Heartland Stories Radio

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.

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.

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.

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/.

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/.

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/.

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/.

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/.

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?

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/.