic food career;
Her thoughts on hydroponic and aquaponic farming;
Stories and lessons learned from her international work in the food system;
Climate change, migration and the food system;
The inequality of water;
How the current pandemic are changing our perspectives on food and our food system.

To learn more about Melody, visit her blog at: https://organicmattersblog.com/about.

View Details

Ken Cook is the president and co-founder of the Environmental Working Group. He is widely recognized as one of the environmental community’s most prominent and influential critics of industrial agriculture, U.S. food and farm policy, and the nation’s broken approach to protecting families and children from toxic substances. Tune in to learn more about:

His involvement with the Farm Bill in 1985;
The start of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) back in 1993 and the first published report written by Richard Wiles on "Pesticides in Children's food";
The birth of the Dirty Dozen list;
The change in the media industry and the consequences on the EWG work;
The stories on Roundup, Dicamba and superweeds;
Extreme monocropping and how we are paying the price right now;
Ken's hope for the 2023 Farm Bill;
EWG's newest study on "Certified organic packaged foods contain fewer ingredients linked to negative health effects";
How the term "regenerative" is being used as a marketing tool only.

To learn more about Ken's work and the EWG go to: https://www.ewg.org.

View Details

Dr. Fred Provenza is a Professor Emeritus of Behavioral Ecology in the Department of Wildland Resources at Utah State University, where he worked for 35 years directing an award-winning research group that pioneered an understanding of how learning influences foraging behavior and how behavior links soil, plants, herbivores, and humans. He is also the author of "Nourishment: What Animals Can Teach Us about Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom" and one of the founders of BEHAVE, an international network of scientists, ranchers, farmers and land managers. Tune in to learn more about:

Why and how certain foods are hijacking our system;
What we can learn from goats and other animals;
The lost knowledge and wisdom of real nourishment;
About food foraging, animal habitats and the mother connection;
About dining with change;
Why learning to eat new wholesome foods can guide us towards a better and healthier life.

To learn more about Dr. Provenza's work, go to http://www.behave.net.

View Details

Ken Lee together with his wife Caryl Levine founded Lotus Foods in 1995, a company that focuses on importing handcrafted rice from small family farms. Ken and his team are committed to organic and regenerative practices that is generating more rice from less land, preserving valuable genetic biodiversity, saving hundreds of millions of gallons of water annually, promoting long-term soil health, and removing greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere. Tune in to learn more about:

Ken and Caryl's story on starting their rice business while travelling through China;
Small rice farms and the toll it takes on women's health;
The "More Crop per Drop" and “System of Rice Intensification” (SRI),which was developed to improve rice yields of low-income farmers to alleviate poverty and improve food security;
The story of Henri de Laulanié, a Jesuit priest and agronomist who developed the SRI in Madagascar in the 70s;
The golden rice, the genetically modified rice, that cannot solve any poverty, distribution or food waste problem;
Why what we do to the earth we do to people, and what we do to the people we do to the earth.

To learn more about Ken's work and Lotus Foods go to https://www.lotusfoods.com.

View Details

Brianna Fiene is a Farm to Institution Outreach Specialist at the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her work focuses on developing partnerships with institutions, researchers, business and industry stakeholders to create resilient value-chains critical for sustainable food-systems and regional farm to school events that connect Midwest producers to institutional markets. Tune in to learn more about:

The Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems and their projects;
Resilient food systems and the local food systems during the pandemic;
Her own story of growing up on a small farm;
Food insecurity in Wisconsin;
How to keep people on their land and save small family farms;
Climate change and the connection to the soil and farms;
About the grain shortage and the Neighbor Loaves.

To learn more about Brianna’s work go to https://cias.wisc.edu.

View Details

Marlaina Freisthler is a Washington, D.C. based researcher and PhD student fellow with the Heartland Health Research Alliance. A mother with Midwestern roots, Marlaina grew up on a farm in Ohio and is passionate about environmentally mediated health challenges to which pregnant women and children are uniquely vulnerable. Tune in to learn more about:

Her own journey of becoming a researcher;
The Heartland Study, which is an observational medical research project designed to answer critical questions about potential impacts of herbicides on mother and infant health, including whether or not there is a connection between herbicide exposure and birth defects or developmental challenges;
The world of research and data on pesticides;
The new book "Count Down" by Shanna H. Swan with Stacy Colino, which looks at the ways in which chemicals in the modern environment are changing and endangering human sexuality and fertility;
The herbicide treadmill;
Why health is a human right;
Some simple ways on how to protect yourself from pesticides.

To learn more about the Heartland Study go to: https://hh-ra.org/projects/the-heartland-study.

View Details

Dr. Rupa Marya is an Associate Professor of Medicine at UC-San Francisco, an activist, author and musician. She was recently awarded the Chancellor's Award for Public Service. Dr. Marya also co-founded the Do No Harm Coalition, an organization of healthcare workers committed to overturning structural obstacles to health. She is also the co-author with Raj Patel of "Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice". Tune in to learn more about:

How social structures create diseases;
The teachings and writings of Rudolf Virchow and his recommendations about ways to improve people’s health by improving their economic and social conditions;
The heartbreaking story of Shelia McCarley and how she was killed by her body’s own response to her environment, poisoned by ongoing exposure to chemicals;
About the Do No Harm Coalition and their work;
The microbiome, the pandemic and why we are a composite of organisms;
Epigenetics and why what we eat today will have a great impact on the health of the next generations.

To learn more about Dr. Rupa Marya go to: https://rupamarya.org/.

View Details

Raj Patel is an award-winning author, film-maker and academic. He is a Research Professor in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin and a Senior Research Associate at the Unit for the Humanities at the university currently known as Rhodes University (UHURU), South Africa. Raj’s latest book, co-authored with Rupa Marya, entitled “Inflamed: Deep Medicine and The Anatomy of Injustice” was published on August 3, 2021. Tune in to learn more about:

How his newest book co-authored with Rupa Marya on systemic inflammation was written during the pandemic;
Why our world, society and bodies are inflamed;
The connection between our microbiome and the earth and how when we harm the world around us we harm the world in us;
The meaning of deep medicine;
The psychological harm of capitalism;
About the film Raj co-directed entitled “The Ants and the Grasshopper”.

Raj is reminding us that, “ If you carry a large debt load, your body is inflamed because of your worry about debt….if you are in debt, or worried about your job or healthcare, if you carry daily anxiety then your body is inflamed….The way to resolve that is through a culture that reassures you that we are taking care of one another, regardless of age, gender, immigration status or ability to pay.”

To learn more about Raj’s work go to https://rajpatel.org.

View Details

Dr. Kendra Klein, senior staff scientist at Friends of the Earth (FOE) is a writer, researcher, and advocate with expertise in environmental sustainability, food, agriculture, and public health. Tune in to learn more about:

The women who inspired her to pursue her career
About FOE and their projects in Food and Agriculture
How neonicotinoids and glyphosate kill pollinators
The Organic for All study
The power of pesticide corporations in the United States
The new study on the impact of pesticides on soil and invertebrates
FOE’s new report on the school lunch program in California and their recommendations

To learn more about FOE’s and Dr. Klein’s work, go to https://www.foe.org.

View Details

Karen Washington is a leader and a community activist in New York City’s urban-farming and food-justice movements. She has won a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award in 2014, has been invited to the Obama White House for her involvement with New York’s Botanical Garden, and has been called “urban farming’s de facto godmother.” Karen is also the co-founder of Black Urban Growers and co-owner of Rise and Root Farm, an organic farm in Orange County, NY. Tune in to learn more about:

Her own journey from being a physical therapist to becoming a food activist and urban farmer;
The Garden of Happiness and the community garden movement;
How New York City communities and their partners were fighting against Mayor Giuliani's plan to destroy community gardens;
Why food is connected to everything;
How COVID is changing the service and hotel industry for the better for their workers;
How wealth was distributed unequally to people of color and passed on through generations;
How funding of small Black farmers can help in underserved communities;
Shifting power to people who has been marginalized as a way to shift capitalism.

Karen is reminding us that "... if we want to move the capitalistic system in a way that it should be inclusive and diverse in terms of wealth, then we have to look at shifting power, and taking power from those who had it for so long and had power over others and put it in the hands of people who have been marginalized."

To learn more about Karen's work go to https://www.riseandrootfarm.com.

View Details

Mary Cleaver is one of the country’s foremost authorities on sustainable food and local sourcing. Together with her husband, Mary operates Green Table Farms, a 200-acre organic family farm in Washington County, NY. She was the founder and owner of the catering company The Cleaver Co. and The Green Table restaurant in New York City. Tune in to learn more about:

How Mary brought local and sustainable produce and food to New York City 40 years ago;
About her Farm to Chef network;
The story of Green Table Farms;
How the current pandemic challenged and ultimately closed her catering business in New York City;
The inspiring story of a kindergarten teacher in New York City that led to the the banning of pesticides in the city's parks.

To learn more about Mary's work go to https://www.greentablefarms.net. You can also meet Mary and her husband every Saturday in summer at the Union Square Greenmarket.

View Details

Robyn O'Brien is one of the most recognized voices in the food industry. Her TEDx talk, based on her book The Unhealthy Truth and watched by millions, exposes the shortcomings of our food system and has influenced policy, legislation, and product formulation in the food industry. Named “food’s Erin Brockovich” by the New York Times, Robyn is also the co-founder and Managing Director of rePlant Capital, an impact investment firm, which deploys integrated capital from soil to shelf to support American farmers and the food industry in their conversion to regenerative, organic agriculture. Tune in to learn more about:

What has changed since the publication of her book "The Unhealthy Truth" and the ongoing work in the area of children's allergies;
How we treat our soil has a huge impact on our children;
Her lessons learned as a mother of a child with severe food allergies;
Why farmers should come first and why we cannot fix a broken food system within a broken financial system;
About rePlant Capital, where capital is seen as the most important ingredient in the food system;
How soil is the problem but also an opportunity, and how building soil health will conserve water, sequester carbon, and improve profitability;

To learn more about Robyn's work, go to https://www.replantcapital.com and https://robynobrien.com.

View Details

Dr. Kara Young is an expert in food systems and racial inequality. Dr. Young worked as an Assistant Professor at the Ohio State University and currently sits on the steering committee of the Ohio Food Policy Network and the advisory circle of Kindred: "A Creative Accelerator for Artists of Color". Dr. Young has a decade of experience writing, organizing, teaching, and public speaking on food disparities, racial justice, and qualitative research methods. Tune in to learn more about:

Her own path into the field of food systems and racial inequality;
The connection between food deserts and food justice;
Lessons learned from the pandemic;
Her work teaching in Ohio with Local Matters and 4AllPeople;
About Kindred: "A Creative Accelerator for Artists of Color";
Her views and hopes on how to change food systems in the United States.

One of Dr. Young's favorite quotes - "Justice is what love looks like in public" by Cornel West - aptly describes communities today working together in the pandemic to make sure that nobody in this country goes hungry.

To learn more about Dr. Young's work go to: https://www.karaalexisyoung.com.

View Details

Ken Meter is one of the most experienced food system analysts in the United States, with 50 years of experience in inner-city and rural community capacity building, integrating market analysis, business development, systems thinking, and social concerns. His local economic analyses have promoted local food networks in 144 regions in 41 states, two provinces, and four tribal nations. Ken is also the president of the Minneapolis-based Crossroads Resource Center and the author of the book “Building Community Food Webs”, published by Island Press in April 2021. Tune in to learn more about:

How the current rural/urban political divide is fueled by the extraction of wealth from rural regions;
How community food webs can overturn the extractive economic structures of our food system;
Why it is important to have a connection between consumers and farmers (Know your farmer program);
Food Banks and Health Clinics;
International work on building stronger community food systems;
How the pandemic forced us to rethink our food system;
How to feed ourselves before we try to feed the world;
The importance of building trust.

To learn more about Ken's work, go to: https://www.crcworks.org.

View Details

Dr. Shakara Tyler is a returning generation farmer, educator and activist-scholar who engages in Black agrarianism, agroecology, food sovereignty and climate justice. Dr. Tyler serves as Board President at the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network and is a member of the Black Dirt Farm Collective and of the Detroit People’s Food Co-op. Tune in to learn more about:

The Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, their projects and their farm;
Food sovereignty, the right of peoples to healthy and culturally-appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems;
The Detroit People's Food Co-op, which is an African American led, community-owned grocery cooperative;
The real meaning of community;
The Black Dirt Farm Collective and their goal to bring back the ancestral process of land based living.

To learn more about Dr. Shakara Tyler and her work go to https://www.dbcfsn.org/.

View Details

Fred Kirschenmann is a longtime national and international leader in sustainable agriculture. He shares an appointment as Distinguished Fellow for the Leopold Center and as President of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, New York. He also manages his family's 1,800-acre certified organic farm in south central North Dakota. Tune in to learn more about:

His story from being a PhD to becoming a leader, champion and pioneer of organic and sustainable farming;
His appreciation and inspiration for the work of Ernest Shusky;
His thoughts on the food revolution for the future;
The three "R's": Regenerative, Resilience and Relationships;
The relationship of farmers and chefs, and their success story from the Stone Barns Center;
About David Montgomery's book "Growing a Revolution: Bringing our soil back to life";
His thoughts on why Iowa has lost 6 inches of top soil and how farmers are recognizing this issue and getting together to find solutions;
Why you can't address climate change without addressing agriculture;

To learn more about Fred's work go to https://www.stonebarnscenter.org/board/fred-kirschenmann/.

View Details

Carolyn Raffensperger is the Executive Director of the Science and Environmental Health Network (SEHN) as well as an environmental lawyer, specialized in the fundamental changes in law and policy necessary for the protection and restoration of public health and the environment. Tune in to learn more about:

Her own story from studying archeology to becoming an environmental lawyer, inspiration from Jane Goodall's as well as her dad's work;
The philosophy of science and how you can prove it;
Her work and lessons learned while working with the Pueblo people of the Southwest US;
The precautionary principle, which is the idea that you take action to prevent harm, even in the face of scientific uncertainty;
About the Science and Environmental Network and their work;
The disconnect between public health and medicine;
Ecological medicine, the term coined by Carolyn in 2001 for a new field of inquiry and action to reconcile the care and health of ecosystems, populations, communities, and individuals;
About her TEDx Maui talk "Becoming great ancestors";

When Carolyn talks about endocrine disruptors, she explains that "If we know enough to act, we have a moral obligation to prevent suffering". To learn more about Carolyn's work and the Science and Environmental Network, go to https://www.sehn.org/.

View Details

Cori Skolaski is the Executive Director of the Midwest Organic Service Association - MOSA, the second-largest organic certifier in the United States and the largest certifier of livestock and dairy. MOSA certifies over 2000 clients in 20 states, including nearly 300 organic processors, distributors, retailers and restaurants. Tune in to learn more about:

Cori's personal story and her own path in the organic industry;
The Organic Food Production Act;
A deeper view into the certification process and the USDA organic seal;
The livestock certification process;
The difference between the organic label and regenerative label (Regenerative Organic Certified Label)
How MOSA operated during the COVID pandemic.

To learn more about the organic certification process go to https://mosaorganic.org/.

View Details

Maria Rodale is the former chairman and executive officer of Rodale Inc., the global health and wellness content company, as well as an author and retired co-chairman of the Rodale Institute. Based in Pennsylvania, Maria is a mother to three daughters born in three different decades, a grandmother, and a secret children’s book author. Tune in to learn more about:

The Rodale Institute, which was founded by her grandfather J.I. Rodale in 1947;
Why food activists don't retire, they rewire;
About Rodale Inc. (acquired by Hearst in 2018), the publisher of Women's Health, Men's Health, Prevention and many more;
Her interest in the microbiome and its relationship to our health;
The decline in men's sperm count (check out the new book on this topic "Count Down" by Shanna H. Swan, PhD with Stacey Colino);
Her views on "regenerative organic", a term coined by her father to distinguish a kind of farming that goes beyond sustainable and about the 2018 seal of "Regenerative Organic Certified";
Why it is important to focus on how food is grown and not on what we eat, to put it in Theresa's words: "Down with food snobbery";
Her views on the last four years in the organic industry, her future plans as well as her work on her forthcoming book.

To learn more about Maria's work, go to https://rodaleinstitute.org/.

View Details

Tom Frantzen is an organic farmer, who together with his wife Irene, farms on a three hundred acre certified organic farm in New Hampton, Iowa growing corn, soybeans, hay, small grains and raising hogs and cattle. Tune in to learn more about:

Tom's farming story
Why diversity leads to stability in farming
His 'a-ha' moment in the 1980's when he splashed pesticide into his eye that left him half blind
How he learned about the advantage of planting hybrid rye through the Practical Farmers of Iowa
His new way of raising hogs that was inspired by a trip to Sweden in the 1990s
Food insecurity in Iowa
How Temple Grandin changed his understanding of handling livestock

Journalist Tom Philpott described Iowa agriculture as “an ecological crime scene.” Fortunately, he was on his way to Tom and Irene Frantzen’s farm. Unlike the corn and soy monocropping throughout most of Iowa, the Frantzens diverse animal and cropping system of forty years is part of the key to their success and an Iowa good news story. What will it take for Iowa’s other 85,000 conventional farmers to lead the Heartland to a more climate friendly, diverse and health focused agriculture?

View Details

Audrey Tran Lam is an Environmental Health Program Manager at the Center for Energy and Environmental Education (CEEE), University of Northern Iowa as well as the Environmental Health Program Director at Good Neighbor Iowa. She holds a Master's degree in Public Health from the University of Iowa and is currently studying food systems at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Tune in to learn more about:

Her own story and inspiration in choosing to study Public Health;
Her understanding of the constellation of how food, water, farming and public health all fit together;
The holistic view of food systems;
About Good Neighbor Iowa, their mission to reduce unnecessary urban pesticide use and how she dived into the topic of children's health and their exposure to pesticides;
The story behind the Good Neighbor Iowa name;
Work, involving college students, on the series of maps to portray pesticide use in select neighborhoods by Good Neighbor Iowa;
The Farming for Public Health program, which is an initiative to build more understanding among healthcare providers and public health professionals about agricultural strategies.

To learn more about Good Neighbor Iowa and Farming for Public Health go to: https://goodneighboriowa.org/ and https://farmingforpublichealth.org/.

View Details

Dr. Kamyar Enshayan is the Director of the Center for Energy & Environmental Education (CEEE) at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI). Dr. Enshayan has taught environmental studies since 1993 and founded the University of Northern Iowa’s Local Food Program in 1997. He received the 2008 Sustainable Agriculture Achievement Award from Practical Farmers of Iowa. Tune in to learn more about:

The three pillars of the CEEE: Green Iowa Americorps (energy and environmental services to Iowa communities); Community Energy & Climate Action (closes the door on fossil energy as we open the door on renewables); and Improving Community Environmental Health (protecting children's environmental health in Iowa through two statewide initiatives);
How Iowa cannot feed itself and the world through corn and soy;
Soil erosion, food deserts and what is wrong in Iowa's food system;
How common language can be used to better communicate with Iowans and create positive change.

Dr. Enshayan is not only a teacher inspiring new generations of students but also an activist trying to improve the food system in Iowa through action in communities.

To learn more about Dr. Enshayan's work visit the CEEE website at: https://ceee.uni.edu/.

View Details

To celebrate Earth Day week we’re bringing you a very popular episode that originally aired in February 2021 with Odessa Piper, visionary and real food pioneer.

Odessa Piper, founder of L’Etoile, a pioneering farm-to-table restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin, is an author and James Beard award winner as Best Chef Midwest in 2002. In 2018, Odessa helped launch the Food Artisan Immersion Program, a seasonal work-study residency on Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin Estate in Spring Green, Wisconsin, that focuses on the Driftless Region ecology and includes instruction in gardening and food-service. Tune in to learn more about:

The history of the L'Etoile (which she founded at only 23), which means 'star' in French, how it was inspired by the hidden stars in food and nature
Her own story of growing up surrounded by the magic of growing your own food and going out in the forest to forage wild foods
How she found the magic in food after dropping out of high school
How she learned to rely and use food grown in her community and region
About the Food Artisan Immersion Program, a seasonal work-study residency on Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin Estate in Spring Green, Wisconsin
How early childhood education about food and our food system can help Gaia (our planet)

To learn more about the Taliesin Estate, go to https://www.taliesinpreservation.org/.

View Details

For Cynthia Barstow, Senior Lecturer of Marketing at Amherst Isenberg School at the University of Massachusetts and Founder and Executive Director of Protect Our Breasts, the fight against breast cancer is personal. In 2010, a routine mammogram led to her own breast cancer diagnosis—something faced by nearly 300,000 women each year. As her treatment began, so did a deep dive into breast cancer research, especially what causes the disease. Tune in to learn more about:

Her personal story of going through breast cancer and how the idea for her organization was born;
About the window of susceptibility, the period of developmental stages when a woman may be most vulnerable to environmental exposures, starting from the womb all through puberty;
About Protect Our Breasts, an organization that empowers women to make safer choices to protect their breasts during the most vulnerable periods of their lives and shares the conversation about chemicals in everyday products found on grocery shelves;
Why packaging is as important as the ingredients when it comes to toxins, as they can leak into the product;
The endocrine system explained;
How 85,000 synthetic chemicals have been introduced into the environment and only 7% have been tested for effects on human health;
About the

53 chapters of the organization in the USA, Canada, UK and India;

About how men can get breast cancer as well;

Cynthia's 'a-ha' moment that it’s younger women (up through their first full-term pregnancy) who are most susceptible to harmful chemicals and carcinogens that can lead to breast cancer later in life lead her to burst into tears. “Every day looking out on the sea of faces of those that I teach, those women were the ones that were susceptible. They were going through life believing it was their mother and their grandmother and their aunts, but it was them.” She realized that getting information to younger women about positive choices they could make to steer clear from certain ingredients in everyday products was more important than ever.

To learn more about her work and Protect Our Breasts go to: https://protectourbreasts.org/.

View Details

Dr. Samina Raja is University of Buffalo's (UB) Professor of Urban Planning, Associate Dean for Research and Inclusive Excellence, principal investigator of the Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab (the “Food Lab”), and Co-Director of UB's Community for Global Health Equity (CGHE). Dr. Raja is a leading scholar in her field and active leader in shaping food systems policies for healthier communities in Western New York, and she focuses on planning and design for sustainable food systems and healthy communities. Tune in to learn more about:

Dr. Samina Raja's journey from Kashmir to the U.S., being trained as a civil engineer and ending up with a doctorate in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Wisconsin-Madison;
Her 'aha' moment when she learned that land is seen as the highest and best use value, with casinos being more valuable because of the taxes it generates compared to community gardens;
About the Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab (the Food Lab) and the community based Participatory Action Research (PAR) done at the Food Lab;
One question that Dr. Raja kept hearing over and over again while doing research;
About Growing Food Connections, a comprehensive five-year initiative funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to build capacity of local governments to strengthen food systems;
About the Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP), a nonprofit urban farm located on Buffalo's West Side that empowers youth to be leaders in the food system;
Why local governments should add food as a local priority.

Dr. Raja's journey from the conflict zone of Kashmir to the U.S. and her experiences in Madison and Buffalo deeply influenced her to learn more about equity in the food systems. Her inspiring work with youth and teenagers in the city of Buffalo also empowers them to become agents of change. To learn more about Dr. Raja's work go to http://growingfoodconnections.org/.

View Details

Tom Philpott is the food and agriculture correspondent for Mother Jones and author of Perilous Bounty: The Looming Collapse of American Farming and How We Can Prevent It (Bloomsbury 2020). His work has won numerous awards, including a Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism. Tune in to learn more about:

His book Perilous Bounty, where he dives into two abundant but very different agricultural areas - California's Central Valley and the Corn Belt state of Iowa;
Why corn and soybeans do not work for farmers;
Why farmers love their tractors and the sad truth about the technology treadmill of John Deere;
What the current pandemic taught the meat plants operators;
Why the current government should focus on climate change policies;
How the Midwest could learn to become more self sufficient and rely on a more local and regional food system;

To learn more about Tom's work, follow his blog on Mother Jones https://www.motherjones.com/author/tom-philpott/.

View Details

George Siemon is the co-founder and former CEO of CROPP/ Organic Valley, the largest cooperative of organic farmers and one of the nation's leading organic brands. As an organic pioneer and advocate for family farms over the last 30 years, George is passionate about alternative ownership models, such as the cooperative model and the newer purpose trust. Tune in to learn more about:

The 1980s farm crisis and the history of the Organic Standards
The benefits of organic agriculture and how we can feed the world
The true cost of food
Why family farms are going out of business
Why everything starts in the soil and how we are hurting it
The purpose trust and steward ownership

George reminds us that organic is a very viable form of agriculture that takes care of land and soil and thus the people. We should all ask ourselves if conventional farmers can stand up now for the change needed in their sector, if they are able to protect our children’s health and how they can reduce their impact on the earth and focus on food for people not for cars and animals?

View Details

Dr. Leonardo Trasande, Jim G. Hendrick MD Professor, is the Director of the Division of Environmental Pediatrics and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Pediatrics at the New York University (NYU) School of Medicine. Dr. Trasande is also the author of the 2019 published book “Sicker, Fatter, Poorer: The Urgent Threat of Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals to Our Health and Future . . . and What We Can Do About It.” Tune in to learn more about:

Endocrine disruptors, the chemicals that interfere with the body’s hormones
The five categories of chemicals we all need to be aware of and avoid: Bisphenol, Phthalates, Pesticides, Flame retardants, Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)
Obesogens (a category of endocrine disruptors)
The problem with fertility and low sperm count
How to avoid and reduce your exposure to flame retardants

Dr. Trasande is recommending that it is never too late to completely avoid and limit your exposure to any toxic chemical, and there are always short, medium and long term benefits for your health. There are simple steps that anyone can take, by simply choosing food, packaging, furniture, cosmetics that are free of these chemicals. To learn more about Dr. Trasande’s work, go to: https://www.leotrasande.com/about.

View Details

Kelly Ryerson is an environmental health writer, filmmaker, and ardent public health advocate. After alleviating her own chronic illness by eating a gluten-free and organic diet, she realized that toxins and chemicals were at the core of the explosion in chronic disease in the United States. Determined to make the issue of glyphosate’s impact on the microbiome more well-known, she began the blog Glyphosate Girl. She continues to focus on the ways in which our food system, soil, and microbiome have been corrupted by both the rampant use of toxic herbicides and the regulators who support the agricultural chemical industry. Tune in to learn more about:

Her own story of battling chronic/autoimmune disease and depression
Her A-ha moment when she found out that Roundup is being sprayed on wheat
Why she started the blog Glyphosate Girl, which covers the Monsanto cancer trials, glyphosate science, and glyphosate’s contribution to intestinal permeability.
The leaky gut and how glyphosate kills the "good bacteria" in the gut leading to so many health issues
Her reaction when she found out that glyphosate was detected in her daughter's baby tooth

To learn more about Kelly visit her blog: https://glyphosategirl.com/.

View Details

Carey Gillam is an American investigative journalist and author with more than 30 years of experience covering food and agricultural policies and practices, including 17 years as a senior correspondent for Reuters international news service. She has specialty knowledge regarding the rise of biotech crop technology and the associated rise in pervasive pesticide use in our farming and food production system. Carey's second book, a legal thriller titled "The Monsanto Papers - Deadly Secrets, Corporate Corruption, and One Man's Search for Justice", is due for release March 2, 2021 (Island Press). Tune in to learn more about:

"The Monsanto Papers", Carey's second book which is the inside story of Lee Johnson’s landmark lawsuit against Monsanto
What she has learned from the process of litigation and the internal documents from Monsanto that were trying to discredit her work and destroy her career
The levels of deceptions by Monsanto
How she transcribes the stories of farmers, scientists and academics in a way that is meaningful
Why she thinks farmers are essential and critical

To quote Carey " Our food is where it all began, and we need to respect that and do everything we can to protect our food production system, our environment and the health of our children."

To learn more about Carey's work go to https://careygillam.com/ and https://usrtk.org/.

View Details

Dr. Bruce Lanphear is a public health physician and professor of health sciences at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. His goal is to quantify and ultimately prevent chronic disease from widespread exposures to toxic chemicals and pollutants. Tune in to learn more about:

Little Things Matter, a compilation of short videos that explain exposure to pollutants, toxic chemicals and excess consumption
How lead exposure in adults is the leading risk factor for dying from coronary heart disease
How President Bush's dog lead poisoning (during renovations at the White House) sparked the implementation of the Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992
The synergies of toxic chemicals - 1 in every 4 children exposed to both lead and tobacco met the criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
His advice on how we can reduce the exposure to toxic chemicals in our daily lives
Why prevention is the key of battling chronic diseases

To learn more about Dr. Lanphear's work visit http://littlethingsmatter.ca/.

View Details

Theresa's guest today is Sarah Minnick, chef and co-owner of Lovely’s Fifty Fifty, a pizzeria and ice cream shop in Portland, Oregon. Sarah has one of the most refreshing, liberating takes on pizza, using only organic home-made tomato sauce as well as fairy-tale toppings like cornflower blossoms and fenugreek greens. Tune in to learn more about:

Sarah's story of becoming a restaurant owner
The socially correct pizza
Why she sources her ingredients from farmers markets and organic farmers
How they are surviving the COVID-19 pandemic

If you are in Portland, Oregon, go visit Lovely's Fifty Fifty and enjoy some of their amazing pizzas.

View Details

Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol farmer, mother, soil nerd, author and food justice activist. She co-funded Soul Fire Farm in 2010 with the mission to end racism in the food system and reclaim the ancestral connection to the land. As co-Executive Director, Leah is part of a team that facilitates powerful food sovereignty programs, including farmer trainings for Black and Brown people, a subsidized farm food distribution program for people living under food apartheid, and domestic and international organizing toward equity in the food system. She is also the author of the 2018 published book “Farming While Black”. Tune in to learn more about:

How the Soul Fire Farm is adapting to the pandemics (not only COVID-19, but also anti-Black policy violence, wildfires)
How the whole Soul Fire Farm team figured out how to move their in-person, hands-on practice to the web
The fight to build equity in access to land, sustenance, and power in the food system
About policy and labor laws and the new comprehensive bill to address the history of discrimination in federal agricultural policy: The Justice of Black Farmers Act
How small resilient food systems can feed the world
What inspires and sustains her to keep doing this work

Visit www.soulfirefarm.org to learn more about their work.

View Details

Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, MPH, Executive Director for the Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN), leader in the field of children's health, and proud mom of four, has served as a key spokesperson for children’s health vulnerabilities and the need for their protection. Tune in to learn more about:

The Children's Environmental Health Network and its push for the effective implementation of the Food Quality Protection Act, a pesticide reform bill that improved the protection of children (1996).
Why scientific research is still needed in the area of children's health.
Our dependency on the "chemical economy".
How the public can positively influence lawmakers and products.
Childhood cancer and the Cancer Free Economy Network.
Why messaging about climate change should be a priority.

To learn more about the Children’s Environmental Health Network visit: www.chen.org.

View Details

Dr. Jifunza Wright-Carter M.D., M.P.H. is a family physician boarded in holistic integrative medicine. She is also a community health advocate and the co-founder of Black Oaks Center for Renewable Sustainable Living and Health Food Hub, a 500+ community supported agriculture project in Chicago. Black Oaks Center assists communities in reducing their carbon footprint and fossil fuel use through education and training that includes teaching permaculture. Tune in to learn more about:

About the Black Oaks Center , its history and its mission to facilitate community resiliency
How the Healthy Food Hub brings affordable, high-quality, nutritious and culturally acceptable foods to communities in Chicago & Southland
Her own approach to COVID-19
About gardening, regenerative agriculture and permaculture

In her own words, Dr. Wright-Carter is reminding us beautifully that "The highest healing work is when a community can be healed, not just an individual...."

To learn more about the Black Oaks Center go to www.blackoakscenter.org.

View Details

Kevin Mahalko is the Board President of the Wisconsin non-profit organization GrassWorks, a grassroots membership organization that provides leadership and education to farmers and consumers for the advancement of managed grass-based agriculture. With 45 cows on the 300 acre family farm, Kevin is all heart and soul when it comes to the health of his cows and the quality of his 100 percent grass-fed milk.

Tune in to learn more about:

His personal journey into grazing
Why grazing is important not only for cows but also for our health and the environment
The cow's complex digestion system
The economics of small dairy farmers

To learn more about grass-based agriculture go to www.GrassWorks.org.

View Details

Jen Salinetti is co-owner and operator of Woven Roots Farm, a regenerative farm and CSA in Massachusetts, that grows vegetables, herbs, and flowers using traditional farming practices. For over 15 years, Jen has offered workshops and courses that develop relationships to the land, build skills of resilience and promote regenerative growing practices on the farm and in the local school system. Tune in to learn more about:

The history of Woven Roots Farm and her own path of becoming a farmer
The role of the farm in the community
Why farming is an act of social justice
The Solidarity and Sustainability Program created with BRIDGE (Berkshire Resources for Integration of Diverse Groups through Education)

For more information and to learn more about Woven Roots Farm go to www.wovenrootsfarm.com.

View Details

Theresa's guest today is Dr. Joan Dye Gussow, Professor Emeritus of Nutrition and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, nutritionist, writer, and gardener. She was one of the first experts to advocate, as early as the 1970's, that we "eat locally, think globally." As a nonagenarian, she is still teaching, gardening and cooking her own food. Tune in to learn more about:

The breakdown of our food system during COVID-19
Ultra processed food - 60% of food that Americans are eating
How to empower people with information
How the current pandemic is changing our food behaviors
Her own garden

In 2010, Gussow told The New York Times, "You can't be optimistic about the state of the world — what you can be is open-minded. You're going to look for solutions, and you're going to make your own life mean something. You can no longer think that accumulating money or the biggest house is the answer."

View Details

Theresa's guest today is Dr. Charles Benbrook, who leads the management team carrying out the Heartland Study, a long-term clinical study that is assessing the impacts of herbicide exposures across the Midwest on birth outcomes and children’s development. Tune in to learn more about:

The history of Roundup
His work on the Roundup non-Hodgkin lymphoma litigation, including the Lee Johnson case
The Heartland Study
The Dietary Risk Index - a tool for tracking pesticides in food

To follow Dr. Benbrook's work, visit his website: https://hygeia-analytics.com/. If you would like to support the Heartland Study, go to: https://heartlandstudy.salsalabs.org/donate/index.html.

View Details

Theresa's guest today is Dr. Kathleen Merrigan, Professor in the School of Sustainability, Executive Director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University as well as former Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Tune in to learn more about:

The 3 legged stool of sustainability.
The difference between regenerative and organic.
The Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems and its ongoing research.
Challenges faced by our rural communities.
Lessons learnt from the current pandemic.

View Details

After growing up on a small dairy farm without running water and electricity and milking cows by hand, Dr. Ikerd initially supported the industrial food system, just to realize years later that it was having a severe impact on our environment, health and economy.

Dr. Ikerd is hopeful that the way we farm can change. "We changed it in the past and we can change it in the future. We can fundamentally transform and change our whole food system."

In this episode, Dr. Ikerd talks about:

Lessons learnt from the past, especially the 1980s farm crisis and the current lessons we are learning from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The industrial food system operating as an assembly line.
Food insecurity and how sustainable, regenerative agriculture can change rural communities.

Dr. Ikerd emphasizes, "The only way that we can actually deal with the problems and we can create a healthy sustainable food system is to fundamentally change the system".

For more information about Dr. Ikerd's work, visit his homepage at www.johnikerd.com.

View Details

Did you know that 90% of the food in Hawaii is imported? And that Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders experience significantly higher rates of diet-related chronic illness than the state average, including a 130% higher incidence of diabetes? Listen to Dr. Albie Miles of the University of Hawai’i, West O’ahu as he describes:

The history and transformation of the food system in Hawai'i.
MA'O Organic Farm and its program of empowering youth to succeed in college and secure sustaining careers by growing organic produce that yields individual and communal vitality.
The Ike 'Ai Consortium on Sustainable Food Systems that aims to transform the food system of Hawaiʻi to model sustainability and human and planetary health while building climate change resilience by 2050.
COVID-19 and lessons learnt.

View Details

In honor of mother's day week we are revisiting this inspiring interview with Mackenzie Feldman.

In this new episode Theresa chats with Mackenzie Feldman, Founder and Executive Director of Herbicide Free Campus, an organization that supports student groups who want to eliminate synthetic herbicide use on their campuses. Mackenzie's activism was inspired while growing up in Hawaii witnessing and being part of the fight against GMO food. Listen to her incredible story, her passionate work, how COVID-19 is changing her organization's work, the witnessing of the Lee Johnson trial and much more.

“This movement is about a cultural shift in the way we manage landscapes and tend to the soil. For the sake of future, generations we must do better.” Mackenzie Feldman

View Details

Listen to Chef Ann Cooper speak with Theresa about her own story and her long life passion of providing better food for all children. With schools going virtual all across the country, high unemployment rates, and 1 in every 5 kids in the US being food insecure, every school have to make sure that their food is being distributed to all children in need. Tune in to listen more about:

Challenges and opportunities for school lunch programs in the current pandemic.
Chef Ann Foundation and their valuable resources for both schools and parents and their Hero Highlights, where school lunch professionals are being honored for their work to ensure that no child goes hungry.
Mental health issues for both parents and children during the pandemic.
How food and cooking habits are currently changing.

If you would like to honor your school lunch professional submit their story to https://www.chefannfoundation.org/knowledge-center/covid-19/hero-highlights.

View Details

Theresa is talking today with Dr. Michelle Perro, a veteran pediatrician with over thirty-nine years of experience in acute and integrative medicine. Dr. Perro has transformed her clinical practice to include pesticide and health advocacy more than fifteen years ago. She is also the co-author of “What is making our children sick” book as well as Executive Director of the non-profit scientific website “GMO Science”. Tune into this episode to learn more about:

the gut health/microbiome
the links between COVID-19, the gut microbiota and glyphosate
what parents can do to keep their children's microbiome healthy
the GMO science website (www.gmoscience.org)

" You are what you eat", "Food is medicine", "The soil health and your gut health are linked together", are just a few of Dr. Perro's quotes from this interview. She advises struggling parents with sick kids to eat chemical-free organic regenerative food, while also paying attention to the nutrient content of the food and making sure to add probiotic food early on.

View Details

Dr. Landrigan is a pediatrician and epidemiologist, as well as Professor, Director of the Global Public Health Program and of the Global Pollution Observatory at the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society at Boston College. Tune in to learn more about:

Pesticides and children's health
Fetal programing, epigenetics & windows of vulnerability
What parents can do to protect their children's health
The Heartland Study

Dr. Landrigan urges parents to "Vote for children", by asking their representatives what they are doing to protect their children from the rising health issues that a lot of them are facing like autism, learning disabilities and childhood cancer.

Heartland Stories Radio: Recent Episodes

Heartland Stories Radio