Canary In A Cornfield

In this episode of Canary in a Cornfield, host Adam talks with Sonja Trom Eayrs, author of Dodge County Incorporated, a book about the rise of concentrated animal feeding operations in southern Minnesota and the corporate structure behind them. Sonja describes how a pyramid scheme of multinational meatpackers, integrators, and contract growers replaced independent farming, driving geographic clustering near meatpacking plants and creating massive manure, air quality, and water pollution impacts, including nitrate-contaminated wells and community health concerns. She recounts her family’s experience fighting proposed facilities through lawsuits and facing harassment, intimidation, and distorted local governance, which she connects to coordinated industry influence through Farm Bureau politics. Sonja also shares where CAFO expansion is moving next, emphasizes the importance of documenting abuses when they occur, and urges listeners to get informed, support advocacy groups, and “vote with your fork” by buying local food.

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In this episode of Canary in a Cornfield, Adam speaks with Rachel Atcheson of Food Policy Pathways about her path from nonprofits to New York City government, including roles in the de Blasio and Adams’ administrations, and finally to founding an innovative new program for food systems leaders. Rachel describes how health experiences—including Mayor Adams’s experience reversing type 2 diabetes and her own health improvement —shaped their focus on healthier public food. She explains how coalition building and thinking strategically about New York City’s procurement power across schools, hospitals, jails, and older adult centers led to better health outcomes and dramatically reduced carbon emissions. She then talks about launching Food Policy Pathways to coach and place candidates into food-related government roles in order to expand effective policies nationwide.

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This episode of Canary in a Cornfield focuses on the benefits of citizen water monitoring, featuring Heather Wilson of the Isaac Walton League’s Save Our Streams program and Cole Dickerson of the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project (SRAP). Wilson explains the League’s conservation mission, how Nitrate Watch equips volunteers with free nitrate test strips and a public Clean Water Hub database, and how the data support the League’s annual nitrate report and community advocacy. She highlights major growth in participation, including over 2,200 kits sent in 2025 and more than 1,400 to Iowa, and discusses health concerns associated with nitrate levels at or above 5 mg/L. Dickerson describes SRAP’s work helping communities respond to pollution from industrial livestock facilities, including Water Rangers trainings that guide local monitoring plans and strategies for using data with regulators and media while avoiding confrontation.

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In this episode of Canary in a Cornfield, host Adam speaks with Angela Huffman, co-founder of the farmer-led watchdog group Farm Action, about how consolidation and weak antitrust enforcement have reshaped U.S. agriculture and squeezed farmers, workers, and consumers. Huffman responds to a widely covered letter from former USDA officials and commodity leaders warning of agricultural collapse, agreeing with its concerns about broad Trump-era tariffs and retaliation but arguing it overlooks the root cause: decades of consolidation and policies that reward overproduction of commodity crops and export dependence. The conversation covers Farm Action’s data on corporate control across the food chain, concerns about price fixing and small settlements in the meat sector, and policy priorities for the 2026 Farm Bill, including rebuilding regional processing, diversifying farms toward food crops and mixed systems, and using government procurement to support healthier, locally produced food. They also discuss efforts to override California’s Proposition 12, pesticide immunity proposals, and Farm Action’s outlook on renewed federal investigations into meatpacker price fixing.

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 In this episode, Adam speaks with one of the most influential voices in public health and food policy today. Professor Marion Nestle is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Science, and Public Health, emerita, at New York University, a department she not only chaired for 15 years, but essentially pioneered when she founded one of the nation’s first academic food studies programs. We discuss her new book, What to Eat Now: The Indispensable Guide to Good Food, How to Find it and Why it Matters, including observations on what’s changed since the pandemic and a detailed description of the dynamics of how supermarkets convince people to buy more (often unhealthy) food. Professor Nestle also offers a detailed critique of the new USDA Dietary Guidelines, which includes both positive and negative suggestions but unfortunately has a clear emphasis on some of the least supported claims.

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In this episode of Canary in a Cornfield, Adam interviews Matthew Dominguez from Compassion In World Farming (CIWF). They discuss CIWF’s work in the United States and abroad, and talk about an important recent report about food waste that illustrates how industrial farming significantly contributes to inefficiencies and environmental degradation. Matthew explains that factory farming, despite being touted as efficient, wastes massive amounts of food resources that could otherwise feed billions. The conversation touches on the global impact of farming practices, the necessity for policy changes, and the benefits of regenerative farming and plant-forward diets. Matthew also shares his background and advocacy journey, emphasizing the need to align agricultural subsidies with public health and environmental sustainability.

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Denmark actually has quite a bit in common with Iowa; the country has a population of roughly 6 million people, but raises almost 30 million pigs per year. Iowa raises about 25 millions hogs/year and has a human population of about 3.2 million people. But one thing Denmark doesn’t have in common with Iowa is that their government take nitrates in drinking water very, very seriously!

In this episode of Canary in a Cornfield, the podcast explores the connection between nitrates in drinking water and cancer with Professor Thor Halldorsson from the University of Iceland. Professor Halldorsson chaired the Denmark Ministry of the Environment's Scientific Committee, which suggested a new drinking water standard significantly lower than the current EU and US standards. The discussion delves into the biological mechanisms linking nitrates to cancer, particularly colorectal cancer, and highlights a comprehensive study involving 1.7 million people in Denmark. The episode also covers the differences in nitrate measurement between the US and EU, the agricultural context of Denmark, and how these findings could influence global standards.

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In this episode of Canary in a Cornfield, host Adam speaks with Dr. Walter Willett, a leading expert in epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. They discuss the first and second EAT Lancet reports, which examine the possibility of feeding the growing world population while staying within planetary boundaries.

Among the topics discussed:

• The current administration’s clash with higher ed institutions

• The first and second Eat Lancet Reports and their recommendations for a healthy and sustainable food system

• The need for reforming the food system if we want to address climate change.

• The industry funded PR campaign to undermine the report

• Simple rules for a healthy and environmentally friendly diet

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In this episode of Canary in a Cornfield, we are joined by Aaron Lehman, President of the Iowa Farmers Union; Colleen Fowle, Water Program Director at the Iowa Environmental Council; Amy Kahler, CEO of Des Moines Water Works; and Audrey E. Tran Lam, Environmental Health Program Director at UNI. Our guests provide reactions to the first official presentation of findings from the Central Iowa Source Water Research Assessment (CISWRA) report.

Welcome to Canary In A Cornfield - a new podcast from The Harkin Institute! Together, we'll explore how the policies that shape our food and farming systems impact our health, our communities, and our future.

Our first episode features our namesake, Senator Tom Harkin (retired). In this episode, Sen. Harkin discusses his extensive career in agriculture and health policy, including his role in the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Affordable Care Act, two farm bills, and more.