Heartland Stories Radio

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.

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.

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 fisherman, a former 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 alternative 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/.

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.

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.

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.

Dr. Teresa Mares is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Vermont and the 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.

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.

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.

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.