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.

Canary In A Cornfield is a business podcast hosted by The Harkin Institute, with 28 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

The Harkin Institute hosts Canary In A Cornfield, a business show with 28 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Canary In A Cornfield

  Interlude

  May 16, 202628 minS0

  <p>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...

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  Episode #11

  The Pain Echo Chamber: Why Animal Welfare in Confinement Operations is Even Worse Than People Realized

  Apr 23, 202648 minS2

  <p>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 t...

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  Episode #10

  The Importance of the IIHR Nitrate Monitoring Network for Local Communities with Tim Wagner

  Apr 10, 202642 minS2

  <p>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 st...

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  Episode #9

  A Crying Shame: Sonja Trom Eayrs on the Impact of CAFOS on Local Communities

  Apr 3, 202639 minS2

  <p>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 co...

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  Episode #8

  Improving Health and Resilience in New York City and Beyond with Rachel Atcheson

  Mar 27, 202630 minS2

  <p>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 out...

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