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Canary In A Cornfield: Daily Summaries Delivered
by The Harkin Institute
Canary In A Cornfield is a podcast from The Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement, that explores how the policies that shape our food and farming systems impact our health, our communities, and our future.
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- May 17, 202627 min
Interlude
In this special episode of Canary in a Cornfield, I take a pause from our normal programming to reflect on two years of food systems, agriculture, and public health work at the Harkin Institute. I mentino some formative academic and professional stops in the U.S., Canada, and the UK, including work connected to Oxford’s Future of Food and LEAP programs, and my discovery that global research highlighted Iowa’s outsized role in environmental and diet-related harms. I also discuss how a 2024 conference tied to Industrial Farm Animal Production led to collaboration with the Iowa Environmental Council and Iowa philanthropists to fund the Environmental Risk Factors in Cancer in Iowa project, generating media coverage, statewide listening sessions, and shifting political debate around water quality, nitrates, and cancer.Links from the Episode:Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors in Iowa ReportIowa’s Water Crisis - Nothing Will Change if Nothing Changes report from John Norris and othersWalter Willett Interview on the EAT Lancet ReportBob Martin Interview on the Pew Commission ReportInterim Findings Report funded by the General Assembly
- Apr 24, 202648 min
The Pain Echo Chamber: Why Animal Welfare in Confinement Operations is Even Worse Than People Realized
This episode of Canary in a Cornfield focuses on an important methodological advancement in animal welfare science and it’s relevance for understanding the lives of animals in severely impoverished environments such as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), aka factory farms. I interview Dr. Cynthia Schuck, co-founder of the Welfare Footprint Institute, and we discuss how the Welfare Footprint Project translated global health-style quantitative methods to welfare assessments, which in turn has enabled comparisons across systems and cost-effectiveness analyses. Dr. Schuck described the Institute’s past and ongoing projects with industry, governments, and animal welfare organizations, with particular attention to the hog and egg laying hen operations that are prevalent in Iowa. And she explains how new research on the pain echo chamber demonstrates that barren, stressful confinement operations remove natural pain-suppressing mechanisms, amplify pain, and delay healing in animals. The unfortunate upshot of this research is that these extreme, barren environments are even worse for welfare than previously realized. The episode also comes at a time where members of the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced a Farm Bill that includes language designed to overturn the will of voters in California and Massachusetts, who overwhelmingly voted to pass laws that banned animal products that come from the most extreme confinement conditions. The new Farm Bill has a lot of objectionable features, and many anti-hunger groups, family farm advocates, health organizations, conservation organizations, and labor organizations have come out strongly against it. Even many MAHA and right-leaning media outlets have expressed skepticism about it, including the Heritage Foundation and the Daily Caller. On this podcast, we’ve previously discussed the plan to overturn state welfare laws in our interviews with the ASPCA and Anna Pesek, and with Angela Huffman of Farm Action, and we’ve also discussed pesticide immunity with Emma Newton. And of course Senator Harkin wrote an op-ed last summer opposing the efforts to overturn state’s abilities to set their own standards. A number of organizations, such as the ALDF, have calls out asking people to tell their congressional representatives to oppose the Farm Bill and/or to support the bipartisan amendment to remove the language that attacks state animal welfare standards. Other relevant links mentioned in the episode:The Faunalytics study showing extreme public opposition to intensive confinement conditions among U.S. citizens. And the Johns Hopkins University study showing that Iowans are in favor of banning the construction of new confinement operations. A link to the Welfare Footprint Institute page. The Pain Echo Chamber paper.
- Apr 10, 202641 min
The Importance of the IIHR Nitrate Monitoring Network for Local Communities with Tim Wagner
In this episode of Canary in a Cornfield, host Adam talks with Iowa water quality advocate Tim Wagner about nitrate pollution, public health, and the University of Iowa IIHR nitrate monitoring network. Wagner, raised on a north-central Iowa farm and formerly an agricultural specialist with the Izaak Walton League, connects his advocacy to conservation policy work and to losing his sister to a rare bladder cancer. He explains Decorah’s sensitive karst geology, where contaminants can rapidly enter aquifers, and describes a recent manure spill that led to fish kills, DNR fines, and nitrate readings well above the federal standard. With the state legislature having defunded the statewide monitoring network, Decorah’s Sustainability Commission secured unanimous city council approval to spend $17,000 to fund two continuous sensors. But this funding is only for one year and only covers one region, so Wagner emphasizes the necessity of statewide action along with citizen testing and engagement.
- Apr 3, 202638 min
A Crying Shame: Sonja Trom Eayrs on the Impact of CAFOS on Local Communities
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.Links from the episode:Order the book!Land Stewardship ProjectHigher cancer rates in counties with more CAFOs, study finds
- Mar 27, 202629 min
Improving Health and Resilience in New York City and Beyond with Rachel Atcheson
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.Links from the episode:Food Policy Pathways WebsiteA study showing 95% patient satisfaction after the new nutrition program in NYC Hospitals
- Mar 20, 202640 min
Pesticide Immunity Bills
In this episode of Canary in a Cornfield, host Adam speaks with Emma Newton of the State Innovation Exchange (SIX) about efforts to stop state “pesticide immunity” bills that would shield chemical companies like Bayer from liability for harms linked to products such as Roundup, with broader implications for tens of thousands of agricultural chemicals. Newton explains SIX’s people-centered, co-governance approach and why state policy has become critical amid federal chaos, funding cuts, and parallel pushes through the Farm Bill, the courts, and a Trump executive order. The conversation highlights why the bills are unpopular, how grassroots organizing and bipartisan listening sessions in Iowa helped defeat them by centering community cancer stories, and how similar strategies are playing out nationwide. Newton closes with ways listeners can share stories, contact legislators, and find resources.
- Mar 6, 202651 min
Empowering Citizens and Communities Through Water Quality Monitoring
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.Links from the episode:The Izaak Walton League of America2025 Nitrate Watch Annual ReportIowa CCI’s water testers programSocially Responsible Agriculture ProjectThe SRAP Water Rangers ProgramLink to SRAP Upcoming Trainings
- Feb 23, 202633 min
Farm Action's Angela Huffman on the Farm Bill and the Root Cause of the Current Farm Crisis
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.Links from episode:Farm Action Website Former Farming Leaders Warn U.S. Agriculture Could Face ‘Widespread Collapse’The Farm Crisis Is Real. But This Letter Misses the PointTyson’s $48 Million “Price-Fixing” Check Won’t Lower Your Grocery Bill
About Canary In A Cornfield
Canary In A Cornfield is a podcast from The Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement, that explores how the policies that shape our food and farming systems impact our health, our communities, and our future.
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